Shotar The B'nai B'rith Youth Organization Sivan 5746, June 1986 ue; Aleph Zadik Aleph (AZA) B'nai B'rith Girls (BBG) Vic- tion About the Author Israel: The Historical Perspective W- By Ilan Israel in- Many of you may be visiting Israel this liberal European countries. Theodore The organization, "Hashomer" the Watch- ion summer for the first time. In doing so it's Herzl wrote a pamphlet entitled "The men, was created, consisting of a few e important to realize that Israel can be Jewish State" and began organizing so young Jews wearing Arab headdresses, C" seen through many different eyes the that the movement for Jewish na- riding swift horses and armed with what- in tourist's, the politician's, the archae- tionalism took on a political shape, ever could be acquired, guarding the ologist's, or through Jewish eyes, to name Zionism. When Herzl wrote in his diary fields and settlements of the growing just a few. Whoever really wants to under- during the First Zionist Congress in Jewish community. at stand this fascinating, beautiful, and Basel, Switzerland: "Today I have created The First World War hit Palestine and unique country would be well advised to the Jewish State," one would have been its Jewish community very hard. Famine, are The take a small dose of historical perspec- justified in thinking him a ridiculous and a country split between warring em- tive to make the static photographs of dreamer. When he died only a few years pires made Herzl's dream appear unat- Israel 1986 come to life and have real later, it needed people of more than usual tainable, but in 1917 the British army meaning. faith to translate Herzl's dream into entered Jerusalem and ended 400 years Last month, on the 13th of May, the reality. of Turkish rule over Palestine. One of the Ilan Israel is a member of Kibbutz State of Israel celebrated her 38th birth- Many of those "practical dreamers" first acts of the British was "The Balfour Gezer, currently working in the Washing- day. For those of us who were born when came to Palestine in the Second Aliyah, Declaration" which recognized Jewish ton area as a shaliach (emissary) for the the State of Israel already existed, it is between 1904, the year of Herzl's death, rights to a national home in Palestine, the Habonim Dror youth movement and the difficult to conceive of a world without and the outbreak of the First World War but the following thirty years with the Kibbutz Aliyah Desk. Israel Israel didn't start on that day in 1914. It is amazing to think how so few British did not live up to this promising Ilan was born in London in 1950 and in May 1948, when, in the middle of the young men and women, many still in start. Local Arab opposition made the was very active in the Habonim youth War of Independence, David Ben-Gurion their teens on arrival in Palestine, with- British wary of offending the Arab world, movement in England. He graduated in announced the decision to create an in- out financial support, managed to create and the Jewish population learned not to oup. social sciences from London University, dependent Jewish State. a new reality for the whole Jewish peo- rely on the British for protection in the before making aliyah in 1974. Since then, I would like to take you back just over a ple. In the year 1909, the two greatest face of Arab riots and terror during this ion, he has been a kibbutz member and has hundred years to 1882. In that year a achievements of the Second Aliyah oc- period. Great political wisdom was n- remained active in the field of informal very unusual phenomenon occurred. curred. The first was the creation of the needed to enable the Jewish population Jewish education. From 1978-81, Ilan was Jews from opposite ends of the world, first kibbutz, Deganya, on the shores of to organize, to absorb new immigrants, to ge the educational director for World who had not been in contact for thou- the Sea of Galilee by eight young people. set up new settlements, to develop the uth Habonim Dror in Israel. sands of years, who had been influenced Today, we have over 270 kibbutzim Histadrut (the trade union federation) n Ilan is married to Lorrie, a native Cal- by vastly different cultures and motivated spread throughout the country in which which became a major force for economic ifornian who came to Israel in 1976, and by different ideals, arrived in the barren, 125,000 people are living in voluntary development, to establish the under- has three children, Dani, Michael and inhospitable landscape of Palestine: then communal societies, a unique creation in ground self defense organization of the do- Ma'ayan. a backwater of the Turkish Empire. One human history. The second was the deci- Haganah and the Palmach, and to pursue group of Jews, young students and work- sion to built the first modern Jewish city the political and diplomatic struggle for Israel and the ers from Russia, decided to leave Russia on the sands of the Mediterranean. Now Jewish independence. is after the outbreak of pogroms, and to set Tel Aviv is a bustling, sprawling metropo- Perhaps here we can look to key lead- l Kibbutz up-small rural communities in Palestine. lis, with little to remind us of her humble ers who emerged at a crucial time. The ying They were motivated by ideals of so- beginnings. fiery orator, David Ben-Gurion, who came we by Vered Rogel cialism and populism, and a wish for an Deganya and Tel Aviv were only two of to Palestine in the Second Aliyah as a e The kibbutz, as we know it today, pro- independent life where the Jew could de- the many achievements in this period. chalutz (pioneer) but soon began devot- of vides a special way of life that is unique termine his and her own destiny. They Perhaps in a cultural sense the major ing his life to public affairs, was only one led to Israel. There is no place else in the formed the "Bilu" movement and became achievement was the impossible revival of a very talented and dedicated group of world where this way of life exists. the forerunners of the First Aliyah (wave of Hebrew as the spoken language of the Jews, most of whose origins were in Rus- Even though the kibbutz accounts for of immigration). In the same year, several Jewish people. Eliezer Ben-Yehudah was a sia. He and his generation tried to cen- merely 4% of the Jewish population in families came on foot and by boat from young idealist who decided that the re- tralize all the power at the disposal of the Israel, its economic, social, and political distant Yemen, where they had been liv- turn to the promised land needed to go Jewish community for national tasks, and factors weigh even heavier on Israeli ing for centuries, motivated by a religious hand in hand with the revival of the an- their Labor movement was the dominant desire to be in Jerusalem and to welcome cient tongue. His young son, Itamar Ben- political, economic, cultural and military society. There have been many changes in the the Messiah. Theirs was largely a spir- Avi, was restricted to a very lonely early force. There were those who opposed of him, and Ze'ev Jabotinsky led a minority, kibbutz since it was first established - itual quest, but both groups, small in childhood, as no children around him award changes in the way of life, the attitude to- number yet great in their vision and pi- spoke Hebrew, and he was taught no his Revisionist movement, out of the or- ward the well-being of the people living oneering zeal, arrived to prove that the other language. His playmates were his ganized Zionist institutions. This split on the kibbutz, and the way in which the people of Israel had not forgotten its Hebrew-speaking dog and kitten! Now the was emphatic and bitter, especially over birthplace, and that the Land of Israel children of modern Israel don't have to tactics after Hitler came to power in Ger- kibbutz society was organized. The kibbutz traces its roots back to was not a dusty memory of past biblical suffer the way Itamar did as a child - many. The results of this split are still za- 1909 when a group of young people set- stories, but a living reality. Hebrew is very much alive. very much in evidence in Israeli politics tled on some of the lands of the Jordan Fifteen years later, in Paris, an assimi- Not everyone welcomes the Jewish re- today, as the "heirs" of both groups are turn to our ancient homeland, and there uneasy partners in the National Unity Valley. The people who settled there saw, lated Viennese Jewish journalist sud- in agriculture, an ideal way of life. Their denly came to the realization that the was a need for self-defense, especially in government. Jews were not even accepted in the most the isolated rural Jewish communities. vision of a new image of a Jew was of a Continued on Page 3 proud, strong individual who worked his land by himself and for himself. They saw community in everything. This included the work and needs essential to maintain an equal and just society. The first ten years that the group was in existence were years of confusion, not just from an agricultural point of view, but from a social and organizational one as well. There was concern over the place of the woman, the measurements of equality and the communal way of life, and the ways to raise and educate the children. The first experiences did not lack their disappointments, but the life together, with its communal structure and communal responsibility made it easier for the first groups to adjust. Continued on Page