Page 15 - Issue 9

As part of a discussion on the HDNA listserve about the recent US elections, we
came across this gem from Yonah…

V

Obama in front of Capital Hill HD Madrichim in front of Sydney Ken

...The zeal I see in Obama canvassers and campaigners is admirable, but seeing that zeal in ma'apilim who choose
Obama over the ken is, frankly, frustrating.

With the help of a few hundred million people, you can do a few great things on one day: put a decent fellow in
the White House, pass a totally legit referendum, bump a Democrat into the Senate or the House. But what is
that next to the ken? In Habonim Dror, we have the potential to change kids' lives on a regular basis with a mere
handful of dedicated madrichim... Your vote does make a difference, but it is merely a drop in the bucket of
millions of voices calling for change, rather than the whole fucking bucket of real live change that you cause
when you give a group of chanichim the tools to think critically and shape their own worlds.

If members of Habonim Dror North America spent as much time running their eizorim as they do campaigning
for political candidates, we would have successful kenim. Instead of squeezing the most liberal policies you can
out of an essentially capitalist population, take responsibility for changing your own community. Instead of
fighting for policy changes from the top, change human relationships and ignorant attitudes from the bottom.
Run the ken.

The ken doesn't have Obama to speak eloquently about it. The ken isn't something you can do for a few weeks
and then feel good about for four years. It isn't sensational, and it isn't easy.

So by all means, vote. Get your friends to vote. Get the whole goddamn country to vote for Barack Obama. And
then run the ken.

Aleh V'Hagshem
Yonah Meiselman
Workshop 56