Jubilee Reunion at Kibbutz Harel

By Jeri Hahn-Markowitz, Reuven Amitai and Rena Yechieli

Jeri:

Belonging to the Zionist youth movement HaShomer HaTzair (The Young Guard) in the early 1970s had a profound effect on me – lots of learning and lots of fun – and strengthened many of the values I already held dear. The teenage years brought new experiences and only a few years later, I found myself leaving the movement.

However, I seemed destined to have my future tied to the t'nua (movement). After several years, I met, fell in love with and married a fellow Shomer… and ended up moving to Kibbutz Harel, where Moti had made aliyah in 1979. as part of a garin (kernel, a group going to kibbutz together).

We left the kibbutz less than a year later, moving to Jerusalem, then to Tel Aviv, Kfar Saba and finally, to Nirit, where we've lived for the past 35 years. But this story is not about me, rather, it's about the first North American (yes, there was later a second) garin to Harel.

Background

Hashomer HaTzair was founded in Poland in 1913 and after the war, spread to other countries. By the 1960s, there were kinim ("nests," branches) throughout America: Montreal, Los Angeles, Chicago, in the New York boroughs of Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx. Later new kinim were started in Philadelphia and in Spring Valley, in suburban New York. The various age groups were each destined to make aliyah to a kibbutz in the Kibbutz Artzi movement. In the early 1970s there were so many people in the group earmarked for Kibbutz Harel that they decided to come in three stages: 1974, 1975 and 1976.

Kibbutz Harel is located in the beautiful Mate Yehuda area, off the old road to Jerusalem, between Ramla and Beit Shemesh. It was started in 1948 but had a history of difficulty in developing into a thriving, prosperous kibbutz. Groups and individuals came and left. There were 55 people who made aliyah to Harel in the first American garin, the majority of them returning to the U.S. or Canada within a few years. Some people, however, left the kibbutz and stayed in Israel to study, to try city life or to move to another kibbutz.

A second American garin came in 1982, but by the end of a decade, all had left the kibbutz. Only three original members of the garin live on Harel today.

What happened to everybody?

As happens in life, some people lost contact with their old chaverim but many kept in touch, some remained close, whether the geographical distance was small or great. In 2019 a reunion was organized in Toronto. Many people and their spouses came from all over the U.S. and Canada, with an impressive representation of those who remained in Israel. Not knowing that a pandemic and a war were around the corner, it was decided that the 50th anniversary of the first stage of the garin to Harel would take place in Israel in the Fall of 2024.

What's war got to do with it?

The pandemic came and went, and in 2022, a committee of volunteers was formed, mostly from Israel (one still living on Harel) and three from the U.S. and started to correspond by email about when the reunion would take place. Fall 2024 was decided on, to coincide with the precise date of aliyah of the first stage. And then October 7, 2023 happened, with the ensuing war.

Determined to commemorate the occasion of the garin's aliyah, 2024 brought with it Zoom committee meetings to decide on the program for the reunion, which would occur over the course of a long weekend. We fervently hoped that the war would come to an end and that many people would come from abroad. Questionnaires were sent out, reservations were made. We decided that one of the reunion activities would be an international Zoom session, to bring those who couldn't get here by plane, to us virtually. Four people did make it to Israel from the U.S.

Reunion time!

Aviva Weisgal, originally from Los Angeles, made aliyah to Harel in the first stage and still lives there with her husband Avner. Their two children and their families live on other kibbutzim. Aviva was in charge of the opening events on the kibbutz on a warm Thursday night in November (and logistics of the gathering). Members of the two American garinim were invited to the moadon (social hall) in the late afternoon to meet, greet and eat. Name tags were available as we look a little different now than we did 50 years ago!

Excitement was in the air, as people hugged and caught up with each other. Aviva (whose detective skills proved to be quite impressive) had invited everyone she could find who had lived on the kibbutz in the 1970s and '80s to join us for a catered buffet supper and a performance piece.

The performance piece

"Homa U'Migdal (Tower and Stockade): Take II" was created especially for Garin Harel's 50th Anniversary gathering. It was performed by former Harel member, Lee Perlman, and fringe theater artist, Nadav Bossem, in the dining room for an audience composed of former and present residents and members of the kibbutz. It was adapted from "Prisoner of Zion", a performance piece created by Lee and Nadav, which premiered at the 2023 Akko International Fringe Theater Festival and performs regularly at the TMUNA Theater Fringe hub in Tel Aviv. Created over 10 months, it deals with Lee's personal crisis with Zionism.

The audience was invited to take part in an intervention – between Lee and the Zionist idea, in Lee's home in Israel for the first six years after his aliyah in 1982. The interactive nature of the performance led to participants voicing their feelings and views in reacting to those shared by Lee. The evening ended on a thoughtful note.

Day 2: Volunteering

Committee member Reuven Amitai, originally from Philadelphia and living in Jerusalem since 1982, arranged for a day of volunteering as a group. Eleven of us met at Moshav N'tiv Ha'Asara on the Gazan border at 8am on Friday and spent five hours weeding plants in a hothouse. It was an opportunity to help out, as well as to catch up with one another as we worked, moving along the rows of plants.

Reuven:

I suggested a stop on the way out of Nativ Ha'Asara (right across the main road, Kvish 4, turning north out of the moshav). The group alighted from cars onto the bridge over Nahal Shiqma to look eastward along the wadi. There they were able to see remains of an impressive Mameluke-era bridge (the Mamelukes of Egypt ruled Eretz Israel from 1260 to 1516). This bridge stood until 1948 when it was destroyed by IDF so as to slow the advancing Egyptian army.

At the instigation of group member Dan Levin of Ann Arbor, we scrambled down into the river bed and were soon standing along the immense curved supporting walls of the bridge – all that is now left of this once impressive structure.

Between the work in the hothouse and the short excursion in the wadi, we felt that a treat was called for, gotten at Buzeh (ice cream in Arabic), just down the road at Yad Mordechai. Having satisfied this desire, everyone was ready for the ride back to Harel, to rest and get ready for Shabbat.

Kabbalat Shabbat

After returning to the kibbutz and freshening up, we congregated in the moadon for a drasha delivered by garin member Elana Dorfman, who has lived for many years in Haifa. The Torah portion was Lech l'cha and Elana used the theme of leaving one's home and finding the right path to connect the journey that people had taken from the days of youth in HaShomer HaTzair in North America, to the Kibbutz and beyond – staying in Israel or returning to the US or Canada.

The Kabbalat Shabbat included singing of Shabbat songs and the usual blessings, occasioning comments on the journey some of us have taken from the extreme secularism of HaShomer HaTzair, to an embrace of Jewish tradition – to one degree or another.

A rich vegetarian dinner was accompanied by lots of talking, including not a little nostalgia, but some of the conversation took a serious turn – how could it not, given the current situation in Israel and abroad? We ended the evening with a short walk to the beautiful new lookout below the pool in memory of Ido Kaslasi, who was killed on October 7, 2023 in defense of Israel.

Saturday morning was pretty easy going – most of us getting up at our leisure (however, a couple of people were rolled out of bed at 9am. We all worked on a large brunch which we ate a relaxed pace. From there it was wandering around together through the kibbutz and then it was out to the nearby lookout point, before returning back to the kibbutz to rest and regroup in preparation for the evening's activities.

The next gathering was at our house in Nirit. We had prepared a large and delicious vegetarian meal), but before we sat down and ate, we started a Zoom meeting with 15 "comrades" now in America: this was an opportunity to catch up in both directions, and to fill everyone in on the weekend's activities. The banter was pretty light too, but again the matters of the day made their presence felt more than once.

We also had one somber moment – a list of eight names was read, members of our garin who have passed away. After an hour of Zooming we sat down to eat, enjoying the meal and the conversation In the end we had the one serious political discussion: how do we (not just this small group, but people of our camp) make an impact on the ongoing political struggle in Israel, particularly with regard to the hostages? No conclusions were reached, although the importance of optimism was stressed by many.

On Sunday, the last day of the reunion, a group from the North American garin had breakfast on Harel and set out for a tour of the nearby cities of Ramla and Lod. Both cities are populated by both Jewish and Arab (predominantly Muslim) communities, along with a Christian minority and small numbers of other faiths and affiliations. The tour was planned and led by Reuven Amitai and Hillel Kolodner, "old friends from Philly" and members of the 3rd stage to the kibbutz who now live in Jerusalem and Haifa, respectively. In Ramla we were joined by a few others who had lived on Harel during the 70s and 80s.

We began at the Ramla Great Mosque, one of the largest in Israel. It began as a basilica style cathedral built by Crusaders in the 12th century and later was converted into a mosque. It is an active mosque serving the Muslim faithful. From here we walked through the back streets of the bustling Ramla market to the World Center and synagogue of Karaite Jewry, where we were treated to an informative and lively meeting with Mor, who fills both civic and religious positions in the Karaite community. Karaite Jews accept the authority of the Old Testament and reject the oral and written dictates and traditions, including the Talmud, of Rabbinical Judaism.

A short walk from the Karaite center led us to the Ramla Museum, where we enjoyed exhibitions and explanations on the story of the city which was founded in 716 during the Umayyad Caliphate. Ramla has a fascinating history intertwined with numerous migrations, rulers and heritages.

After a coffee break on busy Herzl Street it was a short drive to the Pool of Arches. This is a unique site, the remnant of an amazingly preserved 8th century underground cistern protected by an arched roof, which supplied the city with water for centuries. One can even take a boat ride here, but we concentrated on history, learned of the rich Muslim roots of Ramla, and admired a beautifully preserved Abbasid-era inscription cut into the plaster of the wall above us.

We returned to our cars and in moments were at the White Mosque and Tower. The ancient mosque lies in ruins except for a 30-meter-high stone newer tower completed by the aforementioned Mamelukes. The lovely tower served as a minaret and a lookout and is also graced by inscriptions. Those of us who had the energy climbed the 111 steps of the winding stone staircase and were rewarded with the view of the entire Shfela (south-central plain). And 111 steps down, of course.

From here we drove to nearby Lod, a city whose history stretches back to at least the 15th century B.C.E. Our first stop in Lod was the new and impressive Lod Mosaic Museum. The mosaics exhibited here were once the floors of opulent Roman villas from the 4th century. They rival the mosaics of other world-renowned sites in their intricacy, skill of execution and beauty.

Just a few minutes up the main highway was our next stop: Jandus bridge built by Baybars, the Mameluke emperor who ordered its construction in the 12th century to connect this part of his empire to both Cairo and Damascus. The well-preserved base and carvings and inscriptions on the bridge go unnoticed by the thousands who drive across it – yes, it is still in use! – on their way to the airport, Tel Aviv and points north.

We finished the day at the Maharajah Indian restaurant in Ramla where we enjoyed delicious south Indian vegetarian cuisine, and an informal ambience spiced with rich and hot flavors and colorful Bollywood video clips. We used these closing moments of the reunion to thank Reuven and Hillel for a wonderful, informative and inspiring tour, as well as the entire organizing committee. We hugged and said our goodbyes, enriched by all that Reuven and Hillel shared with us with much knowledge and humor. The atmosphere of the day, and of the entire reunion, was one of joyous re-acquaintances, reminiscences, and promises to stay in touch. We raised a toast to good – and better – times, wherever our paths have led and will continue to lead us.

Thanks to Lee Perlman (originally from NYC) for the information about his performance piece.