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The kibbutzniks often see the court as a guarantor of the secularism and religious pluralism that they felt was envisaged by Israel’s declaration of independence in 1948, and as a bulwark against government overreach.

“In my soul, I’m a kibbutznik: I get nurtured and nourished by having people around.”

However, Jewish leftists have usually been secular: the Lower East Side socialists, kibbutzniks, Bernie Sanders.

Their kibbutz has been semi-privatized; like Israel itself, many kibbutzniks have drifted from their socialist moorings.

“The kibbutznik, who used to stand proud, now has to apologize because Israeli society has changed.”