My name is Anton and I am a member of the urban kibbutz Mishol in Nof HaGalil.
It’s amazing how many shared interests Michael and I had. I spoke with him every two or three weeks for many, many years, and he always knew how to reach out when he wanted something. A man of Judaism and Jewish values — the phrase “Justice, justice shall you pursue” truly fits who he was.
We were together in two organizations that deal with the idea of communal living and communities — the “Intentional Communities Desk” and the "International Communal Studies Association". There’s no doubt that Michael’s decades of activity in these arenas was for him a mission — a mission for communal living, a mission rooted in the kibbutz movement, a mission from Israel.

One of the most central and active members of the Desk passed away suddenly on October 25th, 2001.

Three tributes from very different sources throw some light on his personality and the wide radius of his life.

From the letter from Germany's President Johannes Rau, read out at the funeral:
"... So there grew a real friendship with quite an unconventional man, who should have had a much more forming influence in his country and amongst his people than he was able to attain. We liked and respected each other, we were in close inner contact with each other..."

Shlomo Shalmon, who was for years Secretary of the International Communes Desk and co-editor of CALL, passed away on the 24th of October, 1998, on his kibbutz, Gesher.

Shlomo was born in Vienna, Austria. As a member of a Zionist youth movement, it was only natural that he chose the path of a pioneering life, and in 1938 he came to Palestine. After a short preparation period at the largest kibbutz, Givat Brenner, Shlomo and his group founded Kibbutz Gesher (" Bridge") in the Jordan Valley. Landscape gardening was his first major occupation, together with battling the insect pests in the citrus groves and the cotton fields. Besides building up the kibbutz - together with his helpmate, Naomi - he took an active part in defending it during the War of Independence (1947-8).