In an interview on Friday on Drink Champs, a podcast focusing on the world of hip-hop music, rapper Kanye West suggested that one of the solutions to social troubles in the US could be “Christian Kibbutz”.
“Love like kibbutz”
Kanye began by relating a personal experience of how his mother “separated [him] for the opportunity of more money.”
“Society is set up to have people go away to college,” West said. “And in between your dorm room and college, or in between your hometown and where you gotta go to school is gonna be a bunch of liquor stores, is gonna be a bunch of strip clubs, is gonna be a bunch of malls, is gonna be a bunch of things we do when we don’t have that love like in Kibbutz.”
The Kibbutz movement based on agricultural communities with internal socialist and communal structures was essential to the emergence of the modern state of Israel.
“We need Christian kibbutz. We can have communities,” West said.
The co-hosts, rapper NORE and record executive DJ EFN, were confused by the term so West explained.
“Jews have this kind of circulating community,” West said. “It’s like where they live, where we need to live, where grandparents can take care of their children.” He said. “It’s better for grandparents to take care of their children than for nannies to take care of them — hired love. Do you understand what I mean? We move as a community and as a community, and as a community never fail.“
Kibbutz responds: “Come visit”
The Kibbutz Movement tweeted out a response, inviting the celebrity to visit a kibbutz.
“Yo Kanye, strip clubs are out of the question,” the tweet read. “But you are more than welcome to drop by and visit our kibbutzim here in the holy land.”
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There is, in fact, a Christian kibbutz in Israel. Founded in 1963 by German Zionists who were devout Christians, Beth El is located near Zichron Yaakov in the Carmel region.
Kanye and Israel
West is not entirely unfamiliar with Israel. In 2015, West and his wife, Kim Kardashian, came to Israel to baptize their daughter North, in the Cathedral of St. James in Jerusalem’s Armenian quarter (Kardashian is Armenian-American). A few months later, Kanye returned for a performance in Tel Aviv.
It is not known whether he also visited a kibbutz while here but in 2013, his trendsetting wife (currently filing for divorce) made headlines when she redecorated her kitchen with quartz countertops from Kibbutz Sdot Yam, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of quartz-based kitchens. Soon after her redecoration, the kibbutz began building a factory in Georgia.
In recent years, the artist has begun exploring his Christian faith via his music, releasing the album Jesus is King in 2019. He has been awarded several major awards for his religious music.
In August, West applied to have his legal name changed from Kanye Omari West to Ye, with no middle or last name.
“I believe ‘ye’ is the most commonly used word in the Bible,” West said at the time. “In the Bible it means you. So, I’m you. I’m us. It’s us. It went from being Kanye, which means the only one, to just Ye.”
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