Community Between Inclusion and Exclusion: Diversity in Kibbutzim

As a participatory intentional community, the Kibbutz community has unique mechanisms, values and a way of life that can include diversity. To a large extent, these mechanisms also create an exclusion experience for some people whose integration into the community fabric is more challenging. The processes of change in kibbutz communities re-raise these issues on the community agenda. The panel will present research findings on the experiences of people from different groups in the Kibbutz and the ways in which the kibbutz operates to deepen its inclusion. They will present overt and covert aspects that move on the continuum between exclusion and inclusion. The studies are from a research project on inclusion and exclusion in the kibbutz community conducted at the Yad Tabenkin Research Institute. They were edited in a book by Dr. Orna Shemer and Dr. Menachem Topel.