Goodbye Ein Dor!

Last week was the end of Boneh, which Workshop 62 celebrated with a final tekkes (ceremony) to commemorate their time on Kibbutz Ein Dor. They used their tekkes to thank the people who helped shape their experience, including their Boneh educators and some kibbutzniks, and share final memories between the kvutzot and their British counterparts before separating to their new homes. Leaving kibbutz was a bittersweet experience as the kvutzot said goodbye to each other. Everyone was ready to leave kibbutz and begin the next part of their life in Israel, but were more than a little sad to say goodbye to each other, the experiences they had, the cats they loved, and the shnitzel they ate. Everyone is settling well into their new homes, and looking forward to family visits and a little vacation.

 The Rishon Letzion kvutza presents the Brits with a goodbye present.

Giving out superlatives to the Rishon kvutza, from the Karmiel kvutza.

 Celebrating Chanukka together.

Enjoying sufganiyot.

 Some inspiring final words from Ariyeh and Varda, two founders of the kibbutz.

Thanking the tzevet.

A parting song from the tzevet:

Front (L-R): Adam and Cassie

Back (L-R): Hyla, Zac, Ea and Amit

History of Habonim Hagshama

This week, the chanichim traveled around the country, meeting former members of Habonim Dror who have gone on to live in Israel and founded kibbutzim. The central question of the week was: what is the hagshama (actualization) of Habonim Dror? Through exploring the evolution of the kibbutz movement, from it's early years during the Second Aliyah (1904-1914) until it's decline in the 1990s and reemergence in the 2000s, the chanichim were presented with a history of Habonim's activities in Israel. Habonim founded approximately 50 kibbutzim in Israel since its creation in 1929, and today its graduates are taking an active role in creating new forms of kibbutzim. The seminar included trips to the Kinneret Cemetery, Kinneret Courtyard, Kibbutz Amiad, Kibbutz Tuval, Kibbutz Yizrael, Kibbutz Eshbal, Kibbutz Mishoal (located in Nazereth), a panel about HDNA in the 1990s, an urban kibbutz in Acco, and concluded with a visit to the home of the most recent olim from HDNA in Haifa.

 In the Kinneret Cemetery.

At the grave of Beryl Katznelson, writer of the Second Aliyah

 and founder of the Histadrut (union). 

At the grave of the poet Rachel.

Playing around at Kinneret Courtyard, a heritage site

of the first training farm of the pioneers in Palestine. 

Kinneret Courtyard. 

Kinneret Courtyard.

Kinneret Courtyard. 

Kinneret Courtyard. 

At Kibbutz Tuval overlooking the Galilee, with Neil Harris. 

Kibbutz Tuval. 

Carmiel is visible in the distance. 

Meeting Gary Bennet, former Galilnik and current member

of Kibbutz Beit HaEmek.

Next week, Workshop 62 will be concluding their time on Kibbutz Ein Dor. On Sunday the 16th, they will be moving to their new homes in Carmiel and Rishon Letzion. We look forward to seeing those of you that are visiting Israel this winter, and a Happy Hannukah to everyone!

Jerusalem

Workshop 62 spent Wednesday and Thursday of this past week exploring Jerusalem. The theme of the mini-seminar was Religion and the State, beginning with a tour of the Old City on Wednesday morning and continuing with guest speakers. The tour focused on giving the historical background of Jerusalem, as much as one can fit 3000 years of history into a two hour tour, and finished at the Western Wall. On Wednesday afternoon, they visited Mea Sharim, an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood in Jerusalem to meet with Yehoshua Weinberg. An ultra-Orthodox educator, he spoke to the chanichim about the orthodox way of life and had a question and answer session. In the evening, the chanichim met with Itamar Landua, a former member of HDNA and current PhD student at Hebrew University. Itamar discussed his personal religious journey and answered questions about his Jewish experiences in HDNA. Thursday morning, Rabbi Dov Lipman of Beit Shemesh spoke about his involvement fighting extremism within the Orthodox community, secular and religious cooperation, and his vision for the Jewish state. Thursday lunch took place in Machaneh Yehuda, an open-air market in central Jerusalem with plenty of Israeli specialties such as rogelach, knaffe, shwarma, falafel and fresh fruits and vegetables (avocado season has started here!). After lunch the chanichim met with Anat Hoffman, an activist with Women of the Wall, about being a Reform Jew and a woman in the Israeli religious state. We ended with a processing session, and a lot of questions about what it means to have a Jewish state.

For more information about Rabbi Lipman, visit his website http://www.rabbilipman.com/.
For more information on Anat Hoffman, visit Women of the Wall or read her editorial about her arrest at the Western Wall.

 In the room of the Last Supper.

At the entrance to the Old City. 

Discussing the War of Independence in the Old City. 

In Independence Park, discussing the Ultra-Orthodox community. 

Processing the day's events. 

Shiurim - A Chanich's Perspective and an Announcement

Our most recent shiyur (class) module was called Dilemmas of Nation Building. In it, we explored (as you might have guessed) different dilemmas that the chalutzim and other Zionist founders of Israel faced in the process of nation building; namely, the three main pre-state militias (the Hagana, Etzel/the Irgun, and Lechi), failed aliyot to Palestine (The Exodus, SS St. Louis) under the British Mandate (White Paper of 1939), Jewish Immigration 1948-1951 (the Law of Return, Operations Magic Carpet, Ezra, and Nechemia, and expulsion from Egypt), and many other interesting topics that I would highly recommend reading into. 

To go more into depth about just one of the things we talked about: we juxtaposed the ideas of two leading Zionist thinkers, Vladimir Jabotinsky (a Revisionist who founded Betar) and Martin Buber. While Jabotinsky believed that we should found a state in whatever way we can, and then deal with the social problems later, Buber believed that we first should make our society better, and then establish the Jewish state. In the end, we rushed a little - maybe as was necessary, because we had post-Holocaust world sympathy and nationalistic fervor from Diaspora Jewry - to create a state, as Jabotinsky said we should. This, of course, left us with many questions that we both discussed in the shiyur and walked away with: Is it better that we have our state with its problems, or should we have held off on the founding of Israel until we had a better foundation? Was that our only chance to establish the Jewish state, or could we have done better? With the way our world functions, is it possible to do better? And finally, now that we understand the foundations that Israel is built on, how can we work to make Israel a better place, a light unto the nations?

Lior Bar-El, Workshop 62, Gilboa

Below, pictures of chanichim gathering before a class starts. 

We are also happy to announce the location of the kaveret houses. Sarah and Yoav's chanichim will be located in Karmi'el, a town in the center of the Galilee. Carmi and Yael's chanichim will be located in Rishon Letzion, just south of Tel Aviv. 

Thanksgiving

Some pictures from Workshop 62's Thanksgiving dinner: