Page 20 - Issue 16

walking through all four quarters of The Old City. Sometimes
it’s the strangest places you go that you’ll catch a Habonim
Dror Semel out of the corner of your eye. This has definitely
happened to all reading this, all chaverimot who have grown
up in the movement. It could be on the front of someone's T-
shirt, or on their hat or chultzah. Wherever it is, you
immediately have a connection with that person. It’s like
bumping into a Jew at a random place around the world, but
that feeling tenfold. That person, no matter where they grew
up, shares something with you, something large and
profound. They share a belief system with you, they share a
language with you, they’ve been on
a similar journey to you and
they’ve grown and become a
better person from it, just like
you have.

Symbols, mottos and
slogans have an immense
impact on history. They
become timeless identifiers
with a cause or a movement. The
Habonim Dror Semel represents
equality, social justice, Socialist-Zionism, Secular Judaism
and the weirdest and strangest dances. It represents ice-
breakers and every method that Jewish informal education
has ever seen. Seeing the Semel and connecting to it makes
you feel a part of something bigger than yourself, it makes
you feel a part of a collective.

We need a symbol on all our merch because Habonim Dror
is bigger than me or you. It’s a part of history, a shared
collective history. We inherit the Semel and the Semel is our
heritage. The Semel gives us hope and inspiration.