The youth moving Zionism

DALIA SABLE

IN 1913 in Eastern Europe, two Jewish youth groups merged to form what is now the oldest Zionist youth group still in existence.

Born on the eve of World War I, Hashomer Hatzair provided refuge for young Jews wanting to engage with their Jewish identity outside the walls of the traditional shtetl life -— a life that was fast crumbling around them.

It was a time of great change, with anti-Semitism on the rise and Nazism and communism just around the corner.

Fast-forward 96 years, and a group of Jewish youth gather each week in inner-Melbourne, keeping Hashomer Hatzair alive.

Like the other Zionist youth movements in Australia today, Hashomer Hatzair, or Hashy, is as popular as ever, with more than 100 school-aged members (chanichim) currently attending weekly meetings.

The ideologies behind the six Zionist youth movements are largely unchanged, but the reasons for participating have. Nevertheless, Zionist youth movements in Australia are going from strength to strength.

For former Habonim Dror leader and current chairperson of the Australian Zionist Youth Council (AZYC) -— the umbrella organisation for the Zionist movements -— Liam Getreu, this growth comes as no surprise.

“It seems people want to be more engaged,” Getreu told The AJN. “We had about 180 people at our bogrim (graduate) seminar last week as opposed to 110 or 120 last year. The numbers of bogrim have gone up, but [never] by that much.”

Robbie Franco, executive director of the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA), the roof body of Australia’s Zionist organisations, echoed these sentiments.

“I think it is going very well and in fact, it just proves the point that when you have the right people doing the right things, you don’t need to place limitations on it,” Franco said, crediting the current crop of movement leaders for the success.

“I have been here four months exactly and I have met an incredible bunch of students. Those who I have met among the leadership, they are talented, they are bright, committed, articulate and an absolute delight.”

While Getreu referred to the “passion” and “commitment” of the current leaders, he also credited past leaders with the present state of the movements.

“It all goes in cycles so the strength now is because of the bogrim five or six years ago,” he said.

“There was a good bunch of talented madrichim (leaders) who were able to talk to the kids and these kids have stayed involved and are really passionate.”

Betar’s Andrew Gray agrees with Getreu, also referring to the efforts of past leaders.

“We had four bogrim a few years back and their efforts paid off,” he said.

Betar, which was established by staunch Zionist Ze’ev Jabotinsky in the early 1920s, has recently enjoyed significant annual growth, with 150 students attending the summer federal camp last year, as opposed to 80 the year before.

“The dedication of the bogrim at the movement has brought the increase. They all love the movement and its ideology and [all] are really committed.”

Gray said another factor leading the growth of Betar has been a considered effort to attract students from non-Jewish schools — a matter close to his heart, considering he himself attended a non-Jewish school.

“There is nothing more beneficial than attending a [youth] movement, learning about Judaism and being a part, particularly for people who may have felt disenfranchised.”

Netzer’s Jeremy Bliss has had a similar experience, becoming involved in the movement when he moved from The King David School to Wesley College.

Bliss said that while King David and Emanuel School students make up the majority of Netzer’s numbers because of the alignment with Progressive Judaism, there are also a large number of students from non-Jewish schools attending Netzer.

Hashy’s Liraz Jedwab agreed, telling The AJN that students who attend non-Jewish schools comprise about 40 per cent of participants.

It may be no coincidence that the majority of the assistants who teach Jewish studies through the United Jewish Education Board, Jewish Student Network and Academy BJE come through the youth movement system.

“They lead every week [at their movement] and they still want more. They are passionate about education so they go off and [teach] as well,” Getreu said.

The obvious impact of a youth movement on students who attend a non-Jewish school was shown in the recent Monash University Jewish Population Survey of Australia’s Jewish community.

The survey showed that people who attended a non-Jewish school, but participated in a youth movement, were likely to feel as Zionist as if they attended a Jewish school.

Another trend being observed at the moment by the AZYC is the number of youth movement participants indicating they would like to make aliyah.

“We did a quick straw poll on our recent bogrim seminar and of the 180 or so people there, about 120 said they were going to make aliyah in the next few years,” Getrau said.

“Even if half of those or a quarter do, you are looking at amazing aliyah numbers coming from the movements. There is a real renaissance of an aliyah culture that is incredible.”

In addition to the aliyah numbers, many of the movements -— even the more secular ones -— are driving a new wave of Jewish practice.

“The Judaism part of the more secular movements is increasing,” Getreu said.

“Secular Judaism does not mean that you are not going to do anything because you don’t like it, rather it means that you are going to find meaning in what there is and that you are going to try to adapt what has previously been done to modern standards and to modern society … it’s about educating secular Jews to¬† understand their faith more.”

Whether it is the desire to be more engaged, the passion and commitment of the leaders or the unique and informal methods of teaching and learning, the current state of youth movements in Australia is looking up and if it is up to Franco from the ZFA, this growth will not peak anytime soon.

Instead, Franco is focused on how the movements can continue to attract more people.

While about 1000 young people attend weekly Zionist youth movement meetings across the country, he estimates there are tens of thousands more who are yet to get involved.

“It is not whether the youth movements per se are doing a good job, it is how we get them to reach out and make youth movements a culture of choice,” he said, adding that the ZFA’s plenary held over three days last week focused on this very subject.

Titled “Le’an” -— Hebrew for “where to” -— the plenum focused on “developing new strategies for older beliefs” and taking the Zionist organisations into the next decade.

And just as the ZFA is looking to the future, so is Getreu, who said that “the bogrim today are the leaders of the future”.

“People are coming back from Shnat [a year in Israel] and realising that it is not just a one-year process, it is the beginning or one step in a lifelong set of goals that you want to achieve … People are more willing to understand that and are more willing to engage with their Jewish and Zionist identity.”