Page 14 - Kol Bogrei Habonim - Autumn 21

decades, our numbers have dwindled, and at moadonim] Mike Arbel ל"ז and Rafi
the time of writing we are four: myself and
Hilary (Naftalin), Evelyn Wolff
(Greenstein) and Naomi Gordon (Bakal).
Sadly, we have another four in the cemetery:
Mike Landes, Ken Gordon, Solly Gillows
and Irene Arbel (Shumar).
1962 winter Carmarthen Jam Session
From left – flute-Su Pollard, guitar-Clive Noble,
piano-Joe (Isaacson) Ben Yitzchak, flute-Maurice
Blackman (slim), saxaphone-Dave Hyams
Below from left – flute-Ada Natani, accordion-Monica
Freeman) Barzel
I have related up to now to chevrei garin who
came to Bet HaEmek or other kibbutzim. Of
course, many chose not to live on kibbutz and
came to town and many others of my
Habonim generation eventually made Aliyah
with their families.
Garin Vav was formed to give an organized
framework to fill in the aliya vacuum after the
very successful aliya of Garin Hey in the '50s.
Bet HaEmek in the late 50s was in a chaotic
state, suffering from the massive Achdut
Avoda/Mapai political split, which literally
divided the kibbutz population. In order to
strengthen the social and work fabric of the
kibbutz, the kibbutz movement sent five
shlichim to Britain, to work in Habonim
(Henry Near ל"ז , Boris Bernstein ל"ז, Sam
Israelstam ל"ז [who helped to purchase
14
Frankel) and so it is not surprising that Garin
Vav ended up in Bet HaEmek. The meshek
was in a wave of instability, financially and
socially, and there were huge population
changes. This situation was not a good
environment for absorbing a young garin
from Britain and may partially explain why
so many of Garin Vav left the kibbutz within
such a short period of time. Also, there was
the huge difference between ideological
Zionist aspirations in the magical atmosphere
of Habonim in Britain and the harsh reality
(heat, language, culture, physical work,
childcare) of everyday life in a kibbutz.
Garin Vav was a very loose, amorphous
framework for a Habonim generation, which
had distant plans to live on a kibbutz, but
unlike other garinim (before and after) lacked
a solid group identity and was made up of lots
of small social groups unconnected to each
other. In Bet HaEmek, Garin Vav, as a group,
dissipated into the public memory of waves
of absorption (mostly unsuccessful) of the
'60s. However, Bet HaEmek in the last
decade has enjoyed social, cultural and
financial stability and
success. Individually, all
Garin Vav members who
stayed made a significant
contribution to all aspects
of kibbutz life and have
earned high respect and
regard in the community.
The garin has had two very
successful reunions, both
held at Bet HaEmek, the
first in 1981 after 20 years
– a long time ago, I can't Joe Ben Yitzchak
remember if anyone came from outside of Israel –
and the second in 2011 after 50 years