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Jewish Intentional Communities Conference

Mar 28, 2019 - Mar 31, 2019

Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, Falls Village, CT

The JICC was an amazing experience!  I’d been thinking and feeling this pull to help form some kind of earth-mindful Jewish community for some time and felt very supported to know that there are others out there with similar visions. I came to Isabella Freedman with an open mind and left with a full and open heart.
—Suzy Rosen, New York
 

This event was made possible through the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation’s Grassroots Events program

and presented in partnership with

Overview

The 2018 Jewish Intentional Communities Conference gathered together 160 community innovators and social entrepreneurs at the idyllic Pearlstone Center in Maryland to develop their practical community building skills like decision making and fundraising, as well as filling up their souls with an inspirational Shabbat experience. Participants formed lasting connections, founded sub-groups of like-minded communities, and enjoyed sharing their challenges and learning from each other’s successes.

If you want to take part in the conversation that will shape the future of the Jewish Intentional Communities Movement, then we invite you to take part in the 6th International Jewish Intentional Communities Conference from March 28-31, 2019 at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Connecticut.

Is this conference for me?

  • Yes, if you live in or participate in temporary intentional community.
  • Yes, if you live in or want to participate in longer-term intentional community.
  • Yes, if you’re curious about what living or participating in intentional community might mean in a Jewish context.
  • Yes, if you want to engage with a growing access point for Jewish engagement.
  • Yes, if you are currently part of the Hakhel network. (If you are not currently, and think you would like to be, you can learn more and apply here. Applications are considered on a rolling basis.)

What will we do?

  • Have fun. In addition to enjoying each other’s company in a beautiful place, we will celebrate Shabbat in a pluralistic Jewish community with both traditional and egalitarian prayer service options, and eat delicious homemade farm-to-table food.
  • Create an ecosystem-map.  As a whole retreat group, we will engage in a facilitated exercise in mapping the many models of Jewish intentional community as an ecosystem – examining how various styles of community each contribute to the larger, interconnected world of intentional community. This is an opportunity to get our hands dirty and minds buzzing as we envision actual communities.
  • Learn from each other. The JICC is a forum to develop a “community of practice,” where we get to share our resources with each other. We will gain skills and knowledge from each other as we look to strengthen our own communities. We will also learn about the Israel-based mission-driven intentional communities movement. Stay tuned for a schedule of learning sessions and workshops.
  • Spend an incredible Shabbat together. 

Please direct any questions to hakhel@hazon.org.

Schedule

Previous conferences explored:

where we’ve been — biblical communities, 20th century kibbutzim and moshavin, the case study of Beit Chavura
where we are — examples of modern Israeli communities, Moishe House, Adamah and other young adult programs
where we’re going — refining our joint visions for the future, gaining skills to enhance our capacity to build sustainable communities, and facilitated networking to identify common interests and visions

Explore the program books from previous conferences (2013-2018)

Join Hakhel

Hakhel: Gather the People
Are you an innovative and entrepreneurial Jewish leader? Interested in creating a co-housing project, Havurah, social justice oriented group or some other new version of a Jewish Intentional Community? Want to be included in the emergence of a range of new experiments in Jewish community?

We invite you to apply to be part of Hakhel – the first-of-its-kind Jewish Intentional Communities Incubator. Hakhel was founded on the premise that communal life is an irreplaceable component in maintaining Jewish identity, and that as part of the general rejuvenation of Jewish life in the Diaspora it only makes sense to come up with new and innovative communal models as well.

 

Hakhel invests in a wide range of new community initiatives and experiments. If this sounds like you, click here to learn more.

Please direct any questions to hakhel@hazon.org.