Page 25 - Kol Bogrei Habonim - September 14

PAM TRENTER MOSER
Born London - 1953; North West London Ken; Rosh Chinuch
Arzi; Em Bayit Finchley Road; Aliyah - 1973; Worked in fields
of Hotel Management - Entrepreneurship, Development &
Training; Strategic Consultancy; Mentor for young
Entrepreneurs; Presently living at Moshav Bet Elazari
B I was forever in the ken and very loyal, even if I
ack in 1963-4 I was sent to “brownies”
at the local synagogue. I disliked this
activity but was told by my Dad that is
what good Jewish children do. “Good” I don’t
know, but the Jewish, OK.
There was a “cheder drive” at the synagogue and
couple of bearded guys came into the class and
started talking about some Youth Movement
called “Habonim.” They told some stories and
"It sounded like a good idea at the time" and I
thought - if I could go there instead of
“brownies” that could be quite something.
Now I had the challenge of putting this to my
Dad - I remember that he was not thrilled by the
idea, so I just carried on nagging until eventually
I went to Amelim in Finchley Rd.
The highlight was my first summer camp in
1965. (My mother had just died, after many years
of sickness and I was the only child to an older
father). I had no idea what to expect, but we had
a great time. I was together with Esther Kraus
(Brez) and Paul Shotts. All three of us are good
friends to this very day. The Rosh Machaneh
was Steve Lerman. He seemed to be everywhere
–he was my idol. I think Willie Kelman was
camps organizer, Roger (Podge) Harris ז"ל was a
madrich or maintenance with Ian Marks (who I
fell in love with…) Judy Kay & Sharon Reisman
were cooks with the twins Ann & Helen
Zigmund. Mary Wolkind was a madricha and I
worshipped her all the years. Looking back it is
quite amazing how I remember them all. I
suppose this just shows what an impact they had
on my life so "It sounded like a good idea at the
time" seems to be that the proof of the pie was in
the eating!
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caused a lot of havoc, it was always in good
faith. Rosh Ken was “Muff” Malcolm Edwards.
Muff was a large guy at the time or at least as a
kid, I saw him as such, with a beard and a full
head of hair, but so soft in his manner. Even
when he was cross he was still kind.
Next was Chotrim summer camp with Barry and
Elaine Coleman; winter activities where Rosh
Machaneh was Yigal (George) Levine with
Irving (Ivri) Tasker. I remember that all hell
broke loose, but a good time was had by all.
Bonim was the continuation, and then there was
talk of holding the first Shnat Hachshara in
Israel, instead of (Noar) at the Eder farm. Now, I
wasn’t going to miss out on that was I…...as "It
sounded like a good idea at the time.” But I was
only in lower sixth and all my friends were older.
When I mentioned it to my Dad to check his
reaction - yes you guessed “all good Jewish
children have to finish high school.” I was at a
prestigious school, only because I was a national
athlete, so staying the extra year or not was really
not relevant.
The time line was as follows: That Pesach, 1970
the Crystal Palace stadium was supposed to open
for training for the 1972 Munich Olympics. I
was supposed to compete in the 100 metres;
however the stadium wasn’t finished on time and
was delayed till the end of the year. In July that
year the Habonim group was to leave for the first
Shnat Hachshara in Israel. To cut a huge
dilemma and a long story very short – remember
my idol from Amelim summer camp, Steve
Lerman, well he managed to persuade my dad