To the Editor:
This letter is written to you by a group of young American Jews who decided to swap the view of the IRT rumbling through Brooklyn for the quiet scenery of endless stretches of Negev sand. We are a group of chalutzim who have been in the country for a period of eight months and are now members of a kibbutz in the Negev. Although our new desert home is proving to be an interesting and challenging place to live, we must confess that we sometimes grow nostalgic for the good old cosmopolitan atmosphere of New York City—and somehow Beersheva, the Big City of the South, fails to provide an adequate substitute.
Our Hebrew is now progressing to the stage where we can slowly plow through the local newspapers and publications, which has further proved to us the lack of a literary and intellectual equivalent in Israeli culture for a monthly like COMMENTARY. Although there is much to admire in the growth of our tough and impudent Jewish nation, we sadly miss the stimulating and informative nature of COMMENTARY. As you already know, the collective nature of kibbutz living adds many compensations to life; however, the daily struggle of building the land still has priority over all other phases of kibbutz living—resulting in a healthy, pilgrim existence lacking in the means to pay for such an investment as a subscription to COMMENTARY. Therefore, we’d like to make a request for a free subscription. Even if we cannot offer financial remuneration, we’d like to extend an invitation to you to visit us in Kibbutz Nirim next time you come to Israel.
Yehudit Kraff
in the name of
Kvutzat Americanit
Kibbutz Nirim
Israel
[A member of the COMMENTARY publication committee has kindly contributed a three-year subscription to the Kvutzat Americanit.—Ed.]
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