Community

I ask for a beating heart, a living soul.

I wish that people would relate to each other like stars in a constellation – beautiful on their own and even more beautiful together.

These are great relationships, which benefit the individual who cares for those around him.

A.D. Gordon, Letters and Lists, The Zionist Library

The Beit Yisrael Community

The Beit Yisrael Community was established 30 years ago. We are an urban intentional community inside Jerusalem’s Gilo neighborhood. Our members represent the full spectrum of Jewish practice and identity in Israel. We strive to live our lives in a way that strengthens the bonds within Israeli society. Rooted in the Jewish tradition, we live together and work hand in hand with Gilo residents to build a strong and resilient neighborhood.

Today, we number 90+ families and individuals who seek to live lives of connection, community responsibility, and chessed. Our community has two minyanim (prayer congregations), learns together, celebrates important events together, coordinates informal youth education programs, and works together to create a strong community support network in the neighborhood.

The Beit Yisrael community operates and volunteers in a variety of educational and communal programs for children, youth, and the elderly which you can read more about here.

The Beit Yisrael Alumni Network

Mechinat Beit Yisrael is so much more than a one-year experience. Under the leadership of our Alumni Committee, our 1,500 alumni stay connected over distances large and small. We offer seminars, classes, workshops, musical experiences, shabbat retreats, and physical and online spaces to share ideas and motivation towards building lives of meaning, spirit, and social change.

Beit Yisrael Communities Nationwide

After graduation, many of Mechinat Beit Yisrael’s alumni continue to implement our model of an engaged and active community making a positive impact. Some alumni do so within existing communities, and others choose to establish new Beit Yisrael network communities themselves, in areas across Israel: In Hatzor Haglilit, Pardes Hanna, Akko, Motza Ilit, Tzur Hadassah, Jerusalem (Armon Hanatziv, Katamonim, and Gilo neighborhoods), Yavniel, and Karmiel… and every year brings fresh possibilities for growth.

Each community has its own personality and creates its own unique way of life, and all draw their inspiration from Beit Yisrael’s fundamental integration of spirit and action, directed towards strengthening community bonds. Beit Yisrael actively supports and guides these young communities—spiritually, financially, and with practical ideas and skills.

Our oldest alumni community in Hatzor Haglilit has attracted mechina graduates from our first graduating year until the present, and it continues to inspire young community leaders. Meet our Hatzor Community:

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Student Villages

Kvutzat Reut operates communities of university students who live within Jerusalem neighborhoods, supported by Beit Yisrael’s more seasoned community activists. They volunteer with children and the elderly and participate in initiatives that improve quality of life in the neighborhood. One of Beit Yisrael’s 5 student villages is the Gilo Intergenerational Community, where students live within a seniors’ home and share their daily lives with the residents. Beit Yisrael’s student villages operate as part of Bnei Akiva’s alumni network, and with the partnership of the Jerusalem Municipality’s Youth Authority, the Municipal Youth Center, the Jerusalem Municipality and Jerusalem Foundation’s Scholarship Fund, and the East Talpiot and Gilo Community Councils.

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For details contact Yitzchak

050-4401465