Page 35 - Kol Bogrei Habonim - September 14

EMMA WILSON
Born: - Manchester 1987; Manchester Ken; Movement
worker - 2009-2010; Profession: Lawyer; Aliyah -
September 2014
H were running high as the reality of returning to
eels for flip-flops, my journey from a
city law firm in London to the shores of
the Mediterranean
If I had been given the chance to do an 'Oscar-
style' acceptance speech when landing in Israel to
mark my official transition to an Israeli citizen,
there are a few key people I would be sure to
thank, but without a doubt, most of my thanks
would be directed at Habonim-Dror, the cultural
Jewish and Zionist Youth Movement, informally
known as ‘Habo’.
In case they do introduce an Aliyah speech-on-
arrival requirement, here is my thank-you speech
and an insight into my decision to make
Aliyah:The origins of my connection to Israel
stem from my involvement with Habo, shaping
and forming the person I am today and the
choices that I make.
I am not going to start at the most obvious place
of my Habo journey, the beginning, as then I
would have to bore you with details of my
intrigue when my friends returned from the ‘best
two weeks of their lives’, with stories of late
night ‘continuations’ (a notorious kissing game,
particularly bad for self-esteem) and singing
bizarre songs about how they had seen a bird
with a yellow bill (and it had landed on their
window sill). We were 12 years old, they had all
just been on their first Habo Summer Camp and I
had no idea what they were talking (or singing)
about.
In fact, I am actually going to start from where I
sat in a circle with 26 others, after spending nine
months living together in Israel as part of a gap-
year programme with Habo (‘Shnat’). Emotions
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England drew closer. During this year we lived
on a Kibbutz, toured the country, went on a one-
week trip to Poland, volunteered in various roles
and lived together in a big house in the North of
Israel. The programme was based on teaching us
about Jewish and Israeli history, Israeli Society
with a focus on interpersonal relationships and
living in a communal setting, including sharing
money.
It was now the final night of the programme and
we all sat reflecting on our memories of the past
year. Everyone took home something different
from their experience in Israel, some taking
nothing at all, but I know that this particular
moment still stands out to me eight years on as a
time of both clarity and happiness.
I was never taken to Israel as a child. Due to the
Second Intifada, I didn’t go on Israel Tour at the
age of 16, and I had little experience of Israel or
Israeli culture in my life up until I went on Shnat.
My year in Israel didn’t enable me to live out my
personal Zionist dream, mainly because I never
had one, and the programme at the time didn’t
offer a true insight into what it would be like to
live in Israel. I had minimal contact with local
Israelis, learnt a small amount of Hebrew and
focused my attention mainly on other members
of the group and our interaction with each other.
I barely got to know Tel Aviv, spending only
several weekends in the city, which was very
different eight years ago to the amazing city into
which it has developed today. Yet, the feeling of
acceptance, belonging and connection to Israel
that I was introduced to during Shnat sparked off