Page 10 - Issue 19

our comfort with one another. We decided to stay
together but to find new people in order to at
least double the size of our Kvutsah (from 4
people to 8 or more). At the time I wholeheartedly
embraced this new stage in our lives, inviting new
people and helping to shape the process towards
the formation of what is now the Kvutsah of 10
that was established approximately at the start of
September. The new experiment is still very much
in its infancy but from it I have learned things that
I didn’t fully understand about myself, mostly
things that make the new Kvutsah much harder
than the last. The drastic change in living
environment has also rapidly raised the question
of whether or not this particular manifestation of
collective living is what I want in the first place. A
question that has taken me completely off guard,
not unlike the other questions this year has
birthed.

Unfortunately, as goes the cliché, I have found
that some of the experiences I have grown from
and learned from the most have also been some
of the most unpleasant times in my life, my
second year in Israel has certainly not been an
exception. Something that has crystallised for me
this year is the notion that no matter how certain I
am when I set down a certain path I can very
quickly end up somewhere else entirely; and
although I went on this adventure understanding
its potentially ephemeral nature, feeling
destabilised to the degree that I do so soon has
been a shock and then some. Fortunately, I have
been surrounded by and surrounded myself with
things and most importantly incredible people