Zionism and Aliyah

This week the educational theme was Zionism, with an emphasis on understanding the roots of Zionism and then exploring our own personal beliefs. The week was heavy to fascinating text study, with authors such as Moses Hess, Martin Buber, and A.D. Gordon,  the last being my favorite. A.D. Gordon understood that working the land was a spiritual endeavor that fulfilled ones life. I don't really identify with his views in that I scarcely do physical labor, but I admire someone who can find a connection within day to day work, a connection that I think Americans struggle to retain as they increasingly have cubicle style work. Gordon is teaching me to love what I do and do what I love, that something less is inadequate.

But back to Zionism.

To sum up the week of intense study and discussion (there were three hours spent discussing Zionism after one class) we went to the first and second aliyah museums. The first aliyah museum, located in Zichron Ya'akov is a renovated old building in a picturesque town. I was able to enjoy the museum, partly because I love the town to begin with, but partly due to the amusing videos which the museum made. In order to show the process that the earlier settlers went through, the museum created a series of videos which chronicled the life of one Jewish family.

The videos depicted the hardship of settlers of the first aliyah. Starting in the 1880s, the first aliyah was primarily a religious immigration comprised of Jews who believed in the power of the lord as a way to help them through their process. That said process was arduous as they were afflicted with disease, dry lands, and a scorching sun. The early settlers were successful with the help of the local residents and the philanthropy of foreign Jews. These settlers were the creators of the Moshav, the non-socialist community.

The settlers of the second aliyah are people I relate to more. Young people, many part of Zionist youth movements, left their homes in the 1920s (and later) to start Kibbutzim, where I am living now. Their motivation was their intense belief in labor and the power of human work. They suffered, but they also sang and loved what they did. They understood that no one could do the work for them, so they labored tirelessly to make their crops succeed. The museum depicted all of this by creating little rooms which served as scenes of the early kibbutz. Our tour guide was very engaging as she acted out many situations that were common back then. A lot of her words rang familiar to us, as our group functions as its own little kibbutz.

The whole trip was very engaging, but we were all pretty glad to come back home to Ein Dor where we (as usual) promptly fell asleep.

Rabin Seminar

Last weekend, around 100 members of Habonim Dror from all over the world gathered together to learn about Yitzhak Rabin and his lasting legacy of peace. All of the participants were post-high school gap year students, though in significantly different places in the workshop program. The South Americans had been here for 9 months already, and the Australians and South Africans had been here for 8 months. Only the Americans and the British had been in Israel for 2 months upon arriving at the seminar.

From the beginning it was apparent that every group was extremely different. First of all, the South Americans spoke either Portuguese or Spanish and had long hair, held back by thick colorful headbands. The South Africans and Australians looked gritty, weathered by their time in Israel and were laid back, without cares. The British were clean and dressed up, worrying about their appearances.  The Americans appeared and acted entirely different. We were clean but without worrying too much what we looked like, and always a little bit more uptight than the other groups. We arrived to peulot (activities) on time (or a little early) and went to bed before anyone else. In other words, we were a slightly more responsible group (perhaps too responsible).

The structure of the seminar included small groups based on the language in which the seminar was took. Since I decided to do the seminar in Hebrew, I had an extremely diverse group, dominated by South American boys. The Hebrew was tricky, but with a little help, I managed to participate in the peulot and express myself openly. The peulot mostly revolved around Rabin's life or how to achieve peace (not necessarily how to bring peace about, but what ideas are needed within a peace process. For example, is peace a strategy or a value and how does that impact a process?) I found everything to be extremely interesting, and since I had to spend more energy than other people who took the seminar in their native language, I believe that it was more rewarding for me to be in such a difficult group.

My group included a few American girls, 5 South American boys, 2 South American girls, and an Australian girl. Being part of a group that was not dominantly American allowed me to understand how other Jews think, and especially how they perceive Americans. In one activity we were looking at hypothetical countries and trying to make treaties between them. My country was characterized as large and dominating. Their major goal was to have complete military control of the area and were willing to invade a smaller nearby country to control their resources. My partner in the activity, a boy from Uruguay, commented that it sounded exactly like America. Now I don't always agree with America's actions all the time, but for some reason I was deeply offended and felt the need to defend the United States. I started pointing out all of the other world powers that were more problematic, but I don't think I made a difference to him. It was just so interesting to see someone openly criticize America without thinking it could be offensive, especially knowing that there were four American girls sitting there, able to understand them.

After a little more than 24 hours, the seminar concluded with a tekes (ceremony) in which we heard a few poems and songs performed and then sang Shir Le'Shalom (song of peace which is connected to Yizhak Rabin). The ceremony was moving, and all the participants walked away feeling fulfilled and excited for a continuing participation in the peace process.

Tel Aviv and Yaffo

Every Thursday our kvutzah (group) takes a day trip somewhere which coordinates with the classes we've had that week.

This week the theme of our shiyurim (lessons) was Jews in the modern world, which took a look at how Jews developed the identities that they have today, especially in the United States. One day our discussion centered around the Haskala (Jewish enlightenment), which was extremely interesting as we learned that during the Haskala in Germany, people introduced ideas of reforming the syngagogue to include more German (the native language instead of Hebrew), music, and a sermon in German. This movement, known as the reform movement, spread rapidly through Germany and caught on in other places, especially the United States. I always knew a little bit about the reform domination of Judaism, but I never realized how radical it was for its time, and enjoyed learning about it immensely.

In light of those shiyurim (lessons) we went, on Thursday, to the diaspora musuem. The musuem chronicles the exile of Jews from Israel starting with the destruction of the second temple. It gives a critical look at the development of the diaspora and the common threads that still hold all Jews together. One exhibit of the musuem contained miniature models of synagogues around the world. My friends and I tried guessing where all of them were (though to be fair a few of them in Italy I recognized). One of the last synagogues looked way too familiar - until I realized that it was the Beth Sholom synagogue in Elkins Park (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright). Another highlight of the musuem was a computer database which provides complete family trees with just a little bit of information. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything about our family (though  Mom has created an extensive family tree so I mostly know our family past) but many of my friends discovered new things about their families (Howie tracked his family back to 1907 in Latvia).

After a few hours in the musuem we were dropped off in Yaffo to have lunch and wander around. For me, it was the first time having anything other than shnitzel for a meal in a few days, so of course it was an exciting meal (even if it was just some shawarma and fries). Being in Yaffo made me understand how much my thought process has started to change. The whole day we saw tourists walking around with little souvenirs, a reminder of their trip to Israel. But for us, being on kupa (basically...socialist money pot) means that we're constantly broke, and more than that, constantly being conscious of what we buy and why. It has made me appreciate every purchase so much more as well as challenge why I need things, or even if they are a necessary part of life. I still look in stores longingly (I'm not completely free of materialism), but I think I'm learning to be more thrifty (which should be useful for New York).

Our day in Tel Aviv and Yaffo was fun, but also another chance to get out of our bubble of the kibbutz to see how another part of Israeli society lives.

More to come soon!