Goats

Goats are working animals in Boaz Brandstetter’s Commune, woven into both its practical recovery and its intimate household life. Kept in a purpose-built shed, they supply milk for yogurt and cheese, while caring for them becomes one of the narrator’s learned responsibilities. They also figure in the children’s world: a little girl reports on her relationship with them during calls to Yerushalayim, and Yifat’s place among the animals remains part of the narrator’s account of life at the estate.

Place in the Commune

As the neglected property is restored, the commune establishes a goat shed alongside its beehives, donkey stable, and goose coops. The animals belong to a broader effort to make the estate productive rather than merely habitable: the garden is cultivated, the orchard pruned, and agricultural equipment put to use. Their presence gives the restored grounds a continuing, everyday purpose.

Care and Use

The narrator says that she has learned to look after the goats. Their milk is used to make yogurt and cheeses, extending the commune’s domestic production beyond the bread its members bake themselves. The goats therefore connect routine animal care with the household’s effort to provide for itself; they are not simply part of the scenery of the renovated estate.

Family and Narrative Role

In an earlier letter, the narrator describes a little girl using an electric shaver as an imaginary telephone to make half-hour reports to Yerushalayim about her relationships with the goats, geese, and peacock. The comic detail presents the animals as companions in the child’s daily life, not just livestock. Later, the narrator’s mention of learning to care for the goats places that attachment within the commune’s shared work. Together, these details make the goats a small but concrete sign of life taking root at the estate.