63 Pesach in the Kibbutz 1966

Pesach of the 1960s was a gigantic pageant. More than half of the kibbutz members and most of the children participated to some extend in the preparations and the performances. It was the biggest kibbutz holiday. The choir in which people between the ages of 16 and 66 sang, held daily rehearsals for more than a month on holiday songs; the children rehearsed the ceremony of bringing the sheaves of grain for the 'Omer'; those who were going to read parts of the Kibbutz Haggadah rehearsed the correct pronunciation of the text with one of the experienced kibbutz members; and those children who's turn it was to dance the Had Gadyah were in seventh heaven (and so were their proud parents).

An atmosphere of collective excitement characterized the kibbutz in the days before the holidays and for all those 'performers', the singers, dancers, actors and readers, it was a month of intensive cultural activity. While writing these words I am reminded of the beautiful sentences that Igael Burshtein wrote about John Huston's film "The Dead" which was based on James Joyce's story: 'The story takes us back to Ireland in the early 20^th century and to the people who lived an active cultural life to the utmost: they sang, danced, embroidered, played musical instruments, gave speeches, etc'. In some way the sixties in the kibbutz resembled this description. Active participation in cultural activities was considered of great value and almost everyone either played an instrument, acted or sang in the choir – and all this activity peaked on holidays, especially in the big Pesach production.

Almost a month before the evening of the holiday a large stage was built in the dinning hall. Daily routine was disrupted and everything concentrated around the big event that was in the offing. The final rehearsals on the stage were a leap from one emotional high to another, and the evening of the holiday was so exciting as to be almost unbearable.

After the Seder was over, we would remove the long tables and benches from the dinning room and dance in circles until exhaustion. After that we would sit on the edges of the stage around Uzi's accordion and sing without end, until dawn.

In the picture we dance the story of the suffering of the Israelites in Egypt (though according to the costumes and the movements we look more like the Egyptians). I am on the right, in the middle is Menachem, behind us, if I am not mistaken is Ehud and on the left is Oren. I don't know who the dancer in the back is.