Integrating Intentional Community and Culture, as a mean for Cultural Reintegration

Outside Israel, the Jewish people is facing a growing challenge to maintain its vibrancy and the affiliation of the younger generation with Jewish culture. As a minority group, most Jews in the Western hemisphere are committed to values such as inclusion, diversity, equality, and justice. On the other hand, it is trying, as a group, to preserve its unique cultural identity.

Jewish communities, alongside what is often termed as “legacy institutions” (i. e. Jewish Community Centers, Jewish Federations and more), have been on the forefront of Jewish engagement, traditionally. However, it appears that a paradigm shift is evolving as a growing proportion of young adults do not identify with the traditional Jewish structures, not to be confused with Judaism itself.

In light of this coming of age, various types of Jewish Intentional Communities have evolved over the last decade, as a new method for engaging young adults and families in Jewish life and identify with their Jewish heritage. These communities’ main target audience is unaffiliated Jews, who comprise over 50% of Jewish population in most Western countries. This nascent movement is deeply inspired and informed both by the Israeli movement of intentional communities (which originated in the 1980s, separate from the Kibbutz movement) and global role models of intentional communities. This integration has yielded several fascinating models, such as Jewish cohousing, Jewish ecovillages and more.

This panel will give an overview of this phenomenon (now encompassing over 130 communities in 30 different countries, not including Israel), as well as several unique case studies: a Jewish cohousing project in Berkeley, CA; a Jewish ecovillage in Moretown, VT; and an arts & culture based urban community in New York, NY.