Page 10 - C.A.L.L. #45 - Summer 2019

Hakhel Brings 11 Countries to Israel

for Innovation Conference

By Erin Ben-Moche | MAY 17, 2019 |
JEWISHJOURNAL.COM

Hakhel, the Jewish intentional communities incubator, brought together 35 Jewish leaders from 21

Jewish intentional communities in 11 countries to see the latest innovative models for community

building.

Community leaders from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Netherlands,

Spain, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States participated.

The week-long trip that ended May 16 included training and development opportunities as well as

meetings with leaders of Israel’s most successful intentional communities. They had the opportunity to

meet with leaders from Friends By Nature, a community network of Ethiopian intentional communities,

where they discussed the work they are doing to create dynamic programming and communal

empowerment for this underprivileged sector of Israeli society.

“The key to building and sustaining a successful intentional community is mentorship,” Hakhel General

Director Aharon Ariel Lavi said in a statement. “Our goal was to bring the leaders of the top Jewish

intentional communities in the Diaspora to meet with these successful communities here in Israel to

learn best practices from them and for them to advise each other.”

During the trip they met with The Reshet, a community of young adults in their 20s and 30s who chose

to stay in Be’er Sheva after their university studies to create a vibrant and inviting scene for young

adults; met with the leaders of Druze intentional communities, as well as with a joint farm of Jews and

Arabs in Gush Etzion and visited communities on the Gaza border, and spent Shabbat there, learning

what it meant to strengthen Israel’s periphery on a daily basis.

Founded in 2014, Hakhel’s mission is to spark and support new expressions of Jewish life in the

Diaspora by nurturing the growth of intentional communities with advisors, seed funding and network

building. They operate in partnership with Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, which works to

strengthen Jewish life in the Diaspora and connection to Israel.