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new society together ‘at work’, and not just ‘at home’ in our kvutsot during evenings and
weekends? Such teamwork based structures are still obvious if we look at the Habonim Dror
youth movement, since the youth movement structures were hugely influenced by the classic
kibbutz. Teamwork was once fundamental to the kibbutz movement, and has been lost to a great
extent as part of the changes and privatisation of most kibbutzim, with ever increasing numbers
of kibbutz members working outside the kibbutz as hired labourers, and external hired labourers
being brought in to run the kibbutz work-branches. Returning to tzevet work, along with elements
such as developing tzevet relationships, and tzevet learning, play a huge part in the renewal of our
Israeli sister movements, and in the creation of their tnuot bogrim, because they believe (as did
the classic kibbutzim, and most other socialists) that society (and the life of the individual) is
better structured that way. It is a key tool for transforming our ‘work’ into a ‘messima’ - an
integral part of our lives, doing not only the right sort of projects as creative expressions of
ourselves and our values, but doing them whilst relating to each other in the right ways – as
movement tzvatim.

As we can learn from the Israeli tnuot bogrim, it is possible to combine pioneering social change
work with movement tzevet structures: The Israeli tnuot bogrim began with members of their
kvutsot taking responsibility for their youth movement, with almost all of them taking on youth
movement related messimot. Similarly, the HDTB kvutsot have done this for years with Shnat
Hachshara / Workshop, Bogrim Seminars / Mifgash, and all the other World Habonim Dror
programs. When the Israeli tnuot bogrim grew, with more and more kvutsot, they were able to
continue taking responsibility for all their youth movement messimot, and were also able to
expand by creating new tzvatim which began carrying out new messimot in Israeli society. They
did not just send people out individually to get external jobs in social change related
organisations, but they pioneered their own social and educational initiatives together. After
several years of growth, there are now a whole range of great social change messimot being
carried out all over Israel by the tnuot bogrim, none of which existed as part of the youth
movements in the pre-tnuot bogrim era. As the HDTB continues to grow, and we have more than
enough people to take responsibility for the traditional youth movement messimot, we must also
decide whether to prioritise tzevet work in our own new initiatives as a part of our lives in the
movement, or whether each individual should just try to find themselves an external hired
labourer job in some worthwhile organisation or project.

Once again, it is clear that these dilemmas are overlapping: If we do decide to create new
messimot and tzvatim which are not just dealing with the HD youth movement, which messimot
should we do? Should we do new messimot which somehow take responsibility for the galut, even
though we live in Israel, and even though it might harm our absorption? Should we do new
messimot in Israeli society (eg a Habonim Dror coexistence centre / feminist centre / peace
centre etc) even though the Israeli movements are all already taking responsibility for Israeli
society, and even though they are not taking the same level of responsibility for the galut?
Should we be developing our own new tzvatim and messimot at all, or should we be joining the
tzvatim and messimot of our sister Israeli tnuot bogrim?

If you have an opinion about these dilemmas, please share it – write down your ideas in the HDTB
FORUM at http://www.habonimdror.org.il/forums/
More importantly, come and join us in the HDTB in Israel, and become a pioneer, shaping this
movement…

Aleh Vehagshem,

James Grant-Rosenhead,
Kvutsat Yovel.