Page 14 - Kol Bogrei Habonim - November 12

HABONIM’S PROFS & PROS
SYLVIA FLOWERS, REHOVOT
I their brethren in Palestine and were keeping out,
t may seem strange that a chalutzic Youth
Movement has produced such a profusion of
professors and professionals. They too have
contributed an important part in the building up
of the State. At one time people were slightly
ashamed to have left the kibbutzim for a
different kind of greener fields. I know I was.
Kibbutz and agriculture no longer were the
highest achievement for members of Habonim; it
seemed there were other possible areas of
hagshama azmit.
I think this came about due to a certain situation
which existed in the years 1945-1948. During
these years Habonim was a flourishing youth
movement with large numbers of idealistic
young people imbued with a strong sense of
motivation but they could not, due to the current
political situation, go on hachsharah and aliyah.
The Hachsharot could only absorb so many of
them and very few could get legal certificates to
go on aliyah. Those already on hachsharah were
exempt from serving in the Forces as being
agricultural labourers. There was one other
possibility open to them - university students
were also exempt whilst studying and surely the
war would end soon - so many of them took up
that option.
The war and its aftermath changed things for
many of the young 18 year -olds due to be called
up. At the end of the war, with the intensification
of the strife between the British Mandatory
Government and the Jewish settlers in Palestine,
many chaverim faced a dilemma. It was one
thing to be in the Army and fight the Nazis but
to be in the Army and fight against what they
believed in deeply was anathema. How could
they serve in a British Army that was oppressing
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by force of arms, the pathetic remnant that was
trying to reach the shores of Eretz Yisrael?
University was an honourable way out for many
of them.
I was a member of the Senior Chavurat Vatikim
in Glasgow at that time (1945-1948). Out of a
group of about 15, most were students at
University, mainly studying to be doctors with a
dentist or two. We had only one “genuine”
member of the protelariat, Victor, who was a
plumber. It was probably the same in other
p’lagim. It was accepted and acceptable and
some of them were excellent madrichim. In
Glasgow our Rosh Peleg was the late Hermy
Pearlman and as a university graduate himself,
he was amenable to the situation.
When the State was declared in 1948 things
changed radically. Israel was now open to all
comers and the great need was for chalutzim to
build and defend the new state.
In the Movement the imperative also changed.
We had a new Rosh Peleg who gave our Senior
Vatikim an ultimatum. Hachsharah followed by
aliyah or else leave the movement. No more
equivocation was allowed. As a “worker” (I was
a dressmaker then) I was semi-kosher. I was still
a possible candidate for hachsharah and aliyah
whereas my university friends had no future in
the movement. Doctors were definitely out,
chalutzim in.
For instance, my late husband, Harold Flowers
of Leeds, was one of those who got his call-up
papers but he had an out. He had gone to high
school as a scholarship boy and had won a
scholarship to Leeds University which he took
up. On finishing his B.Sc. Hons. in Chemistry,