The new 'kibbutz-ism'?

by Dennis Coday

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dcoday@ncronline.org

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Those of you who liked Tom Robert's latest offering in his "In Search of the Emerging Church" offerings, which was titled "The 'new monasticism,' " may like this report from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, "Old kibbutz pins hopes for revival on Conservative Judaism."

While some of Israel's kibbutzim are in steady decline, 10 mostly young families have arrived at Hannaton since the summer. They are part of a larger group of 20 families aiming to revitalize the country's only official Conservative kibbutz. ...

The objectives of the kibbutz's new cohort are as diverse as their reasons for relocating there. Some have come to escape urban life, others for the chance to shape a tight-knit community from the ground up. Still others have come because the religious offerings elsewhere in Israel were seen as inadequate. ...

Hannaton's various objectives are sometimes hard to pin down, but broadly speaking they encompass a desire to create a pluralistic community animated by a concern for social justice, the environment and Jewish spirituality; to strengthen the ties of Jewish peoplehood between Israel and the Diaspora; and to help shape Israel's Jewish identity.

It sounds to me like those kids in Camden that Roberts visited would have much to talk about with those kids in Hannaton.

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