Liz Williams, age 15, of Dodge City, Kan., for her question:

WHEN WAS THE FIRST KIBBUTZ ESTABLISHED IN ISRAEL?

A "kibbutz" is a cooperative village or communal farm in Israel where all property is collectively owned and work is organized on a collective basis. The first kibbutz was founded on the bank of the Jordan River in 1909.
Members of the kibbutz contribute by working according to their capacity and in return receive food, clothing, housing, medical services and other domestic services according to their needs. Dining rooms, kitchens and stores are central and schools and children's dormitories are communal.
This type of community was necessary to the early Jewish immigrants to Palestine. By living and working collectively, they were able to build homes and begin to irrigate and farm the barren desert land. Each person could contribute individual abilities.
Since many kibbutzim were established along Israel's frontiers after independence in 1948, they became important in the defense of the new nation