YESS! Interesting Article!

Hi All--
A friend of mine sent me this article because he knows how badly I want to live on a Kibbutz. I tried convince my family but they said the nearest one was just TOO FAR. Well-- BROOKLYN isn't very far from Roslyn, New York... is it??

Enjoy!
Cara
VP Cultural/Educational Programming



Israel's Urban Kibbutz Movement Has Arrived in New York. Will It Survive?

To start a kibbutz in New York City is to face a multitude of small challenges.Imagine, for instance, trying to explain to a banker at Bank of America that you want to open a joint checking account with five other people. This was the situation that Jamie Beran and five fellow alumni of the Zionist youth movement Habonim Dror found themselves in this summer, as they worked together to set up one of the first of a new breed of urban kibbutzim in the United States. The banker, says Beran, “could not comprehend why we wanted to do this,” insisting that there were rules limiting the number of people on a single checking account. There weren’t, and before long the newly minted kibbutzniks were issued a stack of Ben & Jerry-themed checks with all six of their names at the top.Most groups of roommates share communal expenses to some extent, chipping in on toilet paper and light bulbs. These young Habonim Dror alumni have taken it a step further. They are among a few groups that are working to translate the new Israeli urban kibbutz movement to an American context. Geared towards recent college graduates, these urban kibbutzim trace their ideological heritage to the Israeli communal farms while replacing the kibbutz’s traditional focus on the land with a focus on social action...

For full article as featured in "New Voices" magazine:
http://newvoices.org/features/a-commune-grows-in-brooklyn.html