Moti Zeira
Preparations for Seder Night in Kibbutzim
“We are Torn”, pp. 239-240, the twenties [20th C]
The nature of the preparation for the festival, which was an integral part of the Passover experience in the homes of the parents in the Diaspora, was transferred to the settlements: “They would take all the tables outside, and they started to whitewash the dining room” – Yosef Edelstein gave an account of the start of the Passover Seder in Ein Harod. “ The beams of the roof were decorated with any greenery that they could find” continued Shlomo Lavie in his memoirs – “Green reeds were hung up so that the black tiled roof could not be seen. The white walls were decorated with palm branches and with any wild flowers of the spring that they could find”. In Degania new food utensils were purchased. In Kiryat Anavim “chandeliers were brought in from father’s home, which all year were packed unwanted in bundles, - and were brought out to honour the festival”. In Tel Yosef all the sheets were collected from the storeroom “washed and ironed and spread over the tables”, and in the Labour Regimental Company in Jerusalem – which in time became the nucleus of Kibbutz Ramat Rachel – new clothes were sewn for the members to honour the festival.