For decades, the children's house stood at the heart of the kibbutz movement's vision of communal education: from infancy through the teen years, children lived and slept there, apart from their parents, as an expression of the movement's founding ideals. Communal sleeping for younger children began to disappear in the 1970s and was gone by the 1990s, although some kibbutzim still maintain separate communal housing for teenagers. For those who lived it, the experience, especially at night, could be exhilarating or deeply traumatizing, and its legacy still shapes how many Israelis think about family, community, and child-rearing.

In three weekly sessions, we'll explore the children’s house through literature and film: short stories including work by Amos Oz, memoir excerpts, selections from Bruno Bettelheim's Children of the Dream, and the documentary Children of the Sun.

Who this is for:

• Anyone curious about Israeli history and the social experiments of the kibbutz movement
• Readers interested in Israeli literature, including the work of Amos Oz.
• Former kibbutz volunteers who want to revisit that experience through a new lens
• Anyone interested in the psychology of child-rearing and alternative models of family life

What you'll leave with:

• Discussion of stories by Amos Oz and others, memoirs, Bettelheim’s Children of the Dream, and the documentary Children of the Sun
• A sense of how growing up in the children’s house shaped the people who lived it

Three Mondays: November 16, 23, and 30, 7–8:30pm Pacific Time

Questions? Our FAQ covers registration, recordings of missed sessions, refunds, and financial assistance.