June 5, 2024
We are saddened by the loss of Dr. Michael Livni, z”l, a boger and leader of Habonim North America, a lifelong Kibbutz Member, and a veteran Labor Zionist educator. Michael was born in Vienna, Austria in 1935, and grew up in Vancouver, Canada, where he graduated with an MD in 1959 from the University of British Columbia. His doctoral thesis in social psychiatry was: “An Adolescent Subculture – A Study of the Habonim Youth Movement in Vancouver”. He made Aliya to Kibbutz Gesher Haziv in the in 1963, and eventually settled at Kibbutz Lotan in 1986. Throughout his years as a true Kibbutznik Michael had a distinguished renaissance career as a farmer, gizbar, educator, writer, and lecturer. Amongst other things Michael was the first Shaliach of the Kibbutz Movement to the Reform Movement in North America, and was instrumental in founding the Telem Youth movement. From 1989-1992, he served as Director General of the World Zionist Organization’s Department of Jewish Education and Culture. Since joining Kibbutz Lotan he helped establish the the Center for Creative Ecology. Michael has always been a friend to Habonim and a believer in youth movements, and social movements ability to change the world. He will be missed. Michael Livni leaves behind his widow Dr Brenda Herzberg, three sons, Dvir, Nimi, and Sivan, six grandchildren, and numerous students in Kibbutz Lotan, in Israel, and across the world. May his memory be for a blessing.