Landed!

The Workshoppers have landed at JFK! It's been an amazing year and we were all a little sad to let them go, but very excited to see what they get up to back in HDNA.

Sikkum Seminar

The Workshoppers are currently on Kibbutz Ravid, in the midst of their Sikkum Seminar. The seminar is a time for them to process the experiences they had this year, as well as talk about what they want to take back to North America with them, both into Habonim and their life beyond. The seminar started on Friday and will finish on Monday night when we head to the airport. Below, pictures of Kabbalat Shabbat. Zoe gave a small speech relating to the Torah portion of the week, which consists mainly of the Israelites counting themselves. She related this to the idea of counting yourself among the Jewish people, and by doing so making yourself responsible for what the Jewish people looks like. Celia also gave a speech, about what their homes meant to them this year. She spoke of their home as the vessel through which they shaped their lives together.

Last welcoming of the Shabbat Queen together, singing Hachama Merosh.

Celia talking about their homes this year.

Eva saying kadish.

Leaving the Acco House

Last day!

The garden bares fruit!

Acco Gothic. 

Acco Tzevet

Messima is finishing up next Sunday, but there's still enough time to get in some costumes and games!

Yom HaShoah and Tiyul

Monday May 28th was Holocaust Remembrance Day. Workshop 63 attended the national closing tekkes, held at Kibbutz Loachmei Hagitaot. Speakers at the ceremony included IDF Chief of Staff Benny Ganz and Yesh Atid Party Chair and current Minister of Treasury Yair Lapid.

We held our own Habonim tekkes prior to the general tekkes.

The amphitheater at Kibbutz Loachmei Hagitaot.

This past weekend, the Workshoppers also went on their final tiyul. After the May Day rally (pictures to follow in a separate post), we drove south past Be'er Sheva to camp out near our starting point. That night, they prepared a special Israeli sandwich, "Lechem Satatim" (Brick carver's bread). They hollowed out loaves of bread and filled them with basil, cheese, onion, garlic, olive oil and olives. Then, they replaced the bread chunks and used the sandwiches as pillows. They ate them for lunch the following day during their hike, and many a skeptic was convinced! 

Rafi, Zach and Micah prepare their sandwich. 

The following day, the Workshoppers hiked through Ein Akev, walking 11 kilometers through the desert. The educational aspect of the tiyul focused on the relationship between the Jewish people and the land of Israel. Through discussing the exodus story, and early Zionist visions of "making the desert bloom," the Workshoppers were asked to think about their own connection to the land of Israel. 

Returning to the campsite. 

Exhausted after hiking, except Rachel, who is hungry.

Big E and Ari, relaxing. 

Early to rise, Zach and Pickle (Rebecca). 

On Friday night, Naomi (Acco) and the Haifa tzevet planned a Kabbalat Shabbat service before the Workshoppers feasted on spit-roasted chickens! Saturday, they completed their tiyul by hiking through Ein Avdat. It was a challenging tiyul, especially given the heat, but a great chance for both kvutzot to spend some time together and think about what connection to the land their experiences in Israel have given them this year.

May Day Seminar

We are in the final stretch of Workshop 63, and it is incredibly busy! On April 25th and 26th, the Workshoppers,  along with their Australian, South African and Kiwi counterparts, attended May Day Seminar at Nes Harim, a JNF site outside of Jerusalem. The seminar explored the historical relationship between Habonim Dror and the labour movement, and asked the chanichim to think about the future of this relationship and the current state of workers' rights around the world. It was a very interesting and challenging seminar, and the Workshoppers enjoyed getting a chance to learn more about Habonim around the world. After the pictures is a sample of one of the texts read on the seminar, excerpted from Builders and Dreamers, the anthology of Habonim's first 50 years in North America.

Guest speakers from "Hareshet" (the Network), an organization started by Hanoar Haoved, our sister movement, that assists youth workers attempting to unionize or fight abusive workplace practices.

Our final tekkes, with Hannah Weintraub in the center explaining what the seminar meant to her. 

Making new friends!

Workshop 63 planned Kabbalat Shabbat for everyone. Here, Sara invited a representative from each country to join her in lighting Shabbat candles. 

Sandy Simon, New York 1989

Any time is a bad time to be digging in a cemetery, but digging at dusk just may be the worst. As the shadows stretch out, any noise becomes ominous. The two Habonim members standing in a pit in Queens tried to ignore their jitters. We had only three more feet to go, and then we could lie down, try the grave out for size and head home. We always lay down to try out our work for size – it was our way of showing the spooks we weren't afraid. Two shovels more. And then the ground kicked back. A foot protruded up from the earth -  or more precisely, a leg. Just a leg. A single, truncated leg.

It was the spring of 1973, and the contract between the New York Metropolitan cemetery owners and Local 365 of the Cemetery Workers and Greens Attendants' Union had expired a few months earlier. Work stoppages aren't' usually considered a viable option for cemetery workers; the footage on the evening news of anguisheing of 1973, and the contract between the New York metropolitan cemetery owners and d families standing around an unburied coffin does not engender public support for the workers' demands. This is especially true in New York, with its large Jewish population. In accordance with biblical injunction, traditional Jewish law dictates that burial must take place within twenty-four hours of death, or a day or two on the outside.

And so, the cemetery workers issued an ultimatum and waited for the owners to come to the negotiating table. Deadlines were replaced by more deadlines, but without the power of a strike, there was no pressure and thus no talks.

After a few months of deadlock, a strike was called. I don’t' remember whether  the union actually voted to stroke, or whether the walkout was simply ordered by the union's enduring president, Sam Cimaglia. I do remember the television news clips showing the last gravediggers' strike. And they showed members of Betar and the Jewish Defense League leading "strike teams" to the cemeteries. For a not-so-modest-fee, they would strike a blow against what they called anti-Semitism by striking physical blows against the cemetery workers. After that, they would bury the coffins of the Jewish dead.

As a member of Habonim, I had been sensitized to the needs and rights of workers, including the right to strike; I had equally learned of the right of all people freely to follow their religious persuasions. As a teenager, I firmly believed there was a simple solution to every problem, no matter how intractable it seemed. As merakez eizor, New York regional director of Habonim Labour Zionist Youth, I decided to put my principles in action.

So I called up Sam Cimaglia. After a few moments of low level détente (I expressed my sympathy for his members' plight, and he expressed sympathy for those whose religious beliefs require speedy burial) I suggested a plan. Habonim would coordinate a team of volunteers to dig graves. If a family had a letter signed by a rabbi, stating that the burial was required by a religious belief (and not mere convenience) then we would do the job. For our work, we would charge whatever the cemetery owners charged for digging the plot, and we would donate the money to a strike fund for the workers.

Sam expressed profuse enthusiasm for the idea, with one caveat. He said he would agree to let our volunteers dig the graves. His workers would even advise us. But he did not want to accept any money. The union would help us because it was the right thing to do, and not to make money. 

More Pasechet Pictures

More pictures from the Passover day camps, this time from the Rishon kvutza!

Celia and Jacob all dressed up.

Eli cooking "pita b'tarboon."

Building with Zach.

Tossing water balloons.