Page 52 - Kol Bogrei Habonim - October 19

HABONIM - FROM MY CHILDHOOD DIARY
GILA (JOYCE) COHEN
Y The first thing we did after washing and tidying
es, Habonim certainly influenced my
life. In fact, it was my life! From the age
of about 11 plus I spent Sunday
mornings with my friends in the Bayit, 21
Croxteth Road, Liverpool, learning songs, rikudim
and I even made a "brick", growing from Boneh
to Tsofeh to Madrichah, then to Hachsharah and
eventually to Israel.
My story turned in a circle last November. We
had an IBH "Get-together" at Barry & Elaine's
house one evening and it was a great success. To
break the ice Barry suggested that we introduced
ourselves and tell when we came on Aliyah. My
turn arrived: "I Joyce Fagin came on Aliyah with
my husband Henry in January 1953". Next in the
circle, Sharon, then Shlomo, and then I heard a
much younger voice state "My name is Dubby
Margolis and I came on Aliyah in 1946" –
What!?! It can't be….then the penny dropped and
rd
I blurted out "you are Dubby? I was at your 3
birthday party prior to your Aliyah from Gorsey
Leaze." I was thunderstruck.
The next day out came my scrapbook from 1946,
and here below is a copy of our "Chavurah's
Chol-Hamoed Pesach holiday in Gorsey Leaze"
written by a 13 year old Tsofeh several weeks
after the holiday.
Easter at the Kibbutz
Gorsey Leaze 1946
Early in the morning of Chal-Hamoed Pesach,
Louis (Weiner) our Madrich, Stella, our Madricha,
John Friend, Tiddler – Jeffrey Adler, Norman
Abrams, Malcolm Huglin, Merton Wolfman,
Brenda Cohen and myself set out to obtain the
first taste of life on a Kibbutz. After a long
journey, we were met by the Kibbutz van and
taken to Gorsey Leaze.
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ourselves was to have a "fress", after which we
helped with "toranut" and then spent the
remaining part of the evening looking through the
Kibbutz album and guzzling on sweets. We went
to bed early that night as the long train journey
had somewhat tired us.
I can only recall some of the further incidents that
befell us during our stay. The weather was not
kind to us, it rained a lot. But this did not daunt us.
We spent the next morning doing “toranut", which
mostly consisted of peeling spuds. We enjoyed
this as we sang and learnt "shirim", which helped
time fly.
On Thursday afternoon, we went on a tiyul to a
picturesque village, Easton Grey, where we were
not made welcome by the local kids, whilst we
sheltered from the rain. We arrived back in time
for supper and after we had done "toranut", we
assembled in the moadon, where Benny and
Henry proceeded to give us an interesting "sichah"
concerning the history of the Kibbutz.
The following morning Louis came up with one of
his meshuganeh ideas. He split us into groups and
instructed us to go into Malmesbury with a
questionnaire he had set up. On arriving in the
village, we decided to enjoy ourselves and explore.
We had brought our dinner with us in the shape of
HUGE sandwiches, which we proceeded to eat
under the monument in the village centre. The
weather kept fine and a good time was had by
everyone!
Friday evening, which stole long into the night,
was an unforgettable evening. Words cannot
express the "ruach" present at that Oneg Shabbat.
It started with Zigs and "mesibot" followed by
"rikudim" –and what rikudim! It was long after