Page 51 - Kol Bogrei Habonim - Winter 20
P. 51
In the meantime, we had made Aliyah, but Glasgow Habonim started almost
before leaving Glasgow, I gathered together contemporaneously with the founding of the
the little material I had, the little I had movement in London by Wellesley Aron.
garnered from the Archives and responses to Habonim’s history in Glasgow extends well
letters, and threw it all into a box file which over 90 years, and the first meetings were
became part of my lift to Israel. held in such diverse places as the Old Talmud
Torah in Elgin Street (now Turriff Street),
Since making Aliyah in 2012, I sporadically
made efforts to gather more material – Dixon Street and various synagogues,
photos, reminiscences and memorabilia. I including South Portland Street and
made a trip to the Habonim Archives at Yad Garnethill.
Tabenkin, where I was assisted by fellow The Sixteenth Zionist Congress held in
Glaswegian, Yigal Levine. However, I could Zurich, Switzerland (28th July-10th August,
never quite find the time to sit down and put 1929) was unlike its predecessor in that it met
it all together in an atmosphere of optimism concerning
economic developments in Palestine.
Immigration was up and economic recovery
– unlike in the USA and Europe – was
underway. The Congress approved the
enlargement of the Jewish Agency – much to
the chagrin of a vocal minority dominated by
the Revisionists. This decision ended a
The Habonim Archives at Yad Tabenkin debate that had lasted seven years.
Weizmann and Sokolov were elected
Fast forward to March 2020, when having
returned from a trip to the UK, I found myself President of the World Zionist Organisation
in "bidud", looking around for something – WZO and the Executive, respectively.
constructive to fill the time of my enforced At the Congress, Dora Stelmack (or Camrass)
self-isolation. thus, was born “The Story of from Glasgow, Wellesley Aron and Henry
Glasgow Habonim". Baker (later a judge in Israel), all
What had initially seemed like only a little representatives at the Congress, held a side
material had burgeoned over the years, and meeting in a little café by the lakeside in
the first draft of the folder telling the story of Zurich. They talked quietly, almost
Glasgow Habonim extended to over 100 conspiratorially, with serious faces. While it
pages. Much of that story comprises is not known exactly what they were
th
reminiscences, photographs and newspaper discussing, a few months later on April 18 ,
cuttings, which put together in chronological 1930, the following article, possibly the first
order tell the story. on Habonim, appeared in a Glasgow paper,
The Jewish Leader, setting out the aims and
So, what is that story? Here is an excerpt: ideals of the Movement.
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