Page 26 - C.A.L.L. #32 - Summer 2010
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In Israel, Kibbutz Life "What we felt [was] that in modern
Undergoes Reinvention society today there is a lot of
alienation between people in the cities,
by Lourdes Garcia-Navarro where most of the population today
NPR lives," Gomel says. "So this is why we
October 13, 2009 felt we want to live in a more urban
setting but with the solidarity and the
friendship and the personal ties of a
For years now, the kibbutz movement small kibbutz."
in Israel has been struggling. These Her urban kibbutz — one of dozens in
communal farms were a big part of the the country — is made up of 13 adults
utopian dream that married Zionism and three children. Most of them live
with socialism. Many communities were in this apartment building.
privatized; others were abandoned. But "We want to share a space, that's for
from the ashes, some Israelis are sure. We don't share the same
trying to branch out and take the old apartment. We're not in a commune
movement in a new direction. setting," Gomel says. "We have some
kind of
The Urban economic
Kibbutz sharing. We
It's dinnertime celebrate
at an apartment holidays
in Jerusalem's together. We
Kiryat Yovel also have a lot
neighborhood. of ideological
The door is sharing, which
unlocked and means we learn
20-something a lot from each
men and women other."
walk in holding Members of an urban kibbutz located in the Kiryat Yovel And they want
dishes of food neighbourhood of Jerusalem to achieve
for the potluck certain common goals. This group is
meal. It looks like a gathering of any active in local politics. At the moment,
group of young Israelis, but the people they are leading the charge in trying to
here are members of an urban kibbutz. maintain the secular character of their
"It's the renewal of the kibbutz neighborhood as increasing numbers of
movement. And I think it takes the Orthodox Jews move in.
basic and core values and principles of Communal meals are an important
the kibbutz movement but places it in a feature of their life, when they can
different context," says Michal Gomel, discuss and plan activities. As dusk
a 28-year-old social worker. falls, they sit down to eat.
She grew up on a traditional kibbutz —
one that was set in a remote rural The Kibbutz In Progress
environment, where all the funds and There are 256 kibbutzim in Israel,
the work were shared. according to the movement's official
Web site. But for the past decade, the
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