Winner of the Malstrom Award of the League of Snohomish County
Historical Organizations
In 1968, a time of turbulence and countercultural movements, a
one-time television salesman named Paul Erdmann changed his name to
Love Israel and started a controversial religious commune in
Seattle's middle-class Queen Anne Hill neighborhood. He quickly
gathered a following and they too adopted the Israel surname, along
with biblical or virtuous first names such as Honesty, Courage, and
Strength. The burgeoning Love Israel Family lived a communal
lifestyle centered on meditation and the philosophy that all
persons were one and life was eternal. They flourished for more
than a decade, owning houses and operating businesses on the Hill,
although rumors of drug use, control of members, and unconventional
sexual arrangements dogged them.
By 1984, perceptions among many followers that some Family
members - especially Love Israel himself - had become more equal
than others led to a bitter breakup in which two-thirds of the
members defected. The remaining faithful, about a hundred strong,
resettled on a ranch the Family retained near the town of
Arlington, Washington, north of Seattle. There they recouped and
adapted, with apparent social and economic success, for two more
decades.
In "The Love Israel Family," Charles LeWarne tells the
compelling story of this group of idealistic seekers whose quest
for a communal life grounded in love, service, and obedience to a
charismatic leader foundered when that leader's power distanced him
from his followers. LeWarne followed the Family for years,
attending its celebrations and interviewing the faithful and the
disaffected alike. He tells the Family's story with both sympathy
and balance, describing daily life in the urban and later the rural
communes and explaining the Family's deeply felt spiritual beliefs.
The Love Israel Family is an important chapter in the history of
communal experiments in the United States.
Charles P. LeWarne is the author of "Utopias on Puget Sound,
1885-1915" and "Washington State," a text used in many regional
school districts. He is coauthor of "Washington: A Centennial
History."
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