Scientific American

Youth Movements

At the age of 13 my parents sent me to Habonim (a Zionist youth group).
I participated in a few meetings and was amazed.
These young people were discussing matters about the world.
They told me though, that they didn't have a group my age, and they would get in touch with me when they did.

At age 15 I heard that they were still having meetings so I went again. I joined and I still feel today that I'm part of Habonim.
 

At age 19 I received a grant to participate in a training program in Kibbutz Kfar Blum for 9 months. The program was half a day work and half a day lectures. My group program was the fifth.
On the boat to Israel I had already decided that I would come to live in Israel after I got a degree in the university.

One day while gardening I had a moment of enlightenment - that I should first decide what I wanted to do and then to realize it.

Upon returning to the States I studied and continued to lead Habonim groups in Pittsburgh and in Cleveland. I realized that it was a privilege to be able to lead a group. I learned a lot from that.
 

Before the training program in Israel I attended evening classes in Carnegie Tech for 2 years. This shortened the 4 year requirement for a degree to 3 1/2 years.

At one of the national meetings of Habonim the head of the movement spoke about a new way of serving in the U.S. army. It was a 5 year program of reserve duty instead of 2 years active and 1 year reserve. The active duty was only half a year.  The reserve duty was a couple of hours in the evening once a week. He thought it would be helpful if some members joined to see how this would influence going to live in Israel. I enlisted.

I was stationed at a base close to Baltimore, the capitol (DC) and not far from Philadelphia. I visited the Habonim groups in these cities on my weekends. The reserve duty did not interfere with my aliya.

When I finished the active duty I was assigned to Detroit. 
In Detroit I participate in meetings of all the youth groups.
I organized a council of the Zionist groups Almost all the members or this council joined Habonim. This council affirmed a few statements that I wrote and that related to who is a Zionist

I continued my engineering studies there, this time something closer to what I thought I would be able to use on the kibbutz- civil engineering. When I came to Urim in Israel I was told that there was no need for this because there was already a person in charge of building. I worked initially with the chickens.

I traveled to the nearby moshavim to see if I could lead groups of youngsters there. That didn't work out so well. 
I then went to the development town of Ofakim and there succeeded in forming a group of high school graduates within the framework of the Histadrut. I then formed a council with 2 other similar groups that included representatives of the 3 groups.

Later on Urim sent me to an Israeli youth group (Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed). I went to Beersheva to organize the ken there and also helped a little as the regional person in charge of education. This was for 2 years
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n addition to the duties with the movement I also guided 2 frameworks of high school graduates. I proposed the formation of a framework for forming groups to live on the kibbutz from those that had finished their education and not by the accepted way through Nachal (Part of the Israeli Defence Army). This framework did come to be later on.

At the end of these 2 years I married and we decided that we would live in Kibbutz Kfar HaMaccabi so that my wife could fulfill her promise of teaching Physics and Mathematics to the high school there.

I received other assignments from Hanoar Haoved.
The first one was to lead the ken in Kiryat Ata.
The second one was as the organizer of a gareen that would go to Nachal and then to a kibbutz The groups from which this gareen were formed were from Kiryat Ata, Kiryat Chaim, Kiryat Yam, Acco, Kiryat Amal, and 2 groups in Afula.
I was also asked to lead the senior class in the high school in Kfar HaMaccabi. All that I did with them after a couple of lectures was to talk to the students about their plans after graduating, especially about a year of service

I always thought that the best way to introduce new ideas into the society was through the youth movement. 
However in Israel there were only "children's movements". 
The one youth movement that existed was not a democratic one, and there was no place for thinking about correcting society. This was the army. What they learned there was to obey authority.
It is no wonder that many of the generals eventually joined the leadership of political parties.

I said above that I still feel like a member of Habonim. I still organize groups. This time of adults . I will write about these groups that are learning about love in other chapters.