The Kamah Association in Kibbutz Harduf presents a unique model for social change. This approach proposes the best possible integration of people with special needs in a rural community.

 

The Kamah model as a curative community is based on the philosophy of Anthroposophy and the principle of nurturing the healthy core in every person, while integrating and accepting those different from oneself in the tapestry of social and community life.

 

Kamah provides a rehabilitative, strengthening, and therapeutic home for adults with special needs and for at-risk children and teens. This allows the healthy community in which they live to experience giving, tolerance, and development, while creatively confronting the changing challenges and conditions.

 

Community integration finds its expression in Kamah’s various initiatives:

 

Beit Elisha: a community for adults with special needs who live in Kibbutz Harduf and Kiryat Tivon. Members carry out creative, productive work every day in various employment areas created especially for them – the organic vegetable garden, kitchen, bakery, a practical crafts center, and a coffee shop serving the general public, which is wholly run by Beit Elisha members.

The Beit Elisha model is also deployed on Kibbutz Merav in the Gilboa Mountains in a home for religious women with special needs. In the future, the model is planned to be implemented in other communities.

 

Beit Tuvia: a therapeutic dormitory for at-risk children and youth with a unique, family- and community-oriented character. The children and teens live on the kibbutz and participate in the various educational, social, and cultural activities.

 

The integrated community in Harduf strives to live according to the ideals of sustainability and protection of nature and the environment, while creating and maintaining dialogue and good neighborly relations with the residents of the region.