Hello Workshop Families,
Happy Halloween! Here
in Israel, Halloween isn’t really celebrated.
We save our dressing up for Purim.
Since our last update, the chanichim have had a week of
Boneh learning about the beginnings of Zionism, from Hess and his pre-Herzlian
calls for a new Jewish society in Palestine, to AD Gordon and his new religion
of labor to connect a lost people to their roots. It culminated with a tour of old Tel-Aviv to
learn about the creation of the first Jewish city.
This weekend the chanichim traveled once again to Tel-Aviv
to attend the another rally for social change, the first since the historic
march in September where 450,000 Israelis took to the streets. This was a call to return to the struggle,
and the chanichim made the choice to answer that call. Although the turnout was relatively small, it was an
important choice and still an exciting evening of impassioned speakers and
great performers.
Last night, the chanichim attended MASA’s Opening
Event. MASA, as you may know, is the
umbrella organization run by the Jewish Agency that supports all long-term
Israel programs for post-high school Jews.
Over 3,000 people were present in Jerusalem, where an advisor to the
Prime Minister spoke, the chairman of the Jewish Agency spoke, and Israeli
music icon Idan Raichel performed an outstanding set that got everyone up and
dancing. It was exciting, perhaps
especially so when a section of the audience, including Workshop, started
chanting for social justice. The advisor
to the Prime Minister responded that in a few days we’ll see what Netanyahu has
to say for that. You can take the chanichim
out of the protest, but you cannot take the protest out of the chanichim…
This coming weekend is the Yitzchak Rabin Memorial Seminar
for Peace. Over 150 Habonim Dror
chanichim from all over the world, including our South American friends, will
be participating, and at the end of the seminar will travel back to Tel-Aviv
for the 16th annual Rabin Memorial Rally.
It may sound like the chanichim are traveling to a lot of
rallies and events, and in this portion of the year they certainly are, but
from talking to the chanichim I can say that they are certainly getting a lot
of exposure to the happenings in society – an important goal of this year.
Is there a Rabin Memorial ceremony in your area? If so, I encourage you to attend. In many communities, Habonim Dror plays a
significant role in the organization of these events, and it is important as
Jews to commemorate this great leader for his actions towards peace and
democracy and a better future for Israel.
