Легенди кібуців про дерева, поселення та світогляд жителів

Abstract

This article examines the rhetoric of place in an Israeli kibbutz. The aggregate of the stories collected in the kibbutz creates a narrative of the local culture in which the ethos of Zionist socialist settlement in all its complexity is expounded. The analysis of the stories as told by the generation of the founders and the first generation born in the kibbutz uncovers the polyphonic life of the narrative and its 'dialogic narration'. In the narration the tree becomes a key symbol that contains a whole slew of simultaneous meanings and ambiguities. It relates to the main values and problems of the society such as the conquest of the soil and building of the settlement uprooting and planting, Jews and Arabs, nature and culture, and more. In this way the stories exemplify the importance of local legends for cultural interpretation.