Community Profile

Kibbutz Hannaton exemplifies Israel's pioneering spirit.
Founded in 1983 as a Masorti (Conservative) kibbutz by new immigrants from North America together with groups of young adults from the Masorti Movement in Israel.
The kibbutz is now undergoing a renewal and rejuvenation.
Spearheaded by Masorti Rabbi Yoav Ende, a core group of twenty Israeli families from diverse backgrounds united in 2008, joining the remaining veteran members, and accepted the challenge of building an innovative, pluralistic community based on education, tradition, social justice, Zionism and ecology. 
We aspire to become a community of 80 families by 2012


Vision Statement

Kehillat Hanaton was founded as an egalitarian, democratic, pluralistic, humanitarian, ecological community that respects the freedom of choice and right to individuality and privacy of each of its members at the same time that it strives to realize its potential as a community to nurture and support its individual members and its power as a group to have a substantive impact on the repairing of the world.
Our Kehilla strives to be in constant dialogue about what it means to be Jewish in the 21st century, in a world that is threatening to self- destruct out of a lack of consciousness and responsible action in all aspects of how humanity lives.
Respect for the past and concern about the future are what inform our present decision-making as a community

Renewal at Kibbutz Hannaton

Kibbutz Hannaton, founded in the 1983 as a Masorti kibbutz, was on the verge of dissolution until a core group of families from diverse backgrounds came together in 2008 to foster its renewal and reinvigoration. The twenty new families come from a variety of backgrounds, including Masorti, Reform and Orthodox. The majority are young Israeli adults in their 20’s and 30’s, some single, but most married with children, along with a couple of families in their 40’s and 50’s.  The plan calls for the absorption of an additional 30 families in the next few years.
The kibbutz has recently become a “kibbutz mit’hadesh” (a revitalized kibbutz), in which it will maintain some of the cooperative elements of the original kibbutz system, while implementing a fundamental change with a differential salary system and home ownership.
The challenge that the new dynamic kibbutz members have elected to take upon themselves is to build a pluralistic and accepting community where all can express their Judaism in a holistic and integrated manner

Goals of Kehillat Hannaton

 To create a learning, spiritual, Zionist community based on prayer, education, tradition, mitzvot, social justice and ecology
 To use Jewish tradition to strengthen the fabric of the community by integrating Jewish ritual and values into the life of the Kehilla
 To provide a scope of inviting activities that will meet the spiritual, educational and cultural needs of individuals, families and community
 To reach out and accept families who do not come from a traditional background and provide a comfortable place for them to learn and grow
 To make the synagogue become a magnet for communal activity

Our History

Established in 1983 as a Masorti (Conservative) kibbutz, Hannaton is now being revived by a core group of families from a cross section of the Jewish world, spearheaded by Rabbi Yoav Ende.
Most of the new members are second generation Israelis, many who grew up in the Masorti movement in Israel.
Today the kibbutz has more members than ever before and has established a renewed community committed to the shared vision of a Jewish life of learning, environmentalism, pluralism and spirituality.
By 2010, Hannaton will be home to 80 families. The Educational Center, established in 1990 in honor of Rabbi Simon and Betty Greenberg, is also being revitalized.
At Hannaton, spirituality is not an isolated retreat experience but takes place in the context of an embracing community that supports and enables the spiritual, ethical and communal development of the center's participants

“The HEC promises to be the center for progressive Jewish spirituality in the Galilee reaching across Israel and around the world.” Rabbi Dr Haviva Ner David

“We are aspiring to build passionate committed religious leadership that draws on the past, is relevant for the present and shapes our common future." Rabbi Yoav Ende, HEC Director