Page 16 - Issue 17

So how did I get the opportunity to be doing this
stuff? Well, I grew up in Habonim Dror North
America and after I made Aliyah, I joined an urban
kibbutz of tzabarim. At first I lived in Haifa and
now in Petach Tikvah. The kibbutz that I’m a part
of today is called an educators’ kibbutz. That is to
say, that while the main function of traditional
kibbutzim was agriculture and later industry, our
main activity is education and community building.
We run educational and social programs
throughout Israel, with a goal of increasing social
cohesion, cooperation and equality in Israeli
society through mifgash.

Our programs include shared existence
programming in Arab communities, sex education
in schools, sports programs that emphasize good
citizenship, labor protections and unionizing for
young people, schools that focus on Project Based
Learning, after-school youth centers, street
counselling for at-risk youth and much more.

Israeli society is incredibly diverse and Israel is
densely populated. That diversity brings with it an
abundance of beautiful traditions and stories. The
density brings people into close proximity. And
yet, moments of true mifgash are not easy to
create. I am happy to be part of a group of people
that has chosen to focus our energies together on
creating opportunities to meet, to share, to know
one another and to build society together.