Editing Kibbutz (section)

=== During the British Mandate ===
[[File:Lotan.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1| [[Lotan, Israel|Kibbutz Lotan]]]]
The fall of the Ottoman Empire at the end of [[World War I]], followed by the arrival of the British, brought with it benefits for the Jewish community of Palestine and its kibbutzim. The Ottoman authorities had made immigration to Palestine difficult and restricted land purchases. Rising antisemitism forced many Jews to flee Eastern Europe. To escape the [[pogrom]]s, tens of thousands of Russian Jews immigrated to Palestine in the early 1920s, in a wave of immigration that was called the [[Third Aliyah]].

Zionist Jewish youth movements flourished in the 1920s, from right-wing movements like [[Betar]] to left-wing socialist groups such as Dror, Brit Haolim, Qadima, HabBonim (now [[Habonim Dror]]), and [[Hashomer Hatzair]]. In contrast to those who came as part of the Second Aliyah, these youth group members had some agricultural training before embarking. Members of the Second Aliyah and Third Aliyah were also less likely to be Russian, since emigration from Russia was closed off after the [[Russian Revolution]]. European Jews who settled on kibbutzim [[Interwar period|between the World Wars]] were from other countries in Eastern Europe, including [[Germany]].

In the early days, communal meetings were limited to practical matters, but in the 1920s and 1930s, they became more informal. Instead of meeting in the dining room, the group would sit around a campfire. Rather than reading minutes, the session would begin with a group dance. Remembering her youth on a kibbutz on the shores of the [[Sea of Galilee|Kinneret]], one woman said: "Oh, how beautiful it was when we all took part in the discussions, [they were] nights of searching for one another—that is what I call those hallowed nights. During the moments of silence, it seemed to me that from each heart a spark would burst forth, and the sparks would unite in one great flame penetrating the heavens.... At the center of our camp a fire burns, and under the weight of the [[hora (dance)|hora]] the earth groans a rhythmic groan, accompanied by wild songs".{{sfn|Gavron|2000|p=45}}

Kibbutzim founded in the 1920s tended to be larger than the kibbutzim like Degania that were founded prior to World War I. Degania had had twelve members at its founding. [[Ein Harod|Eyn Harod]], founded only a decade later, began with 215 members.

Kibbutzim grew and flourished in the 1930s and 1940s. In 1922, there were 700 people living on kibbutzim in Palestine. By 1927, the number had risen to 2,000. When [[World War&nbsp;II]] erupted, 24,105 people were living on 79 kibbutzim, comprising 5% of the Jewish population of Mandate Palestine.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://academic.oup.com/mj |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120711074115/http://mj.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/pdf_extract/15/2/207 |url-status=dead |title=The Kibbutz in Historical Perspective: A Review Essay |first=Mark A. |last=Raider |journal=Modern Judaism |date=1995 |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=207–210 |doi=10.1093/mj/15.2.207 |archive-date=11 July 2012 | issn=0276-1114 }}</ref> In 1950, the figures went up to 65,000, accounting for 7.5% of the population. In 1989, the kibbutz population peaked at 129,000. By 2010, the number decreased to about 100,000; the number of kibbutzim in Israel was 270.<ref>{{cite news |first=Esty |last=Aharonovitz |date=17 June 2010 |script-title=he:מה קורה לוותיקי החברים אחרי שהקיבוץ הופרט? לא משהו טוב |language=he |trans-title=What happens after kibbutz members veterans privatized? Not something good |url=http://www.haaretz.co.il/misc/1.1207651 |work=[[Haaretz]] |access-date=14 January 2014}}</ref>