The new communal groups in Israel: Urban Kibbutzim and groups of youth movement graduates

Communal groups scattered throughout Israel are a phenomenon that has emerged within the last thirty years. The groups' members earn their livelihood mostly through educational community activity, not through agriculture or industry, and they have settled mainly in urban development areas unlike kibbutzim. This chapter offers a basic description of the new Israeli communal groups, information about their historical and biographical backgrounds. Although the communal groups are an outgrowth of the kibbutz movement, they vary widely. The political and public activities of the new communal groups in the development areas and in Israeli society in general were of interest. The kibbutz crises affected the members of the urban youth movements as early as the 1970s, and in particular in the 1980s and early 1990s. The kibbutzim in the post-army age-group are educational entities, serving as an ideological center for their youth movements. Groups of Youth Movement Graduates represent a new stage in the development of pioneer youth movements.