Page 7 - Kol Bogrei Habonim - October 19
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national choir that was run by the composer the same book in Finnish with a Finnish index.
Yehuda Sharett (Moshe Sharett’s brother). When the Jewish Agency sent you to the USA,
The kibbutz then sent me to Seminar whereabouts in the USA?
HaKibbutzim for a year’s study in order to instil Detroit. It was a perfect choice as the Director of
in me the kibbutz ideology, which I went along this large Jewish Community Centre in Detroit
with until my son was born. At this point, I found was very pro-Hebrew. He himself spoke Hebrew,
myself at odds with this ideology and so, after and proposed that every Jew, who spoke Hebrew,
seven years I left the kibbutz. should wear a small badge, indicating that you
could speak in Hebrew with that person. He had
My wife was from America and had come in a many supporters and raised money to invest in his
group to see what Israel was like. She came to ideas.
Kfar Blum because there was a Beit Habonim I came back to Israel in 1968…
established there. That’s where we met. We
married and my first child Barry was born in When you were in Detroit did you have any
contact with American Habonim active in the
Tiberias, in February 1954. In the summer of area?
1955, I finally decided to look for a “normal” Only graduates of American Habonim. But I
existence where children live at home. I established an annual Zimriah. All the groups had
eventually became the headmaster of the Beer choirs and so I did have some contact. But my
Tuvia School, serving six moshavim. It was a main work was the ulpan and there were other
state-run school, and I was headmaster for ten areas of work that shlichim undertook to make the
years. At the end of ten years the Jewish Agency location a pro-Israeli one, so that they could
decided that I could be a shaliach to the JWB (see prepare for the Festivals with all the associated
above). The Jewish Agency had reached the customs and traditions.
conclusion that the youth movements were getting I came back to my school in Israel from which I
shlichim to advance Israeli culture and politics but had taken leave without pay and a year later, I
the JCCs were simply Americanizing the Jew but resigned from the Education Ministry and from
had not officially incorporated the two main the school. I couldn’t accept the reform that the
components into their programme, namely the committee had insisted upon, namely cutting off
State of Israel and the end of the war. So, that’s above the sixth grade the remaining grades and
what we did as shlichim. I was the first British transferring them to the high school. So, I left and
shaliach. I established an ulpan, I wrote a book of I got a job with Ulpan Akiva. I was a consultant to
declension of verbs, Hebrew verb tables. It the teachers of Ulpan Akiva that at the time was
appeared later in
being directed by Shulamit Katznelson. Towards
the end of my stay in Ulpan Akiva the President
and Director of JWB came to Israel specifically to
invite me back to two jobs. One was to be the
central shaliach from Israel helping the other
shlichim with their programs, ideas, and things
that had been tried. The other job was to establish
and to expand what we called the World
Federation of JCCs. I proposed putting down roots
for the JCCs in North America as well as roots in
four different languages, the index was in four Israel in Jerusalem in a centre, which would be
different languages, the Hebrew verbs were able to have an influence on groups that were
declined in Hebrew. Only the Finns from Finland coming here. The building is still there. I bought
requested from the publisher the right to republish the building that today is worth millions but I
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