Found on: http://israeliculture.about.com/culture/israeliculture/library/weekly/aa0420 98.htm =================
Seinfeld's Kibbutz Days
Dateline: 04/20/98
An interesting part of Israel's history is often overlooked by historians. In 1971, future comedian Jerry Seinfeld, aged 17, volunteered on Kibbutz Sa'ar for a short period of time. This week the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot broke the story with Amir Kaminer's report on the search for information about Seinfeld's Kibbutz Days. Apparently this tale has been considered classified information until now, but finally the story can be told.
Today the countdown continues towards the last "Seinfeld" episode. In Israel we are about a season behind, so we'll be viewing new episodes thoughout 1998. Questions have been raised as to what the cast will do when they finish filming the popular television show. I doubt that Jerry Seinfeld would ever consider moving to Israel to live and work on a kibbutz, something he experienced in his youth.
In 1971, a high school student at the age of 17, the son of a warm Jewish family, visited Israel during his summer vacation. It was an interesting program that the young Jerry Seinfeld joined. For the price of $800 he received flight tickets, two months' experience on a kibbutz and a tour of Israel. Seinfeld stayed at Kibbutz Sa'ar, in Israel's north, near the town of Nahariya, with three other friends. What were Seinfeld's Kibbutz Days like?
"I worked in the banana groves," Seinfeld once recounted. "I couldn't take it any longer! It was hard work; you guys work hard in Israel. I didn't like the kibbutz. Nice Jewish boys from Long Island don't like to get up at six in the morning to pick bananas. At six in the morning you should be sleeping! And bananas? All summer long I found ways to get out of work".
So a kibbutz member Seinfeld was not meant to be. Did kibbutz members at Sa'ar realize that the volunteer in their midst would end up as one of the leading standup comedians in the world? In his story, reporter Amir Kaminer retraced Seinfeld's short kibbutz experience to find the answers. He visited Kibbutz Sa'ar where most of the members couldn't believe that Seinfeld had once been their guest. After much searching, Kaminer managed to meet with kibbutz members, Shoshana and Emanuel Pereg, Seinfeld's host family during the summer of 1971. The Peregs showed Kaminer a green flowered tablecloth they had received from the young American volunteer after his visits to their home. They recalled that Jerry would visit them in the afternoon hours for a light snack, and that the gift of the tablecloth, still used on festive occasions, had been an unexpected surprise at the time.
Kaminer photographed the cabin where Seinfeld and his friends had stayed that summer, and even questioned whether the Long Island Jewish boy had lost his virginity while in Israel (in a Playboy interview Seinfeld said it was only at the age of 20, so apparently he left Israel much as he had arrived). Those who did remember the American teenager among them that year recalled a skinny, serious boy who wore jeans all the time, and frequently told jokes that only he and his American friends understood.
Why do people from around the world volunteer on a kibbutz? The first major stream of volunteers came during the months preceding the Six Day War, when Israel desperately needed help, and in the years afterwards, when world opinion looked favorably on Israel's accomplishments. Young people who cared came from all over, most of them Jews who had no intentions of moving to Israel, but who just wanted to help. They were followed by idealistic Christians, who loved Israel and the Bible. Many Germans came with guilt feelings about the past, but there were also many unemployed, hippies and those who believed in kibbutz life as a utopia which they wanted to try out for themselves.
Jerry Seinfeld is not the only celebrity to have experienced kibbutz life. Sigourney Weaver rebelled against her parents at the age of sixteen, and ended up in Israel for a short three weeks' stay. Sandra Bernhardt volunteered at Kibbutz Kfar Menachem in 1972, and is in close touch with relatives there even now. Bob Hoskins picked oranges and bananas at Kibbutz Zikim, and on a recent trip to Israel revisited the kibbutz. The visit was very exciting for Hoskins, who had once considered making the kibbutz his home, even though he is not Jewish.
The major find of Kaminer's journey to Kibbutz Sa'ar was a fading photograph, showing a family birthday party in 1971. Sitting at the table with the other guests was a thin boy wearing glasses. At seventeen years old, Jerry Seinfeld was on his way to stardom, but no one knew it at the time.