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By Marisa Mazria Katz
At the height of the coronavirus lockdown in Israel last March, the lives of others were reduced to a maximum of 4 walls. The parks were closed, as were the beaches, and the walks were limited to one block. Worse, efforts to stem the spread of the pandemic came here at the beginning of the Easter and Easter holidays, when giant meetings, suddenly forbidden, are the norm.
It’s an unprecedented kind of loneliness. But not for Yael Einhar, a network organizer of the city of Rehovot who is also a member of an “urban kibbutz”, an urban branch of the iconic lifestyle of the Israeli network. Within a few days, his Kibbutznik comrades, who live among several apartments in a seven-story tower, subdivided into teams of 10, took action. They then created an impromptu school, where members alternated between training and work, organized meals for local markets, and even set aside time for the organization’s training sessions.
And unlike the rest of the country, they were able to host a normal-ish Passover seder. “It was really a lonely and scary time for the country, but for us it was a totally different experience,” said Einhar, a mother to five-year-old twins. “We are accustomed to responding quickly to a changing reality.”
An impromptu elegance of yoga in the kibbutz of Yael Einhar, the first stop of coronavirus.
As COVID-19 continues to increase in the United States, hopes of returning to pre-pandemic life are disappearing. Families seek to adapt to the “new normal” of staggered school days and, for some, only online learning. In the midst of this tumult, the sense of network and flexibility of the urban-kibbutz style is possibly the key to keeping families safe, healthy and combined in the coronavirus era.
“Living in a network is a crisis is crucial; you do combined things you can’t do alone,” said Nomika Zion, social and political activist and co-founder of the Migvan urban kibbutz in the southern Israeli city of Sderot. According to Zion, urban kibzim emerged as a slower and more varied reimagination of its agrarian predecessors, while helping members reconnect with the facets of the social duty of the original kibbutz movement in the 1960s and 1970s.
The number of urban kibzim is slowly increasing: Zion says that there are now about 275 across Israel, from devotees to secular, giant and small, Jews and Arabs. Some are in dense cities and come with families who hire individual apartments on the same floors; others, such as Zion’s, are in more suburban settings, with members living in personal homes.
Some pool resources (like classic kibbutzim) for canopy food and other expenses, while others run more autonomy. And while everyone has other social missions, they all remain committed to improving the collective well-being of the spaces in which they live. “We can build another social and human life with more solidarity and responsibility,” Zion added.
At first glance, the concept of urban kibbutz might seem disconnected from Americans who appreciate individualism. However, its effect is already being felt on a global scale. Although his vision was eventually revealed, WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann brought zeal to the shared spaces of work, life and education, or what he called “Kibbutz 2.0”. No wonder Neumann was raised in part in a kibbutz.
Then there’s Venn, an Israel-based genuine goods progression corporation that has created live/work/percentage communities in Brooklyn, Berlin and Tel Aviv. The 3 outposts represent kibbutz-like values, such as network organization and volunteering, food and network events, and in the case of your Israeli site, the creation of a kindergarten.
Coworking at the Venn outpost in Brooklyn.
During the March coronavirus wave, this was shown completely at each location, said venn co-founder Chen Avni. At that time, citizens accumulated to deliver food to their surrounding communities, their local small businesses, organize online yoga categories and e-book clubs, and, in the case of their tel Aviv location, expand makeshift categories for children.
In the United States, similar systems also emerged from the pandemic. In San Francisco, for example, citizens of the Bernal Heights community amassed early confinement to shape kibbutz-flavored communal facilities, such as a bakery and children’s newspaper. And in Los Angeles, a more hybrid kibbutz flavor, combined with the user and online, will be released through the Star Building Group “Ohana Star” form.
Based on the Hawaiian concept of neighborhoods as extended families, Ohana will unite citizens of multifamily buildings in an online formula that encourages the exchange of resources, talents and fundamental needs. “Our culture hasn’t been sharing yet, but it’s a thing of the past,” said Paul Jenkins, director of Star Building Group.
Back in Israel, which, like the United States, is experiencing a wave of coronavirus, Einhar is preparing to move to a new apartment complex where he will enroll in an even larger cohort of Kibutznik comrades. While navigating COVID-19 is still a balanced exercise, you have some hope that your configuration will create an appearance of normality for your family. “It’s a community-centric movement,” she says. “Something we want more than ever.”
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