Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: COHOUSING-L digest 273

[Denise Meier and/or Michael Jacob (dmmj]

On Tue, 16 Sep 1997 Eves [at] aol.com wrote:

> Dear Carolyn,
> 
> Good question, sure to elicit variety of response.  I'll offer one, and add
> an additional one.  A Kibbutz is an Israeli commune.  Resources are shared.
>  Households do have individual dwellings, with kitchenettes, nonetheless,
> meals are offered and usually shared in common kitchen and dining room.
>  Children live together in children's housing.  They do have meals and
> evening time with family of origin.  

A few corrections. On very few kibbutzim do children live separately from
their parents any more. Young children live with their parents, until
about age 15, when, on some kibbutzim, they move into separate housing. (A
teenager's dream!) 

I just returned from a visit to Israel, and many things are changing on
the kibbutz, at least the 2 i visited. Many are unable to attract their
young people back to live communally on the kibbutz, and to remedy this,
some are starting to build single family housing adjacent to the
community. People who live in these homes can pay a fee to eat in the
dining room, send their children to the childcare/school, use the laundry
services, etc, but have their own jobs and are financially independent
from the kibbutz. In a word, cohousing. It is currently intended mostly
for adult children of kibbutz members, but undoubtedly will draw other
people as well.

Denise Meier
Two Acre Wood
Sebastopol, CA