Page 23 - Core Beliefs For Intentional Community

transformation as an infinite process to further Tikkun Olam – social and environmental
CORE BELIEFS for INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY
The Intentional Communities Desk
of the Kibbutz Movement As Study Group
(Formerly the International Communes Desk)
Introduction.
During the years 2012-2014, the Intentional Communities Desk held a series of
discussions on core aspects of intentional community. Broadly defined, intentional
communities are communities formed on a voluntary basis by individuals with shared
values and ideals.
These discussions appeared in the issues of CALL – Communities at Large Letter as
articles during the years 2012—2014, issues 34-38. We have seen it fit to republish
these articles as an educational resource for our readers. The booklet will also be on-
line at www.communa.org.il.
Five meetings of the Desk were devoted to this project – each meeting had a
particular focus. The foci were: Faith, Human Nature and Free Will, Community and
the Human as a Communal Being, Shlichut – The idea of “Mission” and “Tikkun Olam”:
Intentional Community for World Mending and Transformation. Their order in this
booklet has been slightly altered from the order of their original publication. This
booklet is representative – not definitive.
Faith.
First and foremost, the ongoing personal decision to live in intentional community is a
matter of individual faith. The belief that there is a purpose to our existence over
and above satisfying our individual material and psychological needs as well as those of
our immediate family is a matter of faith. It cannot be proved or disproved. Our
discussion on this question utilized the writings of two philosophers as well as two
poets.
Paul Tillich (1880-1965) was a German Protestant theologian who fled to the United
States upon the advent of Hitler.
A.D. Gordon (1856-1922) was the philosopher and mythic personality whose ideas had
a seminal influence on the founding generation of the kibbutz movement.
The excerpt from “Laugh, Laugh at the Dreams” is by the poet, Shaul Tchernichovsky
(1875-1943). “You and I will Change the World” was a hit song in Israel written by
Arik Einstein (1939-2013)
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justice.
With the onset of modernity, traditional community began to disintegrate. The process is
still very much with us today. Most of us are not born into community. We are born into a
framework of nuclear family, sometimes only partial nuclear family. An important aspect
of the modern movement for Jewish national renewal, the Zionist movement, was the call
for a return to purposive Jewish community. The best known expression of this aspect of
Zionism was the kibbutz.
Within the context of modernity, the decision to participate in community meant the
conscious decision of the individual to do so – in particular if the community is an intentional
community. The individual has to decide if he/she wants a life of meaning and that such a
life is best realized in a community of like-minded others. This was the essential personal
decision in personal Tikkun, personal self-transformation, for those who sought to
participate in Jewish renewal. The Labor Zionist philosopher, A.D. Gordon, 1856-1922, put
it thus:
“Insofar as I have not yet experienced a change in my purpose for living there is no reason
for me to seek a new life, as I will not find it. A new life is first and foremost a new
purpose for living…”
Gordon’s view was a balanced one. He rejected those who would sacrifice their personal
self-fulfillment in work and love (“Life of the Hour”) for the sake of an ideal (“Life
Eternal”). He believed that the purpose for living had to permeate self-fulfillment in the
here and now in order to realize a link to Life Eternal.
INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY, PEACE AND TIKKUN OLAM.
National and international movements of intentional community begin with individuals who
seek a life of purpose. Tikkun Olam is a message of peace and sustainability for all.
“Rabbi Shimon said: The world stands on three things – on the Law, on the Truth and on
Peace. (Talmud, Avot 1:18)
The intentional community becomes the unit for “being the change” (Gandhi) which seeks to
realize “in micro” a vision for society “in macro”. The striving for Tikkun Olam is a universal
message for all peoples. Each people, in cooperation with other peoples must seek social
and environmental justice in its allotted portion of Divine Creation through the lens of its
unique culture. Only thus can universal sustainability and peace be realized.
In the words of the prophet:
“…all the peoples walk each in the name of its gods” to the goal – “Nation shall not take up
sword against nation, they shall never again know war." (Micah 4:5)
Compiled by Michael Livni