Page 86 - Kol Bogrei Habonim - Winter 20

was great fun, and we also helped out on the with readings and songs often accompanied
neighbouring farms quite often.
Work in the Mill
Then there were the domestic activities: the
kitchen, dining-room, laundry and so on.
These tended to be staffed by the girls much
of the time, although we believed in and tried
to practice equality. I recall an incident when
one of the boys worked in the laundry, and he
switched the machine to boiling temperature
and all our clothes came out kindergarten
size. We subsequently had to negotiate with
the Zionist Federation for funds to purchase
new clothes.
We organised ourselves as a mini-kibbutz
with decisions made in weekly asephot. The
asephot were taken very seriously
(sometimes too seriously), often with heated
debates, sometimes on ideological matters
and sometimes on such critical issues, such as
whether to replace the plastic teacups in the
dining-room. Money came via the Zionist
Federation, who ran the Hachshara, and was
pooled in a common kupa, supervised by the
Gizbar, who was elected by the Asepha, as
was the Mazkir.
We also elected a Va’adat Tarbut to organise
the social and educational side of things. On
Friday evening, there was the Oneg Shabbat,
86
by the guitar. There were regular visits by the
shlichim – Eric Ehrenberg, Arnold Flax,
Zalman Gaster, who gave talks on Israel, the
kibbutzim, and current affairs. Shlomit
Aviassaf also contributed much to the
educational and cultural life of the chevra.
The Zionist Federation also organised an
ulpan course on the Farm, with an outside
Hebrew teacher. There was incidentally, a
very good little library at our disposal in the
farmhouse.
We were, in a sense, part of the youth
revolution and alternative society of the 60s,
characterised by the rebellion against middle-
class values and the bourgeois society, anti-
war, anti-capitalist, protest songs and folk
music, socialism, T-shirt and Jeans, beards
and guitars. I recall receiving a parcel one day
from the Chinese Embassy – a copy of the
Red Book of Mao Tse Tung. It was the time
of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, and it
was addressed to one of the previous
Mazkirim. We were certainly left-wing in the
Movement in those days.
In spite of our left-wing orientation, we had a
good reputation with the local residents, and
a good example is the joint meetings we held
with the local Quaker Society. They also had
a youth group, and we held several meetings
together. They taught us about themselves,
organised party games, and we taught them
Israeli folk songs and dances.
We had quite an active social life, in general,
and there were always visiting groups, either
from the Movement, or in the Seminar
Centre. Then, there were the usual youthful
pranks, such as sending newcomers to brush
the cows’ teeth, or to go out mole-hunting to