Menachem Mendel

Elyashiv Reicher, a journalist and teacher who lives in Yeruḥam, has posted an interesting statistic on his blog, דרומי. Reicher notes that the majority of kibbutzim that have been established in the last two decades have been urban kibbutzim. There are currently over two thousand people living in numerous communal frameworks within urban areas in Israel. Many of these groups have settled in disadvantaged neighborhoods or cities, and Reicher notes with some irony that as the traditional agricultural kibbutz is slowing dying out, some of its second and third-generation members are trying to form a new version of the kibbutz. See this video about the past, present, and future, of the kibbutz movement. (hat tip)

I thought of Reicher’s post while reading an article in the NY Times about how religious needs and values affect choices of where to live and with whom to live. The article profiled a Christian kibbutz-like home in New York. The Jewish side of the story was about a young woman and her needs for a shabbat-friendly building and lots of room for shabbat meal guests. Having lived in a Jewish communal house for one year of college and spent some time on a kibbutz in Israel, I was wondering if there are any Jewish communal homes in America these days. I am not one for long-term communal living, but it can be a rewarding experience in the short-term.

I found a number of examples here in America, mostly from university-age groups. Here are a few examples: the Ravenna Kibbutz in Seattle; the Berkeley Bayit; the UCLA-Westwood Bayit; the Columbia Bayit. I guess that some people may say that the Upper West Side, Old Katamon, etc., are examples of communal-living lite, although nothing beats the close quarters of real communal living that allows for mutual growth, development, activism, and creativity, along with tension, animosity, and other annoyances.

Although not an urban kibbutz, in Israel there are many examples of גרעינים תורניים, groups of religious individuals and families that settle together in a city or a town and are active in communal, cultural, and educational affairs. Similar to the urban kibbutzim, they are people with a mission, and they want to make a difference.

These are examples of groups of people that have had a large impact on the neighborhoods and cities in which they are located, showing how a small group of people can sometimes make a big difference.

Posted on August 8th, 2010 under Israel, Religion • RSS 2.0 feed • Both comments and pings are currently closed