Page 18 - Kol Bogrei Habonim - September 15
P. 18
HABONIM’S FINEST HOUR
ASHER TARMON, KFAR VITKIN
T to our care. We learned what to do by the
he Germans had begun to bomb London
experience we had gained as madrichim at camps,
and other cities in the autumn of 1940 and
particularly targeted the East End with
many hundreds of incendiary bombs to set the city our own Jewish backgrounds and identifying with
the model of the commune in the kibbutz.
on fire. The intention was to break the will of the
British civilian population and thus win the war. The active day was long, for all the chaverim
The evacuated school children who had returned attended school and thereafter began the activities
home during the "phony war", hurried back again of the "bayit", which included Ivrit (ubiquitous in
to the countryside villages to safety. Among all the the signs on the doors, in everyday speech, in the
evacuees were 35,000 Jewish children who were decorations for festivals and celebrations); every
scattered across the country. Many of them were new arrival received a Hebrew name and was
subject to attempts to imbibe them with the beliefs attached to the group of his peers. There was
and customs of the Christian faith, and the vast scouting, Jewish History, Tanach,
majority of the children were no longer within the "Palestinography" (how archaic and ironic this
framework of their natural Jewish environments. sounds today!), Current Affairs, Jewish customs
The institutions of the Jewish community had no and Practise, Drama, Folk-Dancing, Zionism,
solution to the problem and apart from visits by Handicrafts, Gardening, Musical Appreciation,
religious officials, nothing was attempted to save Hebrew Folk Songs, Habonim ceremonial – even
the large Jewish evacuee population from a summer camp away from the hostel! Services
assimilation. were held on Shabbat and the Oneg Shabbat
occupied Friday night; Bar-mitzvah was taught
This was a crippling blow too, to Habonim's and celebrated together with the parents and
activities in the major cities, and together with the family who came down especially.
mobilization of those madrichim who were of
call-up age, the situation for the Movement was Inevitably, few and far between, there were tragic
perilous. It was at this moment that Baruch Tal, events. A12-year old died as a result of meningitis,
the shaliach to Habonim at the time, proposed his casting a shadow over hostel life. But, we could
idea – that of opening several hostels to house not allow tragic events to overshadow the happy
Jewish evacuees, which would be run by ones. A combined Hostels Choir broadcast
Habonim's own madrichim. Hanukkah songs in 1942 for the BBC, examples
of Jewish music were performed for the local
Three hostels were opened in proximity to each church, there were rota systems for all the
other – in Exmouth, Dawlish and Teignmouth, on domestic chores and a self-governing body – the
the southern Devon coast and General Assembly and its committees all run by
madrichim/madrichot who had not yet been the chaverim themselves in full democratic
enlisted, were rounded up and asked to take fashion. Life in the Batei Habonim was intensive
responsibility for the lives of 120 children and the staff felt they were preserving the future
(henceforth "chaverim") and their educational of the Movement and in fact the future of the next
upbringing in a Jewish atmosphere. Luckily their Jewish generation and also its potential leaders.
parents had faith in us and entrusted their progeny Many were to later find themselves on aliyah to
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