ISSN 1756 - 5510

2 The Young Zionist

A WORD FROM THE EDITORS... Shalom FZY!

It has been way too long since an issue of The Young Zionist landed on your doorstep. After one hundred and ninety-seven previ-ous editions and seventy years of publishing, we were never going to allow this journal to fade into the Federation of Zionist Youth his-tory books. We are delighted to announce that, after a two year absence, this ideologi-cal journal has made its much overdue re-turn. During the preparation of this edition, we spent many hours in the attic of the FZY Bayit perusing through previous publications of the Young Zionist. Every edition provides a fascinating insight into the feelings of the movement’s members at that particular time, and we hope that this edition will do the same for many years to come. The last two years have seen major develop-ments in Israel. Who could have predicted the return of Gilad Shalit, en masse boycotts of cottage cheese and even, most unbelieva-bly, a working tram in Jerusalem? It would take a brave (or foolish) individual to predict the next 12 months with any confidence. The true impact of the Arab Spring is still un-known and the issue of Iran is far from being solved. The same stretch of time has seen equally

great developments and challenges for FZY, notably the testing impact of rising tuition fees on the movement’s gap year pro-gramme which has remained successful in these difficult times. Those lucky Brits on Year Course 2012-13 set off in September for what will be, without any doubt, the best year of their lives. Now that the Young Zionist magazine has made its comeback, we are looking forward to seeing it go from strength to strength over the coming years. Many thanks to all those who have written the articles that you are about to read. We know you’ll enjoy reading them. B’ahava Eytan Halon & Charlotte Collins The Young Zionist Co-Editors

The Young Zionist 3

Contents Fluffy Zionism

Josh Marks

Paying It Forward

Jessie Mayer

Could We Stand With Israel?

Nicola Levy

___

Charlotte Collins

March Of The Living

Tami Addlestone

The 21st Century Jew

Adam Cartier

Israel’s Archaeology

Anna London

FZY: Just An Incubator For Leaders?

Elliot Hunter

A Glimpse of Tel Aviv (1936)

Nathan Goldenberg O.B.E.

A More Recent Glimpse of Tel Aviv

Eytan Halon

Hollywood, History & The Boycott

Sandy Rashty

Is This Really Goodbye?

Sasha Gold

My View: FZY Tour

Sophie Goodman

My View: Year Course

Zoe Edelman

Home: Gilad Shalit

A Resident of Mitzpe Hila

_________

Harry Jardine

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

20

4 The Young Zionist

Fluffy Zionism By Josh Marks (FZY Mazkir 2011-12)

What is Zionism? Three short words, but a fundamental question for FZY as a Zion-ist youth movement. This year at Veida, FZY’s annual conference, we repeatedly heard the argument that because ‘FZY is pluralist’, Zionism is whatever you want it to be. Such a view is a fundamental mis-understanding both of what Zionism actu-ally is and of what it means to be in an ideological youth movement. Zionism is not simply whatever you feel it should be – by such logic, Zionism could be a belief in fluffy pillows. Rather, Zion-ism is a defined ideology, and this is fun-damental to our identity as a youth movement. Being part of a youth move-ment involves subscribing to an ideologi-cal platform, coming together to advance a certain set of beliefs; otherwise FZY could just be a youth club, travel agency or other form of organisation. Now, subscribing to an ideology does not mean belonging to a cult. We do not ex-pect everyone to have identical views, but it is important to recognise that be-longing to FZY requires belief in a certain set of principles. For FZY, Zionism has a specific meaning, and we need to move from a state of ‘fluffy’ Zionism – where Zionism means whatever you want it to mean – to a more fluid Zionism within certain defined boundaries. For our younger chanichim (participants), we simplify our definition of Zionism down to five words that capture its es-sence – Aliyah Nimshechet (moving to Israel to live out FZY’s ideolo-gy), Magen (the defence of Jewish rights), Tzedakah (acts of righteousness) and Tarbut (Jewish culture). This is a great way to communicate to young members of FZY about our ideology and explain Zionism in easily digestible ideas, but with maturity, these ideas should hopefully develop into a broader frame-work – an intellectual leap we sometimes fail to make. FZY’s ideology is therefore not whatever you want it to be, nor five words, but rather the aims of Zionism more broadly.

These aims are formulated in a document known as the Jerusalem Programme, which is voted in by the World Zionist Congress, a democratic body of all differ-ent types of Zionists from around the world. The last Jerusalem Programme was published in 2004, and since last Veida, it forms the basis of FZY’s ideology, available in our Constitution and on the website. I would like to pick apart some of the key ideas, so that we can under-stand more closely what Zionism means to FZY. The Jerusalem Programme (2004) intro-duces Zionism as “the national liberation movement of the Jewish people”, and thus introduces Zionism as concerned with “the Jewish people” as a people. Zionism is thus Jewish nationalism, and Judaism is viewed not only as a religious identity, but also as an ethnic or national identity. Whilst some contest this nation-al identity, from the start of the book of Shemot (Exodus), we learn all about Am Yisrael (the people of Israel); an identity forged in Egypt and established in full at the end of Shemot. The second component of this passage is the notion of Zionism as a ‘liberation’ project – an idea that has caused quite a stir in the Jewish student community. Liberation campaigns may be familiar to many students as campaigns concerned with equality – and Zionism can be con-ceived in such terms. Zionism is about the equal right of Jews to a state; just as all other peoples should have a state, so to should there be a state for the Jews. An alternate interpretation is that Zionism is a movement to liberate Jews from perse-cution whilst under the rule of others – an idea which resonates powerfully given that Israel was established so soon after the Holocaust. Zionism is then presented with the task of building a “Jewish, Zionist, democratic and secure State of Israel”, a sentence which highlights both a Jewish and demo-cratic state are desirable. This issue is particularly relevant in light of the future of the West Bank and the settlements,

with millions of Palestinians living in this region. If these Palestinians receive equal democratic voting rights, then their large numbers would compromise the Jewish nature of the state, but depriving them of votes forces Israel into an undemocratic system. This tension has led many in FZY to support a two state solution, although this is not the only way to resolve this conflict. Each one of FZY’s four aims can be de-rived from this definition of Zionism, with further commitments to education and pluralism. For example, “Aliyah to Israel from all countries” is an unsurprising statement of our aim of Ali-yah, whilst the idea of “strengthening Israel as a Jewish, Zionist and democratic state and shaping it as an exemplary society with a unique moral and spiritual character”, provides an ex-ample of Aliyah Nimshechet, the desire to move to Israel to improve it. Pluralism, which I accused others of wrongly using, can also be seen in the Jerusalem Programme, through the ideas of “the unity of the Jewish people” and “mutual respect for the multi-faceted Jewish people”. FZY’s belief in political and religious pluralism is thus established with an over-riding concern for Jewish unity. As we argue in FZY, what unites us is far greater than what divides us, and even though we may not agree with oth-er’s interpretations of Judaism, we recog-nise others’ free right to choose these viewpoints, and prioritise the desire to create an inclusive environment where all Jews feel comfortable. I hope this close textual analysis has given you some food for thought, and allowed you to gain a deeper understanding of FZY’s ideology. As I come to the end of my time as Mazkir (National Director) of FZY, I am excited to see the next genera-tion of Zionists taking the mantle of lead-ership in our movement, and hope they stay true to the Zionist mission of our movement.

@joshuabmarks

The Young Zionist 5

Paying It Forward By Jessie Mayer (Year Course participant 2012-13)

I thought I would take this opportunity to share with the FZY community the tale of how 90 minutes on FZY Ofek Camp 2008 changed my outlook on life – a drastic statement, yet entirely true. It was one of those miserable days in Wales; grey and overcast with Keith (site owner) in a particularly bad mood. The Madrichim (leaders) therefore decided to give us a less intense peula (activity), a showing of the film Pay It Forward. I vivid-ly remember walking into the room and seeing one other boy in there and wanting to turn around and walk out, yet the Madrichim coaxed me in and there I stayed for the duration of the film whilst others filtered in or fell asleep. For those who have never heard of ‘Pay It Forward’, it is based on the idea that one person does three acts of kindness for three different people, and then trusts them to do the same, eventually spread-ing these small acts of kindness. Such a simple concept. Such an instrument for change. I came home from camp and couldn’t stop thinking, thinking of how I could make the world a better place by spread-ing these small deeds. This was obviously accompanied by many frustrated inner dialogues and, more productively, exten-sive google-ing of the Pay It Forward con-cept. I firstly found out that the film was a screenplay of a novel written by Cathe-rine Ryan Hide entitled Pay It Forward, and then found myself on a rather tired looking website of the Pay It Forward Foundation. This was set up by Catherine yet as an author, she had little time for the upkeep of the website. However, I saw an advertisement for the ordering of Pay It Forward bracelets and this is where things began to kick off. Charley Johnson, a 30-ish man who lives in Salt-Lake City, had designed a rubber wristband and was shipping them all over the world, entirely free of charge, to spread the Pay It Forward message. The only condition of the bracelet was that it was not to be worn as a fashion item, but

to be passed on in doing the act of kind-ness. I contacted Charley thinking I’d hear nothing of it, but was pleasantly surprised to receive a small cardboard box contain-ing 25 bracelets on my doorstep in March 2011. I later learnt that the reason for the delay was that they were out of stock as Charley funded the first million bracelets out of his own pocket, receiving not a penny in return, and simply couldn’t afford it anymore. I had been accepted onto my school’s annual trip to Zambia the week prior to receiving them and I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to play my part and take Pay It Forward to Africa – and I did!

I distributed the 25 bracelets I received to the 24 girls who went out to Zambia with me and felt like I was passing a baton of power into their hands. One boy out there, Elias, ensured me he would make sure that his bracelet reached every per-son in his compound. It was here that things fell into place and I thrived off knowing that I was, step by step, making my mark. But Zambia wasn’t enough; I needed to make sure everyone knew about Pay It Forward. I’d been keeping in contact with Charley over Facebook and had always said he should come to Europe to spread the message through his inspirational and heartfelt speaking. He decided he and his wife would come to Europe for a month from March to April this year (2012) and I thought at this point that I needed to bring him into school. We have the choice of four lectures every Thursday for an hour at NLCS that girls organize through different societies. I convinced the Chari-ty Committee to let me invite Charley to

speak on their behalf and set the date in stone with him for the 29th of March. I then realised that as incredible as it was that I had organized Charley to come into school, these talks are only open to those in years 11 and above and hence the younger years would miss out on an in-credible opportunity. I therefore ap-proached the Deputy Head with an exten-sive plan, and told her I would be holding a Pay It Forward week that week of Charley’s visit - she just couldn’t say no! I did an assembly to the entire school on the Monday morning, something that had never previously been done by a single student, and organised events ranging from a film showing to a biro collection for Zambia to an Un-run for comic relief. Everyone in my school, staff and stu-dents, also received a Pay It Forward bracelet too. I just wanted everyone to acknowledge the simplicity of the move-ment and the power of the ‘human con-nection’, as Charley coins it, that we so often forget in favour of our monotonous daily routine. It really is as simple as planting a smile on someone’s face for letting them out in traffic or holding a door open. Charley’s visit was the perfect culmina-tion to nearly three years of contact, stemming right back to my initial google-ing after Ofek. So thank you to whoever came up with that peula on Ofek, you indirectly paid it forward to me! Charley has since become the president of the Pay It Forward Foundation and re-invented the website as www.pifexperience.org where people can share their stories of how they paid it forward. I know that Pay It Forward is getting bigger in Israel too, particularly because a mainstream children’s cereal company has decided to use Pay It For-ward bracelets as the included toy. I look forward to paying it forward this year in Israel on Year Course!

www.pifexperience.org

“90 Minutes on Ofek 2008

changed my outlook on

life - a drastic statement,

yet entirely true.”

6 The Young Zionist

Could We Stand with Israel? By Nicola Levy (Year Course participant 2009/10, Mazkirut 2012)

Last summer on July 14th, the despair of one Tel Aviv film student’s failure to find affordable decent accommodation caused her to move into a tent at the junction of Ha’Bimah Square and Roth-schild Boulevard, the location chosen due to the stark contrast between her eco-nomic hardship and the most expensive real estate area in the country.

The student that I am, of course, talking about is Daphne Leef, a founder of the J14 social protest tent movement.

Leef set up a Facebook event asking any-one and everyone to join her camp in the “tent city” to show that Israeli citizens were no longer apathetic, that they were taking a stand showing their blatant dis-approval of the country’s social welfare policies, which they believed were no longer effective.

Despite City Hall causing problems and threatening all those who took part with a criminal record, the first event saw 25 tents and around 1500 people taking to the streets.

Leef quickly became a figure of hope to many disgruntled citizens and even re-ceived a call of support from Tzipi Livni, leader of the Opposition, praising her for empowering citizens. Leef’s response to Livni was that she too was a citizen and she too could make a difference.

The movement swept Israel like a storm and, at its peak, there were 130 tent cities all over the country, including many Arab and Druse villages, showing this wasn’t just a Jewish cause – it was the responsibility of every Israeli citizen to speak out.

With the mass media hailing the protest-ers as “sushi eating, narg smoking left-wing potheads”, it was clear that the gov-ernment and media were strongly op-posed to this cry for help which had unit-ed the country.

The protestors didn’t believe that they were political activists; they saw them-selves as standing up for morals and for social justice. National pride had never been greater but many were left feeling disappointed with the government who

chose to oppose the protestors at every opportunity.

As the summer continued, more peaceful protests and rallies were organised, in-cluding a Shlomo Artzi concert. The me-dia again said that the people were only there for the live music, choosing not to support the movement which astonish-ingly saw 80,000 people walk silently through the street of Tel Aviv culminating in rare handshakes between Arabs, West Bank settlers and soldiers just to name a few. This provided a stark contrast be-tween the war torn country, as seen in the international media, and showed that the social welfare of the country affected everyone.

People seemed to push their personal politics aside in exchange for the quest for social justice.

The culmination of a summer of pro-testing came on September 4th, when 500,000 people (7% of the population) came to protest. Leef described the event as a positive one, feeling like a new socie-ty was established, which stood up to say “we deserve better!”

In the protestors’ eyes nothing seemed to positively change from their actions, the government just seemed to ignore their pleas and, instead, the price of electricity rose by 30%, leaving many people ques-tioning the democratic capacity and the potential corruption of the current gov-ernment for simply overlooking the issue of social justice.

Some good however has come out of the movement; Israeli society seems to have changed for the better. Regardless of the lack of governmental policies, individuals have developed more of a brotherly atti-tude, caring for the poorer members of society and ensuring that food and blan-

kets are available for those sleeping rough.

An Israeli band called the Balkan Beat Box have promoted the terrible conditions of the ‘cardboard neighbourhoods’ filled with migrant workers living in terrible conditions.

The Israel of today might not be what Herzl, Ben Gurion and Ha’am had in mind when they began their individual quests to found the Jewish State, however with the changing attitudes of individuals, spurred on by the J14 movement, hope is not lost. Israel could still become the uto-pian country we all long for it to be, to quote Herzl himself “if you will it, it is no dream”.

On Year Course we were immersed into Israeli society and felt part of it. The ex-pensive price of food, low quality of living provisions and the presence of so many homeless people showed me the poverty that existed in Israel that would never be allowed to happen in Britain.

The issues that affect me and the rest of you are the same issues that affect every Israeli too on a daily basis. We felt the anguish that Israelis, just like Leef, felt going around the supermarket realising that on our small stipend we simply couldn’t afford everything in our trolley.

As FZY is looking for a new project to sup-port since Gilad Shalit’s release, then maybe investing in a project related to poverty and welfare within Israeli society is an issue that all members can relate to and support all year round and one that is so close to all of our hearts as well as eve-ry Israeli.

@nic_levy

“Israel could still become

the utopian country we

all long for it to be”

Daphni Leef

The Young Zionist 7

Charlotte Article Here By Charlotte Collins (Young Zionist Co-Editor, Year Course 2009/10)

I really love Galina. The wooden decking outside that allows you to peer out onto the vast expanse of passionate black sea, the hot dog stand in the corner by the entrance that satisfies those pain-staking 3am hunger pangs, and the throngs of dark skinned, loose haired Israelis inside, so tightly packed in that every trip to the toilet is resemblant of a Masada hike. Additionally, I really love Arad. The tran-quillity of the Negev town with no traffic lights but enough restaurants to please the master chef judges is almost audible in the dusty streets, and the sandy haze that hangs over the mountainous desert and its surrounding sporadic play areas is tangible from the comfort of low rise apartment blocks. Finally, I really love Har Herzl. In the final few weeks of Year Course 2009/10 those of us who had opted out of the Marva programme were instead armed with yartzeit candles and water bottles, as on a stifling day in May hundreds of thou-sands of Israelis descended upon this burial site to pay tribute to their lost loved ones, neighbours, fellow citizens. An atmosphere of chaos nearly resem-bling festivities was rife - people bumped into friends and acquaintances from their past as we struggled against our newly gained year course weight, weaving and running through the crowds to ensure no one was without Evian. Suddenly, everything stopped. As the siren sounded a whole nation stood still, tangible through the microcosm of Israeli community that bowed its head in unison around the thousands of graves. The world’s loudest silence ensued, apart from one lone sound; a wheel-chair

bound old lady’s relentless wail, quiet tears and a harsh moan, enduring the full two minutes of reflection. Being an inti-mate witness to someone’s raw grief is distressing, humbling and significantly moving, and for this reason Har Herzl will personally always be placed on a pedestal of utmost importance and reverence. On a cheerier note, this summer I led Tour. Cue habitual doesn’t-really-seem-like-your-sort-of-thing-did-you-have-access-to-straighteners comments. De-spite the deeply offensive shallowness implied through these remarks, my usual polite response when people demand why I wanted to sacrifice my summer to traipse 40 kids around Israel FOR FREE is this: an ever-increasing amount of young Jews in Britain are becoming disassociat-ed from what has been sold to them as ‘Judaism’. As a disconcerting number of our synagogues are struggling to keep up with the interests and turn-ons of mod-ern Jewish teenagers, through leading camp and exposure to Jewish teens I saw that a worrying percentage are only con-necting to their religious roots through their social life. This crisis of belief is understandable; given the fast-paced nature of our society the fact that there is little room for God is unsurprising. However, at the risk of sounding like an Evangelical preacher, I have been blessed with a gift. My time spent on Year Course allowed me to gain exposure to both physical and environ-mental areas of Israel beyond the typical tourist traps; from the complexities of political and religious issues to the pleas-ure that can be found in spending six hours on a Saturday afternoon trekking through water on the Yehudia hike.

The crux of my point is always, without exception, this: Israel is a country. A whole country. Whether your interests lie in clubbing, restaurants, city life, hiking, swimming, politics, museums or even God, Israel is a nation that has everything to offer. I was presented with the oppor-tunity to display this Jewish land to forty chanichim, be they detached or not from their religious heritage, so surely I could make each and every one of them fall in love with some aspect of Israel in those four short weeks. My initial attitude had been that as long as they each had a positive experience in Israel, I had achieved my goal of igniting a small passion for Judaism back into my community. So was I successful?? 8x chanichim in tears at the Kotel. 4x chanichim in tears at volunteering. 7x chanichim in tears at Har Herzl (as I tried desperately to re-strain my celebratory dance). My chanichim showed continuous engage-ment and passion for things they had never previously experienced, each con-necting in their own way with at least one activity or site within the month of tour. I have never been prouder. My advice therefore to all YZ readers is to take what you can from Israel. Within this edition you will be exposed to the many different ways FZY’s members have inter-preted their relationship with our holy land, so take their advice and build your own connection, in whatever way shape or form, to your religious roots. See first three paragraphs for recommended starting points.

@charlottelco

“Build your own connection, in whatever way, shape or form, to your religious roots”

8 The Young Zionist

March of the Living By Tami Addlestone (Year Course participant 2008/09, Tour Madricha 2011)

This April, I was lucky enough to take part

in the March of the Living trip in Poland.

Before I got there, I thought I knew so

much, only to find out a few hours later

that my knowledge surrounding the Holo-

caust was so minimal. It was an indescrib-

able experience, every day I was clinging

on to our educator’s – Yuval - thought

provoking words and it filled me with joy,

anger, inspiration but most of all educa-

tion.

Being with FZY and BBYO was a unique

experience. The focus of the tours sur-

rounded issues regarding youth move-

ments and their empowerment during

the war. The inspiring stories lit a flame in

my heart telling me that we can all do

better.

The trip has given me the drive to move

forward as part of a youth movement,

striving to stand up for our beliefs to

make a better and safer world for us to

live in that brings people from all corners

of the earth together. Having Mala, a

Holocaust survivor, with us gave us an

even deeper understanding of what it

was like living in such horrendous condi-

tions. She made it all feel even more real,

and as a group we saw her as the most

incredible, brave, fascinating woman.

None of us could stop listening when she

opened her mouth to explain tragedies

that happened to her and her family and

her town and all her friends. Mala and

Yuval together made our journey an un-

forgettable, heartbreaking and an inspir-

ing one.

Being Jewish is so much more than big

black hats and curly black hair. We're

here today because just enough people

survived torture, humiliation, starvation,

loss and depression within those haunted

camps that we were able to walk so

smoothly across. It was as if ghosts were

following us, telling us to remember, tell-

ing us to never forget.

Seeing eleven thousand Jews come to-

gether for the March itself was breath-

taking. When we sang Hatikva and the

sun came out covering just the areas we

were standing, we knew that those lost in

the horrific murders were smiling down

on all these Jewish people saying “we're

still here”.

I truly believe no one can really under-

stand the in depth the horrors that oc-

curred during the Holocaust unless you

were there to see it for yourself. The clos-

est thing in trying to understand it all

would be going to Poland to see what we

saw and feel what we felt. If you're Jew-

ish or not, I believe that everyone should

experience it, no one should shy away

out of fear or anything else because it's

up to us to never let the memories die.

I still struggle with the whole concept of

mass murder, I can't understand why

nothing was done sooner and I can't un-

derstand why there weren’t a thousand

people like Schindler who bravely and

heroically saved the lives of helpless

Jews.

Now I realise that instead of trying to

understand all the horrors, I have to be

thankful for the bravery and feel lucky

that I can be here to tell the tales today

and ensure that these events will never

be forgotten. We're the last generation

able to hear the stories from the survi-

vors themselves and I know from now on

I will not let an opportunity pass me by.

We didn't die then, we're still here today,

let's ensure we'll still be here tomorrow.

Inspirational Survivor: Mala Tribich

“We didn’t die then,

we’re still here today,

let’s ensure we’ll still be

here tomorrow.”

www.marchoftheliving.org.uk

Interested in ‘March of the Living’?

3rd - 9th April 2013

Contact Claire at FZY:

0208 201 6661

The Young Zionist 9

The 21st Century Jew By Adam Cartier (Year Course participant 2009/10)

The ‘21st Century Jew’ has a very differ-

ent role from that of his ancestors. This

Jew needs to get rid of the ghetto and

victim mentality and enter a new world of

balance and compromise based on true

Jewish values.

At one end of the scale there is the reli-

gious Jew, at the other end of the scale

there is the secular Jew. In the middle

there is the traditional Jew who, although

not religious, preserves his Jewish identi-

ty through Jewish culture and traditions

which range from the Seder night table,

to celebrating a child’s Bar or Bat Mitzvah

and to keeping kosher at home but not

out. But wherever you are on the scale

there ought to be a common base of true

Jewish values, and that means no extrem-

ism. Extremism destroys everything.

Even the most secular Jews need to have

the base of Jewish values - we all essen-

tially want the same thing - to live hon-

estly and decently in our Jewish home-

land but even in secularism, there is ex-

tremism. It may be that this extremism

arose in the aftermath of the Holocaust

when the existence of God was seriously

questioned or perhaps it is the result of

the daily life of Jews in Israel who lead

intensive lives and serve in the Israeli

army. But even these factors do not ex-

cuse extremism, which is destructive of

the true values of Jewish life.

I believe that those who have a very ex-

treme approach to Judaism and to the

existence of the State of Israel have been

responsible for holding back Israel’s

peace process and have dented Israel’s

international reputation. Goldstein (an

American born Yeshiva student) entered

the Cave of the Matriarchs in the city of

Hebron killing 29 Muslims at prayer there

and wounding another 150 in February

1994. This outrageous attack was cele-

brated by the right wing extremists in

Israel, but it scarred Israel as a demo-

cratic and peace striving State. Yigal Amir

(an orthodox right-wing Jew) was respon-

sible for the assassination of Yitzhak Rab-

in when he took significant steps forward

to making peace with the Palestinians

and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in

November 1994. The opportunity for

peace was destroyed as a result.

I am proud of my Jewish heritage and my

Jewish ancestry. Two years ago on Year

Course I went to Poland where I visited

various concentration camps and learnt

about the tragedies within my Polish fam-

ily during the Holocaust years. While

learning about the horrors that my family

experienced, I realised how important it

is for me to maintain my Jewish values. It

is impossible to reconcile the violence

and aggression of extremism with Jewish

values such as keeping a kosher kitchen

or wearing a Kippah. It is these latter val-

ues which should always be accepted as

part of the Jewish culture.

There is of course a justification for Israel to take military action in order to protect its citizens, but it needs to remember to conduct itself in accordance with Jewish standards and not overreact. The world is watching and Israel’s actions are being televised on a worldwide scale, which is a wonderful opportunity for Israel to show

the world the right way to behave and earn the respect of the world as a result. In the same way that Israel needs to

maintain its standards, so too must the

Palestinians. The solution to what can

only be described as a crisis currently in

Israel is the underlying strength of decent

Palestinian moderates. I believe that the

moderates in Palestinian areas (i.e. Gaza

and the West Bank) have the potential to

overthrow the corrupt leadership of Pal-

estinian politicians. They can overwhelm

the regime of terror that they are under

as well as well as the harsh conditions

that they live in. Palestinians that turn to

terrorism are not only destructive and

counterproductive to the quality of life of

the Palestinian people; they also lack in-

dependent thought and true values. They

clearly have not fully grasped the fact

that they need character in order to use

diplomatic means to reach compromise

with Israel. In the same way that the

modern Jew has had to break with the

past but retain its values, so too must the

Palestinians.

I hope that in the 21st century those citi-

zens who live in the Middle East will

achieve their long-term goal of peace in

the area. Those who are not aiming to-

wards peace should wake up to the reali-

ty that they could live a happy and peace-

ful life without the need for extreme reli-

gious ideals or hatred towards another

creed of people. Those Jews who turn to

violence should carry as much guilt as any

Palestinian terrorist. If Israel can neutral-

ise the extreme elements of Judaism that

exist within Israeli society, then perhaps

Israel will have the chance of being

looked upon as an inspiration. If the Pal-

estinians will reciprocate then peace for

all concerned will become a reality.

“Those who are not

aiming towards peace

should wake up to the

reality that they could

live a happy and peaceful

life without the need for

extreme religious ideals

or hatred towards

another creed of people.

10 The Young Zionist

Last summer saw the opening of recently completed excavations in East Jerusalem, the Ophel City Walls site. According to Eilat Mazar, who led the excavations, the site contains a royal house and one of the original city walls, built by King Solomon in the 10th century BCE. As described by The Jewish Chroni-cle, visiting the site is exhilarating. Its finds bring to life the biblical accounts of King Solomon’s reign. The Israel Antiques Authority, which opened the site, said, “visitors will now be able to touch the stones and walls whose construction tells the history of Jerusalem throughout the ages.” Sadly, although the site makes for a lovely day out, its authenticity is highly ques-tionable. Mazar has verified her site through reference to the Bible, which says of Solomon, he finished building his house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall of Jerusalem round about (1 Kings 3:1). However, some years ago an article by Israel Finkelstein shook the world of biblical scholarship by suggesting that other archaeological methods such as carbon dating showed that all ruins tradi-tionally attributed to Solomon should be dated a hundred years further forward, to the reign of King Omri in the 9th century BCE. This is not to say that Solomon did not exist. Other evidence suggests he did, but this should not be the focus of the de-bate. The question is rather why it matters. To correctly identify archaeological finds is a task important for its own sake. In Israel however, the land and its history seem to hold a special resonance whose implications are brought into the current claim to territory. Yes, incorrectly identi-fying a site does a disservice to its memory, but more importantly for Israel, these errors are used to justify a political claim to land at the expense of other na-tions whose claim we brush aside. The Relevance of History within Models of Zionism Political Zionism, the Zionism of Theodore

Herzl, is a movement which came about as a reaction to the rise of European Na-tionalism in the early twentieth century. Jews, a nation without a homeland, could not fit into this new political ideology without a territory, and so became ostra-cised, and the victims of pogroms. The solution was obvious – the Jews needed a territory. Where would this territory be? It would be the land of their collective past, the land of the Bible, Israel. In this model the national history of a people is of the upmost importance in justifying a claim to a particular territory. The biblical stories of David and Solomon are a fundamental part of Jewish national history; proving their authenticity through archaeology has become one significant way in which to substantiate a political claim to the land of Israel in the currently hostile political arena. Does Zionism therefore fall apart without archaeological proof of David and Solo-mon? From a nationalist, political per-spective, its claim to the land does seem to be on very thin ice. But there is an al-ternative model. Another important Zion-ist figure of the last century, Ahad Ha’am, argued that authenticating the Bible is irrelevant; the Bible’s value lies rather in the cultural identity it gives the Jewish people. In an essay entitled “Moses”, he writes, “Even if you succeeded in proving beyond all doubt that the man Moses never existed, or that the actual Moses was different from our picture of him, that would not in the slightest degree affect the historical reality of the ideal Moses. His character is equally clear to me, and no archaeological discovery can alter it.” For Ahad Ha’am, Zionism meant the re-kindling of Jewish culture. The creation of a state was necessary in his eyes to pro-tect that culture, as a centre from which Jewish culture would emanate to the Di-aspora and save its Jews from assimila-tion. In this model, a provable historical narrative carries less importance. The Jewish claim to the land goes deeper than a chronological history; it instead lies in the land’s centrality to Jewish tradition, culture and heritage. Israel, in particular Jerusalem, has been the focal point of Jewish life since God promised it to Abra-

ham, has remained an object of longing since the fall of the Second Temple, and has been immortalised through prayer, practice and even popular culture. Israel’s Cultural Significance for Three Faiths Just as the Jewish claim to the land can be justified through its cultural signifi-cance, the same can be said for Christian-ity and Islam. If Jerusalem’s walls could speak, they would tell the stories of Je-sus’ crucifixion and Mohammad’s night journey alongside the Jewish history, and every monument would be forgiven a case of confused identity. The Jewish Ho-ly of Holies lies deep within the Dome of the Rock, which in turn spent many years acting as a Christian church, to give but one example. Our histories are so entan-gled that we have become part of one another. This idea is remarkably well depicted by Anton Shammas, an Israeli Arab Christian writing in Hebrew. In his novel Arabeskot (Arabesques), he challenges the notion of Israeli identity as being separable into different peoples, and instead presents a composite image of Israeliness that is susceptible to redefinition over and over again. An example is his description of the village Fassuta. This small patch of land has exchanged hands so many times that the notion of ‘belonging’ loses all meaning, and the histories of all three peoples are inextricably linked in such a way that to untangle them would be to deny a part of their individual histories. Israel’s archaeology reveals the story of three faiths, and their historical narrative which has been written over time and time again. Each claim to the land has been washed away in the blood of those massacred to establish a new order, and this still continues today. We must learn that no one historical narrative has su-premacy over another, and that tangible history (buildings/monuments) left be-hind by those who have gone before are not sufficient grounds on which to legiti-mise or de-legitimise a state. Our histo-ries are intertwined, and the land belongs to us all. Let’s start sharing it.

Israel’s Archaeology It’s Ancient History… But we’re still talking about it...

By Anna London

The Young Zionist 11

“I exist not to be loved and admired, but to love and act. It is not the duty of those around me to love me. Rather, it is my duty to be concerned about the world, about man.” Janusz Korczak, Warsaw Ghetto Memoirs of Janusz Korczak As I approached the twilight hours of my unforgettable FZY journey, I couldn’t help reflecting on the movement’s present and, more critically, its future. For me, fundamental to this is defining its pur-pose as a proudly Zionist youth move-ment in Britain with members spanning 12 shichvot (age groups). As an ideologi-cal movement, our mission statement, recently updated at our prestigious Veida (Annual Winter Conference), is: ‘To in-spire and educate every British Jewish youth to take part in the future of the Jewish people, and its ultimate expression in the State of Israel.’ But what does this mean? Should we measure our movement’s progression on the number of members who live and breathe our four aims – Magen (Defence of Jewish Rights), Tarbut (Jewish and Is-raeli Culture), Tzedakah (Righteousness, or Charity) and Aliyah Nimschechet (moving to Israel and improving society) – or just by those who achieve the last of the four? In terms of numbers, is it about how many young people we connect to Israel and Judaism on one of our educa-tional summer programmes, or about how many engage every week at a local chavura? Or do we measure our success by the quantity and quality of leaders coming through the movement – be that chavurot committee members, Hadracha Coursers, bogrim staffing our pro-grammes, or movement workers facili-tating the members? Whilst these are difficult questions to answer, it is the last question which holds the key. Traditionally, FZY has always had a strong bogrim kehilla (community of Year Course graduates and university students) but in the past 5 years, there has also been a shift towards placing an increasing em-phasis on hadracha (leadership training) and creating practical leadership opportu-

nities for our chanichim (participants). Today, Kedmaniks (post-Tour/sixth-form members) can be madrichim (leaders) on Tour seminars and Summer Camp, and gain tangible experience of what it means to lead FZY chanichim, before going on Year Course or contributing to vibrant Jewish life at University. Being a leader is a very big responsibility. A leader is em-powered with the ability to influence oth-ers, or as Janusz Korczak – director of a Warsaw orphanage who voluntarily led his orphans to Treblinka extermination camp – states, “to be concerned about the world, about man.”

Empowerment, a concept rooted in Jew-ish history, has long been a dynamic tool for any youth movement – it enables people to stand by their values, take re-sponsibility and enact change in society. In fact, it has always been the youth who have dared to change the course of histo-ry whilst refusing to accept reality. Just recently, I participated in the March of the Living trip as part of a FZY delegation and learned how Dror, a Polish-born youth movement was the driving force behind the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. In much happier times, FZY’s chanichim should not merely be inspired by what FZY stands for, but by what FZY can stand for; the opportunity to shape the move-ment and change society. A good leader should not only behave positively and inspire their chanichim to feel positive towards the movement’s ideology and identity, but also set a dugma by how they live their life and what they can achieve.

Similarly, it is incumbent upon us to re-member that madrichim exist because of chanichim and not vice-versa. Members of any group need something tangible to connect to which they can apply to their lives, and use to positively influence the lives of others. In order to have a mean-ingful role in the movement, FZY’s mem-bers must gain specific knowledge about FZY, Judaism and Zionism – which they positively associate with and feel inspired by. When unpackaged, this can be broken down to many smaller components of chinuch (education): FZY’s 102 year-old history for example or the meaning be-hind Ben Gurion’s grave. Each one ap-peals to chanichim and madrichim in their own unique way, but all of them are inte-gral. As the movement worker who facilitated Israel Tour, my work has been motivated by the fact that our chanichim are em-powered and developed, but without this depth of knowledge they cannot fulfil FZY’s ideology. They cannot grasp the notion of Jewish peoplehood, embrace the possibility of social activism, and ar-ticulate their love for Israel. And, crucially, they cannot positively impact the future of the Jewish People in the State of Israel. Without this, FZY would simply become an incubator for leaders, who don’t lead their chanichim anywhere and don’t drive forward the movement that never stops.

@ellhunter

By Elliot Hunter (Rakaz Tochniot/ Director of Educational Programmes 2011-12)

FZY: Just an Incubator for Leaders?

“Without this, FZY would

simply become an

incubator for leaders,

who don’t lead their

chanichim anywhere and

don’t drive forward the

movement that never

stops.”

12 The Young Zionist

A Glimpse of Tel Aviv By Nathan Goldenberg (August 1936, The Young Zionist)

It is very difficult to form any connected impressions of any country in so short a space as eleven days. I happened to visit the country at an abnormal (and there-fore interesting) time, whereas when most Young Zionists go to Palestine, time is usually spent in the colonies, whereas I was unfortunately forced to remain in Tel Aviv. The first and predominant feeling was that of being thoroughly at home all the time. Here for 11 days I could forget that feeling of being a strange and unwelcome guest among a people alien to me in its outlook on life, its ideals and its reaction to life, although in the day-to-day routine of life, no such differences were noticea-ble. It was a strange but welcome experi-ence to see not a single non-Jew for al-most 11 days and to feel that life was all the more worth-living for that. For the first time in my brief existence did I understand and feel the meaning of “Shabbat” in Jewish life. The peace and quietness that reigned everywhere on Friday evening and on Saturday were a revelation. Here, one felt, “Shabbat” was raised from its doubtful place as a purely religious and half neglected ceremonial of the select rich Jews of the Galut to something far more inspiring and important, that of a National Traditional Day of Rest for the entire Jewish Nation in its best sense, when they can rest from their labours and think of things unconnected with

their daily work. But it is a feeling impos-sible to describe. My visit to Tel Aviv revealed to me the essential unity of this very cosmopolitan Jewish town – and especially the unity of the Youth. But even more striking than its unity, which one could feel at all times but which was so obvious that it was hardly ever discussed, was the behaviour of the people in the midst of a really un-pleasant situation. In spite of all the trou-bles of the present times, the Jews just carried on as though nothing was hap-pening, and went about their daily work as usual. This, in spite of the fact that they knew that Arab snipers on the outskirts of Tel Aviv could always make things unpleasant for everyone not absolutely in the centre of the town. Especially in the evening it would not be very difficult to leave explo-sives lying around the streets and yet this stopped no one from going about their business or their pleasure as usual even on the sea-shore at midnight. This is sure-ly a safe indication that we have acquired in Palestine that self-reliance and sang-froid which are the hall-marks of a people living on its own soil. It could be seen everywhere – in the heroic, calm Jewish bus-drivers as they went about their busi-ness, in the tiny tots who played uncon-sciously on the beach, or in the passen-gers on the bus from Ras-el-ain to Tel Aviv, or the train from Haifa to Tel Aviv, who were all exposed to a very real dan-ger and yet behaved as though they were

in Middlesex, calmly taking the tube home. It was very difficult to leave Palestine after being there only eleven days; how much more so would it be after a stay of a few years or so, even if the absence be a temporary one. And I still feel a queer irrational thrill whenever I think of the sunlit streets of Tel Aviv stretching down to the calm blue sea, with the hazy outlines of the Judean hills in the distance in the opposite direc-tion, or of the Jewish bus-drivers uncon-cernedly carrying out their vital duties, each knowing full well that the next jour-ney may well be his last. Cruel fate may force some of us to spend a part, and the best part, of our lives in the Galut, but for those of us who have been to Erez Israel, there is but one place which we can call home and where we can solve our Jewish problem. The theoretical question of the relative importance of Palestine and the Galut ceases to exist, our place is Palestine, and there we will eventually find our way, for we also feel, as the entire Yishuv feels, that, come what may, Palestine is the only country where the Jew can live a natural and dignified life among his fel-lows and contribute his tiny quota to our resettlement on that soil which the Jews and the world at large have always re-garded as belonging to the Jews.

The Young Zionist 13

A Glimpse of Tel Aviv By Eytan Halon (Young Zionist Co-Editor, FZY Mazkirut 2012)

Nowhere in Israel can you feel further

away from the conflict that seems to

plague its reputation than in Tel Aviv.

People are too involved in their own lives

to worry about existential threats from

rogue nations that might possibly be

armed with nuclear weapons in the near

future. Tel Aviv’s residents already have

enough to worry about, whether that

means finding the money to pay next

month’s rent or the never-ending traffic

jams on the Ayalon Highway.

For any holidaying Jew from Britain, the

sight of the golden beaches and endless

Aroma coffee shops (and, of course,

Japanika sushi stores) barely begins to tell

the story of this fascinating city. Only 100

years ago, this financial capital of Israel

was nothing but grains of sand and con-

voys of camels - an almost unimaginable

sight. If only, like everything within Is-

rael’s borders, those sand dunes could

tell us the stories of the astounding

changes in our homeland over the last

century. Now nicknamed ‘Silicon Wadi’,

the town originally established by a group

of sixty Jewish families has become the

thriving merkaz (centre) of the ‘start-up

nation’.

Shiny offices and funny-shaped shopping

centres tower above the Tel Aviv skyline.

These magnificently modern structures

sit awkwardly next to the rather more

modest Bauhaus architecture, a UNESCO

proclaimed World Heritage Site, which

should be a great source of pride for Tel

Aviv. The old and the new gives us a tan-

talising glimpse of the history of this

place.

Like many young Brits wish to live in Lon-

don, most young Israelis aspire to have

their own apartment in central Tel Aviv

after the army. As loudly proclaimed in

the recent social protests, establishing a

life in this vibrant city is no easy feat.

Money is tight, and secure, well-paid jobs

are hard to find. This is a city which con-

tains both extremes of the financial spec-

trum: the towering hotels next to the

seashore, playing host to the Jewish com-

munity’s wealthiest holidaymakers, are

directly overlooking the slums of down-

town Tel Aviv where tensions are running

high between the poor Israeli nationals

and the even poorer immigrants. It is

sometimes easier, however, to look away

from the troubles of others on your door-

step. It’s understandable too, with bills to

pay and traffic jams to navigate.

Although only separated by a short mo-

torway, Tel Aviv is a world away from the

golden streets of Jerusalem. As the holy

city grinds to a halt on a Friday afternoon,

Tel Aviv is just waking up. For many in-

habitants, irreligious and ready for the

weekend, Friday night dinner was a tradi-

tion that was shunned long ago. Absent in

the streets of Tel Aviv as Shabbat ap-

proaches is the distinct scent of freshly-

baked challah that wafts through the

crisp Jerusalem air.

The Jewish nation is divided more than

ever; financially, politically and religious-

ly. Yet it is this shattered dream that I and

others love so much, and it can be hard

to put your finger on exactly why we love

it so much.

No matter how much we disagree and

argue, in the way that only Jews can do,

these disputes are only possible because

we are in control of our own fate for the

first time in thousands of years. Having

lived on the outskirts of the city, in Bat

Yam, for several months, Tel Aviv is a

place that I deeply appreciate. Its vibran-

cy is not replicated anywhere else and it

has an ability to charm anybody who vis-

its for even the shortest of times. Very

little has changed since August 1936. The

attitude of the residents has stayed exact-

ly the same, and it’s definitely still not

perfect. But, unlike 76 years ago, at least

it’s ours.

@eytanhalon

MORE RECENT

14 The Young Zionist

Rudyard Kipling once said, “If History were taught in the form of Stories, it would never be forgotten.”

Mr Kipling was right. The monotonous lecture of a textbook teacher cannot share the memorable effect of a lesson taught through the vessel of Once Upon a Time. Even large chunks of biblical text are better remembered when illustrated through the image of Adam, Eve and the sinful Serpent.

In short, a story’s ability to make the po-litical more personal has elevated the Arts to the forefront of the socio-political conversation.

Yet, even this simple principle – like so many other principles facing the State of Israel – is being confronted with cam-paigning resistance.

The latest wave of boycott-happy activists have supported a Palestinian call to ex-clude Israel from the international cultur-al conversation, from the Arts.

Israel’s continued presence in “occupied territory” – they argue – has left the pub-lic with a moral duty to boycott and with-draw from commercial and social rela-tions with the nation State.

Now, I’ve never been one to take a boy-cott call too seriously. They tend to beat to a rather boring and repetitive tune. The leaders are usually of the Hyde Park speakers’ corner breed; the followers are fleeting; and the arguments are so dis-torted that they rarely receive publicity. In fact, if the whole concept wasn’t so offensive, I might laugh.

However, my attitude flipped and cheeks-reddened at the recent boycott led by prominent people in the Arts. A group of actors, directors and writers supported a call to reject Israel’s cultural institutions by the Palestinian Boycott, Divisions and Sanctions committee (BDS).

The artistic group’s distorted political perspective didn’t bother me. With free-dom of speech firmly in place (I hope), we all have a right to have a view and distort it at our wish. If the group had just called Israel a military enthusiast, an occupier, a blood-sucking nation run by the Elders of

Zion secretly controlling the USA, there’s not much I could do to silence that view, beyond voicing my challenge in a rational or sarcastic manner.

What did bother me was the ‘boycott’ itself.

Firstly, the recent attempt to prevent Israel’s Habima theatre performing The Merchant of Venice at the Globe, was akin to silencing free speech.

Secondly, the artistic boycott was led by people in the Arts – by people who have made a lucrative living from exploring politics through performance and exercis-ing free speech through storytelling. The irony behind a group of storytellers attempting to prevent another from exer-cising the same liberty was bizarre if not repulsive.

Just before Habima were due to perform, I attended the Globe to watch the Pales-tinian Ashtar group freely play Richard II in Palestinian Arabic. The actors were emotional, passionate and gave a won-derful performance that duly received a standing ovation at the end of the recital. I gazed on, clapped hard and received a wink and wave from the actors.

Walking towards the group’s post-performance conference, I prepared my positive review. I would tell friends and family how enthusiastic the actors were, how they were so talented and liberal in their artistic performance. I exchanged pleasantries, flipped down my cushioned chair, watched the Ashtar discussion pan-

el take their seats, and my optimistic head began to quickly deflate.

I sat with disdain as the ‘conference’ transformed into an Israel-bashing ses-sion supported by old Irish folk compar-ing the situation to British colonialism. “Palestine will be free,” one overweight man spontaneously combusted.

The actors wiggled their heads and timely looked at the floor at the mention of Ha-bima. “Tel Aviv security was a nightmare for us. They touched our private places. It is very hard for us,” they mourned to the gasping and tutting audience.

That’s all very well, I thought, but what did the panel’s emotional obsession with security checkpoints and “psychological imprisonment” have to do with Habima performing a Shakespearean play on Lon-don’s Embankment? – Something the Ashtar panel had freely completed one hour ago. I didn’t get my answer and scowled at the confused panel as I left the conference room.

Though the boycott wasn’t successful and Habima were permitted to perform, the ‘happy ending’ element of the story was minimal. I couldn’t help but feel that the issue should not have existed in the first place.

When 37 artists like actress Emma Thompson - the Golden Globe winner, Harry Potter star, writer and general Hol-lywood storyteller – are willing to preach Palestinian liberty while denying Israelis the same rights, the root of the problem goes beyond the Globe theatre.

Stories have the power to teach history in a memorable manner, voice a thought in a creative way and smack away the tiring droll of old-age politics.

If not for my time spent challenging boy-cotts and hypocrisy, I might have en-closed a list of names and encouraged you to boycott those who signed the letter - ‘Dismay at Globe invitation to Is-raeli theatre’ – but I won’t, that would be hypocritical.

@SandyRashty

Hollywood, History & The Boycott When did the Arts collide?

By Sandy Rashty

“The irony behind a

group of storytellers

attempting to prevent

another from exercising

the same liberty was

bizarre if not repulsive.”

The Young Zionist 15

Is this really goodbye? By Sasha Gold (FZY Office Team 2011-12, Year Course Madricha 2012-13)

For anyone who knows me, you will un-

derstand that I find goodbyes and end-

ings very traumatic.

As soon as we begin singing the Hatikva

(‘The Hope’ - the national anthem of Isra-

el) at the end of a seminar, standing with

arms around each other, the tears begin

to fall. Something about the rousing mel-

ody as we reach the climax of "Od lo avda

tikvateinu" coupled with the feeling of

togetherness with people with whom you

have just shared an experience never fails

to reduce me to a quivering emotional

wreck. And so, this year of movement

work feels like the longest Hatikva ever -

every moment and every person I inter-

act with is another note in this tune of

goodbye.

My time in FZY has been completely life-

changing. I can trace my path through the

movement back to my first camp and see

how indeed, two roads did diverge in a

yellow wood, how I took the one less

travelled by, and how that did make all

the difference. I have no idea where I

would be and who I would be today had

FZY never come into my life; it has com-

pletely shaped and defined my identity,

and has given me so much during my

formative years.

Being part of this movement gave me

values, skills, direction and a community.

I was given role models who I aspired to

be like, and along the way I found out

who I was and how I too could be a role

model. I learnt the joy and purpose that

comes with responsibility and commit-

ment. I learnt about myself and about the

world from my madrichim, my peers, and

later my chanichim. I grew up and grew

towards the person I learned I wanted to

be.

It is a very hard and emotional thing to

leave a movement that you have invested

in and that has given you so much. Right

now, I cannot imagine a life without FZY

in it. However, just as I feel terrified at

the approach of every milestone and life

change until I get to it, at which time I

feel ready, I can feel now that it is the

right time to leave FZY.

I have been privileged this year to run the

London Hadracha Course, and have met

and been inspired by an amazing group of

committed and passionate young people

who are working hard to develop their

potential and going on an amazing jour-

ney. I see a group of incredible Year

Coursers going to Israel this coming year,

a group I have led since I was just a Year

Courser myself, who I have seen grow up

at the same time that I myself have

grown up. I see an active and impas-

sioned Mazkirut who are getting to know

the movement from the inside and al-

ways looking out for its best interests.

Seeing all these people, I know it is the

right thing to leave the movement, giving

them the same chances to take on re-

sponsibilities and lead the movement into

the future as I had.

The thing that makes us special is that we

are truly a youth movement; when we

say we care about youth leadership and

empowerment we mean it. The move-

ment is kept constantly dynamic and

fresh because FZY is the people in it. We

go through a journey, pass on our wis-

dom, influence those younger than us

until they take over and we move on,

carrying our experience with us, allowing

it to inform where we go and what we

do.

Because of course this is not really a

goodbye at all. How can I forget all the

experiences I have had, lessons I have

learnt, and people I have met? Just as the

words of the Hatikva become a part of

our identity, our beliefs and our hopes,

staying with us long after we finish sing-

ing at the end of the seminar, FZY will

always remain with us.

I want to end by saying thank you to eve-

ryone who has made my time in FZY so

fulfilling and special, from the beginning

until the end. I cannot wait to see where

you all take the movement now that I

have finished.

@sashatalgold

“The thing that makes us

special is that we are

truly a youth movement.”

16 The Young Zionist

My View: FZY Tour By Sophie Goodman (FZY Israel Tour participant 2011)

So firstly I must apologise for the title. I just didn’t think “My Amazing Tour Expe-rience” screamed originality. If you are a member of another youth movement reading this then I suggest you stop reading now. 80% of this article will be my talking about the most fantastic, unbelievable, amazing, unforgettable experience I had on Israel Tour and you’ll probably just get angry at the fact I had such a fantastic, unbelievable, amazing, unforgettable experience with FZY and wouldn’t consider any other Tour but FZY if I had to choose again. So, a year after Israel Tour and here I am trying to gather my memories of it together for an article. What have I gotten myself into? It goes without saying that meeting eve-rybody in your Tour, who you will be spending a month with, is nerve wracking but it didn’t take Tour 4 long to settle down with each other and, by the first day, everybody seemed like they’d known each other for a lot longer than they real-ly had. My first highlight of Tour was definitely the Haas Promenade. No, I didn’t know what it was either until I arrived. The Haas Promenade is a viewpoint in the middle of Jerusalem and I’ll never forget the views you could see when stood in the middle of it. I found it amazing how you could see so much of one city stood in just one place. With it being my first time in Israel, I really didn’t know what to expect but after going there on the first day I could tell that spending the next 29 days in such an amazing coun-try wasn’t going to be difficult. I couldn’t wait to explore it. Next, I have to choose the Kotel (Western Wall). Sorry to sound cliché but you can’t go to Israel and not be amazed by it. It’s impossible. I just found the whole Kotel experi-ence unforgettable. So many messages are written about loved ones in the wall. There were even people praying and cry-ing against the wall. I find it really inspir-

ing how whatever is going on in your life, good or bad, you can go to the Kotel and instantly forget everything. It’s peaceful and really serene. Before going on Israel Tour, there were many options as to which ‘track’ I’d like to choose. For me, the volunteering track sounded perfect. At FZY, one of our main charities is called the EBF: The Ethiopian Barmitzvah Fund. As it says on the tin, we raise money for children from Ethiopia, who now live in Israel, to experience their very own Bar/Batmitzvahs. Volunteering (or Tikkun Olam as it’s wide-ly known) gave me the chance to experi-ence their bar/bat mitzvas and share the celebrations with their families. This was an experience never to be forgotten. The celebrations took place at the Jerusalem Great Synagogue which was an experi-ence in itself. During my time in FZY I have raised mon-ey for the EBF doing simple things such as bake sales, car washes etc. and to see the money that we raise as a youth move-ment going into such an amazing cause is a feeling that could only be described as perfect.

The final part of Israel Tour that I’m going to highlight is the Maccabiah. The Macca-biah Games is FZY’s answer to the Olym-pics. Think Olympics, change all the coun-tries to 12 Tours and change all the rules to just 1: WIN. There are lots of aspects to the Maccabiah including football, vol-leyball, basketball, tug of war and, my personal favourite, ruach (spirit). Unfortunately, my Tour didn’t do too well

in any of the competitions but it was defi-nitely the taking part that mattered. It was fun, exciting and I would do it again tomorrow if I could. Before I end my ode to Tour, I’m just go-ing to give you 5 Top Tips about Tour which I learnt the hard way:

1. Bring extra sun cream. Even when you think 5 bottles is enough, bring more. 2. If you haven’t already, start saving up now. When you go to Eilat (or Eischmat as I like to call it) you’ll want to buy everything!

3. DO NOT FORGET YOUR HAT. 4. Israeli vendors are really easy to haggle with. Haggle away like you’ve nev-er haggled before. 5. It sounds really ‘Disney channel’ but I really did find my confidence on Israel Tour and it was a life changing ex-perience, so I think the most important thing you can do is be yourself. Trust me, it goes a long way.

“The most important

thing you can do is be

yourself. Trust me, it

goes a long way”

FZY Tour 2012

participants

The Young Zionist 17

My View: Year Course By Zoë Edelman (FZY Year Course participant 2011-12)

My name is Zoë Edelman and I have just come home from the amazing experience that was Year Course 2011-2012 and I have had the time of my life! I have made the most amazing friends, had in-credible experiences and have discovered who I really am. Since I first got involved with FZY and my sister went on YC I knew that I would come to Israel before attending universi-ty. But it’s not just for FZY ‘keenos’ like me; the experiences I have had here have not depended on my past but the individ-ual that I am. Due to university fees tripling, this year’s FZY group was much smaller than the year before. This made for an unusual orientation in Israel. We began on Sep-tember 1st. I say began because only half of us actually travelled together to Israel. For 4 days there was a permanent awk-ward silence. It wasn’t that we didn’t like each other, we just had nothing to say. During orientation we had an opportunity to dive right into Israel society. We attended a protest in Tel Aviv about the difficulty of affording to live here. I knew a little about this issue but it was amazing to see how relevant this was in Israel. In Jerusalem we took part in classes such as Hebrew, Jewish Concepts, Israel Advo-cacy and G-d Talk. My Jewish beliefs were challenged to the point that my perspec-tive on Judaism and G-d have significantly changed, and I am now a lot more confi-dent to advocate for Israel on campus and feel that I know enough to be pro-active about Israel. I was in a ‘Judaism in Jerusalem’ class and, with it, took many classes to the old city. It’s amazing that I

now know my way around the old city, as well as the rest of Jerusalem, because it is such a special place with so much history and so much to do. In Bat Yam, just outside Tel Aviv, I was lucky enough to volunteer in Magen Da-vid Adom. The course was so much fun. There were people from all over the world. The medical stuff wasn’t that hard as I had learnt a lot of it previously in school and some was just common sense. The Hebrew, however, I found hard. I came to Israel with none so by the point it was still very limited. I only got 76% in the test, 4% under the pass mark, but with a promise to continue to study they passed me. Volunteering in MDA was very exciting; even when I got the simplest of calls where we are only transporting people from house to hospital, seeing into so many other people’s homes and families and receiving such gratitude from so many people makes me feel like I was truly making an impact on Israeli society. I may not have been able to communicate with most of the patients, due to my min-imal Hebrew, but I could see that they did appreciate the help. My 3rd semester was spent in Arad, a small city in the Negev (south of Israel). Although there is little to do in Arad there always seemed to be just enough going on for me to be amused, whether it be karaoke, a movie night or a trip to Muza – one of the few bars in Arad. I volunteered in Ein Gedi – one of the most beautiful places in Israel. We helped with the bio-logical research there on the human effects on dragonflies. We also helped

the Park Rangers sometimes with clearing the paths, guiding people to some of the sights and then telling them off for starting to smoke nargila there! Some people thought I was crazy choos-ing to pay the higher university fees but I’m 100% sure it was the right choice. If I had come to Israel for only a few months I would have had such a different experi-ence. I didn’t realise how much I had learnt here until my friends came on an FZY trip. Suddenly I was the know-it-all who knew where to go for this and that and what this Hebrew word meant. It worried me that I was the one with the most Hebrew! I now feel like I live here and that I am an Israeli. I know my way around Jerusalem and Tel Aviv pretty well and I can actually interact with people in Hebrew. I also now understand so much more about Israeli culture, not because of what I’ve been taught in FZY activities and those few times I bought falafel from a stand, but because of living deep within the culture. I’ve grown a lot as a person this year – I’ve become emotionally a lot more sta-ble, I’ve gained a lot more self-esteem and I’ve quite simply matured. I’ve also learnt to cook! I really missed home, and there were times when I wished I could be there. But realistically, why on earth would I give up Year Course? I’ve had an incredible year and am so grateful to my parents for letting me come here. I think that if anyone is slightly considering going on FZY Year Course then they definitely should, and I would be happy to answer any questions!

18 The Young Zionist

Dear friends. Here we just had three completely crazy, fascinating and joyful days, and I thought it might interest some of you to hear about them. THE DAY BEFORE The day before the expected release - I found myself going to Ikea. They assured me that there was not yet anything much to do at Mitzpe, and that I’d just go crazy at home. So I went. I went as far as I could imagine myself driving in one day. I went and I thought a lot of bad thoughts and happy thoughts and prayed a lot, and touched on every possible piece of wood and crossed my fingers and fought to hear the radio over the sat nav. In the evening they opened the pub at Mitzpe to commence the celebrations and festivities for the dozens of media types and techies who had been here since the morning. We drank beer with Yoav Limor, sang-along with Ayala Hasson, gossiped with Sivan Rahav Meir and joked with Yael Dan (but unfortunately Danny Kushmaro had not arrived yet - and the girls of Mitzpe felt his absence...). We experienced some sort of experience where we maintained a facade in front of everyone, as if we did not care about anything – but inside me my stomach was churning – I just hope everything will be ok - and with all this

atmosphere around me I was still biting my tongue – so as not to miss out on any small "we lived through this" moment. EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY… (I HOPE): THE DAY OF THE RELEASE Yesterday (the day of the release) I was already on tenterhooks from seven-thirty in the morning. I went to the Mazkirut in order to know what to do, as did others who wanted "to do something" no matter what it was; the important thing was to do something. We left and we went up to Mitzpe (anyone who has been here once knows how steep it is!) And we tried to "do", whatev-er we could, no matter what, the main thing was to prepare, to prepare to deal with something until it is. We hang and we cut, we tie and we fas-ten. Journalists are upon as from every direction, and want to interview us and want to ask and to know; our every half-step is photographed and documented. They photograph us when we enter, when we go out. When we hang or take down, spread flowers, plant olive trees (Aviva's special request), when we assem-ble in lines to wait for Gilad. And every one of us (easily identified – as for each resident of Mitzpe they brought out a beautiful new shirt on which was written: "How good that you came home") is be-coming famous for a moment. THEN HE ARRIVED…

We were lined up in long rows holding flags and flowers, and blowing shofars, and within me are a lot of thoughts – why the national flags? Is it appropriate after five and a half years?

And in the distance are two huge helicop-ters. And with them our excitement jumps to highest point since the an-nouncement of the release. And someone starts a song that doesn’t catch on, and instead we shout, and clap, and don’t exactly embrace but also don’t move away from each other. And we look at the sky. And from the sky emerge two helicopters that cross the just setting sun right in the middle, like E.T. crossed the moon on his bike. The helicopter that approaches the ground blows up a huge column of dust, that brings to mind for a moment the pillar of smoke that took us out of Egypt. And the next moment – like nothing. Small black figures are coming out of the helicopter - and we all know one of them is Gilad, and two others are Noam and Aviva! And excitement is bubbling in the veins of my head and my heart is jump-ing. That’s it, he is here, at home. "Shehecheyanu" Two minutes later and they are in the middle of Mitzpe. And we wave as hard as we can and throw the flowers. Trying to see through the black windows of the Savannas from which of the cars Gilad is watching us.

HOME: GILAD A VIEW FROM MITZPE HILA - HOMETOWN OF GILAD

The Young Zionist 19

And I think how many faces does he rec-ognise and how many are new for him, whom does he recognise but can’t re-member their name, and whether he thought of us there, whether he remem-bered me?

The convoy passes us, continues to wind upwards and we tear at the police tape that holds us back, and the police togeth-er with us, simply go up after the secure convoy that had passed by. And there is no singing, no hugging, and yet no silence and no distance between us. We go up joined together. Rejoicing. We stop for a moment the black humour, and stop for a moment the thoughts and just go up. We stop at the entrance to their street, waving flags, and weave a path between photographers and reporters, get lost in each other and rejoice. In the evening, we go home to watch the news which they are filming fifty feet or so from our house, and the TV is on all night long, and I made marzipan which always seems like food appropriate for celebrations. And that's it, then I went to sleep, My body hurt from all the events on that same day, whether the tension or the relief was not clear. And at night I dreamed about babies. Without impris-onment and without hostages, without police and without cameras, just babies and the kindergarten I may open one day, and in the morning I thought maybe it was really a sign that everything will be all right now. THE MORNING AFTER… Today - clean.

Within an hour and a half, Mitzpe is squeaky clean to an almost alarming lev-el. We lowered and folded the banners, tore up and threw out the signs; we cut all the yellow ribbons, not leaving even one. Not even on the arms of the chairs in the moadon, so that within a year when Mitzpe will return to anonymity - no one will ever find a reason to remem-ber what was here. As if it wasn’t here.

All the signs were taken down. Our signs, and visitors’. And the big sign that has accompanied us for five and a half years – which has by now become a symbol of Mitzpe: "Gilad, we are waiting for you at home", is removed and vanishes. All the flags were folded and police barri-cades were removed. The luxury mobile studios left in the morning, and there remained only a few photographers who work freelance and wait to see if Gilad will leave the house.

After our last shift on watch at the gate, we drove to Tarshicha to eat at "A la mer", not to celebrate, just no one there had any strength left to cook, or to chop or wash. We had had enough folding, rolling and gathering for a lifetime. Then finally the adrenaline starts to fall - and with the understanding that that is it, we cut all the yellow ribbons. And there is no longer a need to feel only "half-happy" every time we celebrate or travel or do something. And inside me a question forms - would Gilad not want to have seen what we did? He only passed by here once - he surely could not have seen the amount of effort and good will that was here. It wouldn’t have been a good part of the therapy? To see how much love we have to love him? AFTER EVERYTHING… I knew Gilad to the extent that I knew him from Mitzpe. Those of you who grew up in a small village know what I mean. He was always someone here, one year

below me, not in my closest circle of friends but certainly not a stranger. Someone who played with the little brothers of my friends; someone who studied with me in school. In kindergar-ten we used to play "King of the Boys and Queen of the Girls " - he always was the King of the Boys in the game – I do not know why, I think it had to do with who runs faster or punched hardest or some-thing like that appropriate to the age of five. Someone with whom I travelled on shuttles for 11 years and after that I wait-ed with him to hitch-hike in the square on the way to the army, or by the exit of school. Someone who was no closer to me than a distant relative. Someone who is part of my life, part of the landscape. Someone that because I know him like this, I care about him a little more than for someone I do not know. I am very very happy Gilad is back home - I bless his return. And wish him all the best. That he will get back to normal right away. I hope that the medical staff around him won’t create in him fears or problems that aren’t there. I hope he will know how much we love him here, and how much we waited for him and how much we really felt here that he was "everyone’s son" and I hope he will never have to know what it is like to be on the other side - and to wait and to love. And I wish we all would never have to experi-ence even a tenth of what the Shalit fami-ly has gone through. And you're very welcome to come and visit Mitzpe, and rejoice with us - and of course, always to give us strength from afar. In his broadcast blessing to Gilad, Shimon Peres said: "You have returned home, and we have returned unto ourselves" - I think there are no words more appropri-ate than these.

SHALIT

“You have returned

home, and we have

returned unto ourselves”

- I think there are no

words more appropriate

than these.

20 The Young Zionist

Who are the “Movement Team?”

By Harry Jardine (FZY Mazkir 2012-13)

When we refer to a “Movement Team” in FZY we mean the full-time employees. For years the structure of FZY has been that of empowerment for graduates by providing them with significant responsi-bility unparalleled in the wider working world. The stark contrast between uni-versity and movement life is initially a daunting thought, but after two months in the office it is clear that the “Movement Team” is more than just those who spend their lives in the FZY Bayit. The “Movement Team” is a struc-ture that allows FZY to develop and stay relevant to our members.

If the conventional view of a “Movement Team” is office staff, then that outlook is grossly incorrect.

The goals of a “Movement Team” are simple, to informally educate around our ideology, to create an inclusive environ-ment, to run activities throughout the year which both empower and serve our members, add value to the movement and ensure that we continue to be rele-vant with the changing times. The fulfil-ment of these goals will ultimately dictate the success of our year and therefore will leave an imprint on the movement whether positively or otherwise.

When asked by Darren Wogman (Rakaz Tochniot Chinuchiot) how we achieve these aims there was much discussion amongst us at the Bayit. When looking at

the informal education surrounding our ideology we turn to our Madrichim (leaders), throughout programming it is our madrichim who lead our education. We facilitate this process through madrichim enrichment, training courses, seminars and by providing opportunities to gain experience, culminating in Israel Tour.

We in the Bayit are capable of facilitation and development of madrichim, our edu-cational strategy and rationale. The madrichim are those on the front line delivering the content to our participants and ultimately are the ones who control the educational content.

We argue that the “Movement Team” leads the movement but if this is the case who are the “Movement Team”? Is it just those in the Bayit? I feel it is much more than this. I believe that the responsibility for facilitation does come from those fulltime workers, however the develop-ment of the movement is a responsibility that spreads across all shichvot (age groups). The mazkirut (FZY’s national ex-executive body) have an ability to shape the movement throughout the year by being a governing body for the move-ment holding us facilitators to account as well as assisting with the direction of the long term strategy. The Netzigim (regional representatives) are responsible for community building within their spe-

cific region, they have their finger on the pulse when it comes to membership needs and the closeness to our members helps create the FZY family.

The madrichim inspire their chanichim (participants). They deliver the content and are the driving force behind every action within the movement. They propel FZY in to the future whilst keep the move-ment alive. At the end of the day it is all of our members who make the differ-ence, what is a member without its mem-bers? Without engaged members what is the point? There would be stagnation of the movement and we would cease to move. I for one do not want to be part of a motionless movement.

So who are the movement team? Is it just those sitting behind desks in Hendon and Manchester?

I for one believe the Movement Team are all of those who have chosen to take on roles and help to guide FZY into the fu-ture. Those who want to see the better-ment of the movement and those who believe that FZY has a significant role to play in the development of the UK Jewish Zionist community.

For me anyone who makes a change in the movement or provides education to our members is working for the move-ment and therefore should be considered part of the “Movement Team”.

FZY Movement Workers 2012-13, led by Mazkir Harry Jardine (centre)