Settle down but carry-on fighting! Revisiting ‘Mishol’ intentional community after 12 years

Urban Kibbutz Mishol is one of the biggest new intentional communities in Israel. This research combines data from two points in time, 12 years apart, looking at the differences in the ideological, organizational and familial status of the community members, in an effort to understand the changes in the social activities the community and its members take and to distinguish the reasons beyond these changes.

Kibbutz Mishol was built while the majority of its members were in their late teens – early twenties, during their military service or right after it. During the kibbutz early phase all of the members were living in small, close knitted groups according to their ages. In that period, the aims and the values of the small kibbutz were based on their youth movement’s ideology. By looking at the social spheres surrounding the kibbutz, a pattern emerges that explains the variety of social actions and their focus on education inside the kibbutz’s groups, in the local town and nationally. These days, the kibbutz oldest members are in their early fifties while the younger members are already in their forties. They are still involved in promoting social change in different spheres and take part in social actions. However, there is an obvious shift in the scope and depth of their social actions, although their ideals did not change.

In an effort to learn more about the influence of maturation on the social actions of the new intentional communities in Israel, in this lecture I will try to portray how the changing circumstances in kibbutz Mishol members personal life and in the national and international fronts influence and shape their choices of social activities both inside and outside the kibbutz