Page 36 - Kol Bogrei Habonim - January 19

1970 – 71 SHNAT REUNION, APRIL 2017
STEPHEN KLINER
A th
fter many emails, many meetings and
months of planning, the 47
anniversary reunion of the 1970 -71
Shnat group got under way at 3pm, on Thursday
th
the 30 March 2017, at the Hotel in Kibbutz
Merom Golan.
The event had been arranged by the organising-
committee of Gary Black, Stephen Kliner, Ann
Rube, Paul Shotts and Felicity Yaacobi, all
under the guidance and watchful eye of the
intrepid Sue Latner, who assiduously drove the
event forward. Such weighty matters as to
whether spouses should be allowed to
participate, and if so, should there be separate
activities for them, had been given due
consideration and had been settled. The
organising-committee, a group who even had
had difficulty in planning meetings was
pleasantly surprised that it had finally come to
fruition.
With advice from Elaine Black that the forecast
for the weekend on the Golan was to be ‘quite
cold’, the Israelis packed their jumpers and
warm clothes, while those from Chutz L’Aretz,
showing a reckless lack of care, packed their
shorts and T-shirts. At any rate, leaving from the
US, Canada, the UK and Israel we were all
headed for Merom Golan.
After the closure of the David Eder Farm around
1970, plans had been put in place for the first
post Eder Farm (hachshara) to be held in Israel.
Accordingly, the Hachshara of 1970 -71 was to
be the first-year course of British Habonim to do
hachshara on Kibbutz – at Kibbutz Bet Ha’Emek
in the Western Galil. We were a trail-blazing
36
group of 25 chaverim from London, Manchester,
Leeds and Glasgow, aged between 17 and 20,
who went on to spend a year on Bet Ha’Emek,
under the watchful eye of our madrichim Brenda
Landes and Henry Near.
There had been a number of reunions previously
in Bet HaEmek, Mevo Hama and Nazareth but
this, the 45 anniversary, was to be something
th
different, only it was two-years late – nothing
different there!
After settling in to our accommodation, we all
met up in the lounge for coffee with our
madricha, Brenda Landes, who joined us for the
weekend. It was a slow start, but we soon got
into gear - the same old banter, the same old
jokes, reminiscences etc. The years just melted
away. Supper was a Druze culinary experience,
in the converted garage of the local dentist-cum-
restaurateur in Buq’ata – nothing elaborate.
The following morning, after breakfast, it was
back to the Druze village of Buq’ata to the house
of Samira, to hear about Druze culture and her
personal fight against the authorities in learning
to drive and start her own business. We tried our
hands at stuffing vine and cabbage leaves - there
is nothing like getting your hands messy to
create a bonding experience - and then
proceeded to eat this relish crouched most
uncomfortably on the floor. For the desert of
knafeh, we were invited out to Samira’s fields,
where she runs a ‘pick your own fruit’ business.
The afternoon took us on a jeep tour from
Merom Golan, to the Golan border to see more
of the area, and to hear about its geography and
history.