Page 3 - Kol Bogrei Habonim - September 15

Letters to KBH
From David Chester, Petach Tikva
There were three founders of Habonim not one, as
mistakenly claimed in your last editorial.
Chaim Lipshitz ran a group of young boys at his
father's cheder, for teaching modern Hebrew, songs,
dances, Jewish history and possibly scout craft in
late 1928. It may even have adopted the name
"Trumpeldor" then, because the song of that hero
was popular at the time. Haim was very modest but
active for many years.
Wellsley Aron called a meeting in January 1929 (and
not as he mistakenly later claimed in November 1928)
where, after a slow start of only five attendees, the
decision to establish such a Jewish youth movement
was taken, and at a later meeting committees were
formed.
Norman (Nachum) Lourie (as an LSE student in law),
worked first with Haim in the cheder in Whitechapel,
East London, then with Wellsley in organizing and
publishing the first Habo Handbook (along with his
girl-friend/wife Nadia) where they unofficially ran off
150 copies on the Zionist Fed's Gestetner machine
one night. Norman and Nadia then founded the South
African Habonim branch in Johannesburg in about
1930. (There is a good photo of Nachum and Nadia
taken at SA Habo camp in 1933 in the Beit HaTfutzot
archives, that I can send you electronically).
These proven facts and more may be found in my
4,500 word series of articles that appeared in our
magazine volume IV, numbers 4, 5 and 7. It is a
fascinating story.
From Ingrid Kellerman, Haifa
After reading the September journal, I decided that
something else good happened in 1929:- I was born!
And under the influence of what you and others wrote,
I decided that I too had lived and was led by
Habonim to my destiny. So here goes:
Thank you Harold Hirsch for making me realize the
supreme importance of Habonim in my life and
Aryeh Wolfin for explaining to me why I still
subscribe to the journal, even after Zvi Rosenberg
3
stopped writing.
My whole life has been determined by Habonim. The
trigger was the headmistress of the High Church
boarding school who on our leaving said:" This year
I will talk about Inky who we harboured for the war
years, and now all the foreigners can return to their
countries of origin!!!"
My brother Peter Schweig suggested that I leave the
Scouts and join the Movement. He later joined the
Bosham Hachshara and came to join the army and
then learnt and worked as the librarian of the
University School of Social work in Jerusalem. I
joined Riff Neuberger and Yitzchak Shamah's
Chavura. This led to the Eder Farm and a wedding
there with Dago Kellerman who had speedily
proposed to me – there was a dearth of girls – after
having taken me on a walk round the farm ("after you
have finished washing up" and a subsequent talk
[only!] in the barn.
We were pushed off (after I became pregnant) as the
first of the garin for Beit Haemek in Kfar Blum. Since
then I have lived in Israel, with the interruption of
some very interesting journeys and two years in
England, while Dago did his PhD, our three children
learnt English and I did Pitman's shorthand and
typing in various offices.
Here, in addition to washing: up, clothes, bottoms
and floors, I taught adults English. Teaching a class
of children without a police constable was beyond me.
Thanks to Steven Mendelssohn, I was admitted to the
Department of Oral History in Sheffield, interviewed
those who survived as hidden youngsters and so
obtained the M. Phil., continuing to interview over
200 survivors of the Holocaust.
After 60 I volunteered to teach Gymnastics in and
around a chair, following a course in Wingate. Now
in my old age: I play Bridge thanks to Batya and the
late Herbert Messner; phone and visit friends, many
of whom are also from Habonim: Sylvia & Len Green,
Lionel Holland, Rena Minkoff, Thea & Pivy Pitt,
Barbara Roche, Raynor Rosenberg, George Salinger,
Judith & Len Solomons, not forgetting those who
have died. A happy existence with three children,
6+1 so far, grandchildren and Danielle my great-
grandchildren, all living in Israel.