A Jewish co-operative settlement in Israel which is mainly self-supporting in terms of food supplies and A Jewish co-operative settlement in Israel which is mainly self-supporting in terms of food supplies and many other goods. A kibbutz may support itself through agricultural, industrial, or entrepreneurial means. The first kibbutz, Deganya, was founded in 1910; its land was held in the name of the Jewish people by the Jewish National Fund. Kibbutzim spread in the 1950s as part of Israeli attempts at self-sufficiency, and now number c.300. One of their distinctive features was the collective responsibility members took for child rearing: rather than being cared for in nuclear family units, the young were looked after by the elder children. Moreover, great stress was placed on the system of job rotation which was used to prevent the consolidation of a social hierarchy based on the occupancy of certain social positions. Since c.1970, however, the movement to include children within the nuclear family has grown, and is now the norm.
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