Page 25 - C.A.L.L. #47 - Winter 2020/2021

The festival opens, much crackling from the microphone, with a group of children explaining
that this is a festival for all three religions, Christmas and Hannukah, and even though the
Moslems don’t have a specific festival just now, we are also celebrating their religion. Not
their religion, our religions. The children here in this school come from all three faiths and
many ethnic backgrounds. The grand entrance of the first group of dancers would have
fitted well into Red Square in Moscow, with music that could have come straight from the
Red Army Choir.

For the next hour we have Jingle
Bells sung like I never heard it
before, traditional Jewish

Hanukkah songs and several Arabic
tunes played over the loudspeakers
with dancing, culminating in a belly
dancing show

This school is very special, maybe
half the teachers come from
Mishol, the principal too. Many of
the children are from the kibbutz
as well. It’s a 10 minute walk away,
and the school very much reflects the ethos of the kibbutz. Cooperation between ethnic and
religious groups, social justice, and a decent life for all regardless of their background.
Mishol is big, 150 people living collectively under one roof, half of them children. No one gets
a salary, there are no private cars, and there are lots of shared facilities. A music room, a

training room, camping store, meeting rooms and guest rooms.

One of the more recent projects the school has initiated is a big greenhouse in the school
yard, completed just a few months before. That was the reason I was invited, to give a

permaculture presentation about designing urban gardening and growing, and to explore how
to use permaculture design thinking when integrating different ethnic groups. At the talk I
met several people from Bustan, a multi-ethnic group that has been developing for the last
year and a half.

In permaculture we have a principle of starting in the worst area when developing a site,
designing paradise out of accumulated waste and destruction. A phoenix arising from the
ashes. Is this a glimpse of a possible future? Can we really overcome our cultural, religious
and ethnic differences and create a society where we live next to each other in friendship
and respect? Is this the meaning of ideological intentional community that has an aim of
creating a better society?

I was there only for a short visit, less than 24 hours, but I realised what a difference an
intentional community can make when its members are committed to social renewal and really
work at it. I shouldn’t really be surprised, that’s what intentional community can do, what it
has often done, and what it will carry on doing.

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