My
Personal Relationship with Jesus Christ
By
David Lobes
When I first joined Habonim in
1993, my fellow Moshniks often asked me where I was from. My quiet answer was
always the same; “Arkansas.” Many stood in disbelief that anyone would travel
eleven hundred miles to spend time at bug infested Mosh. I would then quietly
explain that no, I did not know President Clinton, and that my father and uncle
had been Moshniks in the early ‘60s, and that was how I had found out about
Habonim Dror. Today it is a given that Mosh is the machaneh with the Arkansans.
New kids are astounded, just as my kvutza was back in Chotrim. Most people
simply take it for granted that the life I live from day to day is very
different from theirs. In terms of Judaism, I have roughly 1500 Jews in my
entire state. Kind of mind-blowing, considering the number of Jews who belong
to individual synagogues in cities such as Baltimore, New York, and Toronto.
This may not mean much to you at first, but then add in the factors of where I
live. The Bible Belt, the chain of southern states notorious for their
ferverant bible thumpers, especially the Baptists, who declared an all out war
of conversion against the Jews just a few short summers ago. This brings me to
the point of this article and its rather sarcastic (for lack of a better word)
title. Many people have tried to convert me, asking me to attend church youth
groups or services, or to come on “outreach” trips. Recently, I had an online
conversation with a friend from school who also happens to be a fundamentalist
Christian and a member of the church that is next to my school, the church that
is the most successful at converting Jews in all of Arkansas. We were talking
about nothing important, until she mentioned that she had some questions for me
about my faith. I had no objections to hearing them, and was bombarded with the
usual questions about my beliefs in the messiah, hell, Jesus, and God. I
fielded the questions to the best of my ability, offering fiery quips whenever
I could. I have put some of the more memorable quotes at the end of this
article for you to read and see exactly what is to live in the South as a Jew.
I now affirm that I am not a Jewish Southerner by any stretch of the
imagination, I do not even call myself a Southern Jew. I would prefer to be
known as a “pre-Israeli,” because that’s where I know I belong. Thanks for
listening.
Lobes914 – David aka Lobes
Little Bayit on
the Prarie
On an
unassuming corner of an otherwise quiet neighbourhood in the Northern reaches
of our hegemonic continent live four ‘radical’ habo boys who are doing their
best to live according to their conscience and have chosen to do so within the
broad framework of a Habonim Bayit. The
establishment of the first Edmonton Bayit marks, not only the commencement of
an exciting and challenging journey for the participants, but also the
extension of Habonim’s positive influence as the most Northerly Bayit ever to
be established in Habonim’s her/history!
Inspired
by a Moetzet Machaneh peulah, it was the last summer of the 20th
century that witnessed the meeting of a madadz madrich, Techni, and Merekez
Chinuch of Machaneh Gilboa (Yay Gilboa!!) that marked the conception of our
Bayit. After several hours of
discussion we produced the framework/vision/manifesto of our Bayit and with
subsequent input from the central office, we have endeavoured to revitalise
Habonim in Edmonton…
Who are
we? Ayal, Benji, Rodney & Tuval.
Awash with the testosterone of our self-reflexive collective
energies…the synergy of the Bayit allows for bursts of creative energies
towards all manner of projects: from making music (we got drums, guitars, bass,
violin, keys, trombones etc), making love (call 780-433-3524 for details), to
making revolution (cognitive, personal, social).
What do
we do? In terms of ‘livelihood’ as
individuals, Ayal is working for the Sierra Club of Canada (an environmentally
oriented NGO), Tuval is a full-time student in a Social Work program, I’m (rod)
mostly at school finishing off a multidisciplinary BS….c in Environmental
Conservation/political science, and Benji has returned from a year and a half
overseas and become involved in municipal politics by aiding a progressive city
counsellor to transform our city into something a little more like Machaneh
(more Shirah and Rikkud).
What
else do we do? While striving to transform patriarchy, the dominant economic
(dis)order, and protest boredom in general, we have managed to get up to
several exciting activities since establishing the Bayit here in Edmonton. We host a monthly Shabbaton for the local
habo-heads and serve as resources, inspiration, and (somewhat
anachronistic/old) helpers in the funning and running of the Edmonton Ken. The wonderful Roshim/ot of the Ken are Leah
Ruttman and Jen Coppens, who are enthusiastically taking care of “business” in
a consensus oriented sort of way.
Apart
from being an enjoyable and reflective time of shabbat candles, shirah, and
chevrati, the Shabbatot serve as a ‘venue’ to bring the Edmonton habonim
community together in a manner that allows for Ma’apilim (Sarah C. Shelly H. Kinneret S. Gil V. etc. Corey L.
and Abby L. when in town etc.).to remain in contact with and part of Habonim
outside of Machaneh and Seminar(s).
Between
the four of us we have worked at machaneh around 11 times, gone to Veida twice,
experienced workshop once, lived in and visited Israel on numerous occasions
and are now having fun passing on our experience with, and love for the
movement to the next generation of Habo’s here in Edmonton. There’s some excellent movement leadership
burgeoning up here in these snowy climes, with our reactivated Ken and the
energies of ‘the next generation’ of habo leaders becoming activated and
passionate about the ideals of our movement!
In
terms of tachlis (practical issues), we strive to live communally, be active in
our community, and live in as much of an environmentally benign manner as is
possible. Beyond our individual
pursuits for awareness, fun, justice, and adventure, as a Bayit we also have
regular updates on Israeli politics, as well as monthly chevrati peulot, Tikkun
Olam activities, and Tiyulim. Some of
the technical features of our house include a communal bank account, weekly
asephot to discuss the distribution of various tafkidim, as well as both the
short- and long-term goals of the Bayit as a whole and our personal goals. Additionally, we utilise a Marx Calendar, a
vermiculture composter, and our singing and rap worthy beat box voices as
essential lubricants to the Bayit’s regular functioning.
I
really believe that living in this Bayit is the most positive living situation
that I have ever participated in. We
highly recommend the experience to Mapilim wherever you might be, and take this
opportunity to invite any funky Habo-heads (including the ‘suits’in the central
office) to come and pay a visit to our little Bayit on the Prarie.
We’ll
be in contact with the central office as well as the rest of the movement,
through cyberland, in the months to come and are hoping to facilitate the Ken’s
participation with the movement on a more (inter-)national level in the future.
B’Ahavah
and in Solidarity,
Ayal,
Benji, Rodney & Tuval
Bayit Edmonton
Ken
Reports!!!!
Ken Far and Away
Welcome to the Y2K with Ken Far and Away!!! Since contrary to
popular belief, the computers did not crash, we will still be able to run our ken. I just recently came back from Habonim Dror
North America's Winter Seminar of 1999(held in the neighboring
"country" of Canada), including HDNA's Tenth
Veida
ever! For those you who don't know, veida is a sort of Habonim parlimentary
body in which movement members(only) can bring forward proposals to the gathered Habo members, who
vote on them. These proposals can be on a variety of subjects, from wording of
our constitution to Tikkun Olam 24/7. At veida, when Roshei Kenim gave reports
of how their kenim were doing, ours received the most cheers and applause!!! To
continue on our important work as
pioneers of the Zionist internet, a Ken Far and Away website is currently in
the works! As well, we have found a way that we can participate in the new Tikkun
Olam focus which many of the kenim are taking on. I have found a website which,
when you go to it, has a feature which allows you to donate food to the hungry,
COMPLETELY FREE!!! You will get no virii and they do not need any personal
information, this is 100% legitimate and anonymous, one of the highest forms of
Jewish tzedakah. Please take one minute out of your day EVERY DAY to go there
and donate food, YOU CAN MAKE A
DIFFERENCE. Here's the link:
http://www.hungersite.com.
Please bookmark or link this site or whatever, go there once a day
(that is the number of times which you are allowed to) and click the donate
food button. This is Ken Far and Away's current Tikkun Olam project, so please
participate. Also, feel free (in fact, please do) to e-mail the list what
you've done over the holidays, or something interesting which is happening in
your life! This is your ken, so please remember to make it what you
Want it to be!!! Shalom v'lhitraot!!!
Lobes
kenfarandaway@hotmail.com
Ken
Columbia
Moshava's
ken Columbia located halfway between Washington and
Baltimore has had a very active year. We had
a Halloween assimilation peulah with Ken Tastee and a provocative movie night,
shabbat dinners, and other
peulot,
all with good turnouts for our small ken. In the next few months we plan on
having an arts and crafts peulah about self expression and Judaism in
society. Then we will have a
constitution and Veida peulah for the older
chanichim and madrichim who were
unable to attend seminar horef to
educate them about the
constitution and the resolutions of Veida X. After that we
will run another provocative
movie and hopefully organize and host
another eizor Kupa brunch before we head off to M2K!
HEY! Where’s My Ken’s Report?
I wanna know what’s going on up in my neck of the woods! So Write one and send
it to Habonim Dror Central Office, 114 West 26th Street, Suite1004
New York, NY 10001 and we’ll love you
for ever and ever!!
Live from the WTO
Protest
By Lindsay Ross
From November 26th to
December 2nd, protestors in Seattle, Washington filled the streets
with the intention of stopping the World Trade Organization from holding its
meetings there. The meetings were cut
short and many canceled because of the uproar from those who felt that their
policies and actions are unethical. And
our own Lindsay Ross was there.
Okay, here's how my day went. It's a long email, sorry. But then again...it
was a long day. I
had to drive up to north Seattle last night and stay at my friend's house
with about six other people because as of today there's no
way to get into the city from my house.
We walked to the University of Washington from his house at 7AM, where
the first march started at 9 - at this point there were only like 1 or 2
thousand people. It took us about three
hours to march downtown, where we met up with two or three other marches coming
from the other universities and the crowd built up over the course of the day
to 50,000+ as we marched towards the Seattle Center and circled around the 5
main downtown blocks.
Up until mid-afternoon it was a completely peaceful protest,
with police escorts and chanting and signs from about every
environmental and political
group you can name, because they all have a connection in
this somehow. Earlier in the morning
before the march even arrived downtown there was some window-breaking and
looting downtown, mostly around Niketown and Starbucks, but by the time we got
there, the buildings had already been boarded up and the scene had cleared.
We finally arrived at the core of
the protest, which was centered at 5th and
Pike,
about two blocks from the convention center where the WTO is being held, and
literally right outside the doors of the Sheraton Hotel where all the delegates
are staying. A group of protesters had
chained themselves to (and inside of) this huge grounded structure in the
middle of the intersection, literally blockading the hotel so the delegates
couldn't get out. It was still peaceful
and people were getting on top of the grounded platform and giving speeches and
dancing and singing and people had drums and it was totally totally cool,
especially because at about 2:00 they announced that the protest had been
successful and the WTO had canceled all delegations for the day because we had
prevented them from convening.
So everyone was feeling really
empowered (there were probably at least 100,000 people in all, spanning those
few blocks) but then there were some isolated incidents of violence, mostly
just small things like people climbing up the stoplight posts and
spray-painting buildings, or provocative moves made towards the steps of the
Sheraton (where there was a blockade of police in standing in riot gear) but
what was really astounding was that instead of the violence picking up momentum
in a crowd frenzy that can turn into pandemonium instantly in a crowd of this
size, all the protesters responded by booing at the aggressors and chanting
"no violence" and stuff like that to get them to stop. And there was this one moment that was
really incredible, when it looked like something was about to start on the
steps of the Sheraton with some guy throwing stuff at the police, the crowd simply
started humming this very harmonic, soothing "om" sound and holding
up peace signs which completely pacified everything.
Live From
the WTO Protest- cont.
So it was cool up until that point
but then the really scary shit started happening – completely out of the blue
we heard eight successive explosions, about a block away, where the police had
apparently
detonated a seires of tear gas explosions up at 4th and
Pike. But the wind was traveling in our
directions so we got gassed pretty badly - we all had to soak our shirts in
water and use them to cover our mouths and eyes. It was starting to get dark and a lot of us were really getting
scared becuase it was evident that that crowd was getting increasingly violent,
so we started to head away from downtown (which was a slow process, because I
was with about twelve people total, all of whom
were at different places in their wanting-to-stay-ness and
none of us wanted to split up the group because it was getting really dangerous
so it was a slow process moving even one block away from the forefront) when
they announced that we had five minutes to evacuate the intersection before
they would send off a round of tear gas right in the middle of the crowd.
But a bunch of us still wanted to
stay because the whole point was to sit in solidarity with the protestors who
had chained themselves to the platform in the middle of the road, and meanwhile
was we're trying to coax each other down the block away from the rising panic
the entire fifth avenue breaks into a looting streak as people ran down the
block smashing in all the windows of Niketown and the Gap and Nordstrom. At this point my friends and I were all on
the other side of the street trying to get to REI where we were being picked up
and these floor-to-ceiling windows were being smashed like a mere thirty feet
away from us...people were starting to run and that's when the real panic
starts, I think we got out of there just at the right time because once we were
in the car we
turned on the radio and within five minutes people were
burning flags and setting things on fire and it's just gotten more and more
violent over the course of the night.
About an hour later they declared a state of emergency and a 7 PM curfew
and things finally started calming down at about 8:30, after some more looting
and gassing and rubber bullets. Who
knows what's going to happen tomorrow, though, because now the focus has
totally shifted from these successful, excellent nonviolent protests to these
remaining aggressors who are terrorizing the city. Seriously, downtown looks like shit right now. I think the whole city is really shocked,
this sort of thing really has never happened
in Seattle...
- linds "bringing you the latest, live from
Seattle" ross
A Cheery
Update from Workshop 49
Dear chaverim vatikim,
Greetings
from the members of Workshop 49! Looks
like we’ve been suckered into writing an article for Batnua – but then again,
who can say no to Ellen? Knowing how
everyone loves to see names of people they know, we’ll try to mention every
Workshopper’s name as we go through the past months of the Legend that is Workshop 49.
Chanukah on
kibbutz was an exciting time for Workshop.
The kvutsa threw together a spectacular presentation for the kibbutz on
“America night.” Representations of
home, and specifically of America in the 50’s were embodied in groovin’ swing
music, root-beer floats, grilled cheese sandwiches, and homemade French
fries. After the candles for the 5th
night of Chanukah were lit, 5 couples (Jeff & Chantal, Sarah & Dahlia,
Joey & Melissa, Jake & Leah, Aaron G. & Shosh) put on a flawless
Swing Dance for the kibbutz to the tune of “Swing Swing Swing.” The compliments poured in for days
after. Our ever-punctual maskir tnua
Jared Matas arrived 5 minutes afterwards, so we decided to give him an
exclusive performance.
Most of our
parents came to visit us in late December, and while we were delighted to
receive many loving gifts, we were all sad to see them leave (though we can do
without them for another 5 months).
Many of the parents chose to stay in the Inn on kibbutz, whose rooms are
kept immaculate by, among others, Briyaana, Chelsea, and Melissa. They also ate in our chadar ochel, whose cleanliness is in the
always-capable hands of Mike, Anne, Rachel, and Sarah. Our parents would have eaten of the ambrosia
served at every meal, prepared by Rosaura’s kitchen. They no doubt noticed the kibbutz’s beauty as an oasis in the
middle of the desert, whose impressive horticulture is maintained by Jason. If our parents happened to have taken a
stroll around the Inn, they may have noticed a basketball game going on in the
kibbutz’s gymnasium, whose floors and chairs are kept sweat-stain-free by Josh,
Kellen, and Yaniv. They may have also
noticed the kibbutz’s zoo, whose animals are kept healthy, fed, and obedient,
by Aynav and Aaron G.
New Year’s 2000 saw a kibbutz-wide
party all night. We all feel lousy that
we feel the end of our kibbutz experience creeping up on us. The kvutsa loves Mashabei-Sadeh and they
love us, which makes it all hard to leave.
As a final “we’re Workshop and we’re great” presentation for the
kibbutz, we are planning a Tu B’Shvat night for the entire kibbutz, including
the acting out of Dr. Seuss’ “The Lorax,” with Yaniv playing the part of the
Lorax. Helping along with everyone to
make things run smoothly that night are Haley and Alysa. We’ll drink four cups to celebrate the four
seasons as our time on kibbutz nears its end.
Overshadowing
our reluctance to leave Mashabei-Sadeh is our ever-growing excitement for Chavot
Hachshara with Hanoar Haoved v’Lomed, HD’s sister-movement in the Holy
Land. Representatives Joey,
Aaron L., Rachel, and Ariella will be travelling to Tel Aviv
this coming Sunday, January 16 to work out many details and report back to the
kvutsa. Remember, as of Veida ’99 this
is the future of Habonim Dror North America – aliyah to a “city kibbutz.”
All these
changes around us have prompted us to make changes in our own system. Recently, Matt and Rachel were elected our
new maskirut and are replacing Dan and Melissa, who’ve always won us the big
fights with the kibbutz. Our va’adot
will be changed up, as well as alterations to our open kupa system to make it
work during chavot as well as it has for us until now.
We fear
this article has reached excessive lengths of self-centeredness, cheesiness,
and paper, so we’ll be saying l’hitraot now from the Land.
Aleh V’Hagshem, Aleh U’Vneh, Workshop 49
Who Kidnapped the
Mazkirut Artzit ?
(And left these
crappy drawings in place of them?)
Figure out whose office is which from the Following
Aliases:
Jared
Matas- Mazkir, Ron Laufer-
Gizbar, , Ellen Friedrichs- Merkezet
Tochniot, Dani Lamdan- Shaliach. Non-mazkirs also pictured- Tamar Goleman- Na’aleh Registrar, Ezra Weinberg- Administrator, Habonim Dror Foundation.
The Israel Bayit
Regulates
dear socailist
crazies, those living in the edmonton bayit and those not,
i've been
reprimanded by our mazkir for making only one contribution to the hdna
listserve since i've moved into the jerusalem communa, that being a pathetic
plea for my tzevet t-shirt. so here it goes, update on world habonim's newest
project.
a catalogue of our assets:
there are 6 of us
now, me (danya), 4 english and a scot named adam. One veggie, one ex veggie and
5 meat eaters. one bank account. 2 people in ulpan. 3 people working full time.
one (me) working part time and about to start university. 1 hammock. 9
speakers. one MC Hammer Hammer Time video. 3 guitars. a broken R2D2 phone. one
engagement ring and one impending
wedding. (two of
our chevre going to married.(to each other). an insurance guy was supposed to
come to come talk to us about pensions and stuff tonight, but he bailed.
adam and jason
arrived only last week, so there are lots of life decisions
still to be
made, but the jist is:
1. we are socialist
2. we are active in
left wing israeli politics
3. we are
self-educating and cultrually jewish- meaning that we celebrate
the chagim in a way
that everyone is comfortable with. normally, one person
prepares something
to both inform and challange us on the holiday.
the coolest thing
is, on shabbat we're going to gaza! an ex-shaliach from london works for a
joint palestinian/israeli econimic forum, which is having a tiyul to gaza and
we're tagging along. it's hard to get in ordinarily, israeli citizens can't
enter the territory unless accompagnied by a
palestinian, except
for settlers who get an armed battalion to carry their
groceries home.
so edmonton boys,
come be socialist here!
danya cohen
workshop 45
Austria Elects Racist Party to Power
by Jared Matas,
Mazkir T’nua
Last week, a new government was
formed in Austria which included the xenophobic and anti-immigrant Freedom
Party, who’s leader Jarg Haider has a nasty habit of praising the Nazi SS army.
This is something that should be of great concern to all of us. In response,
Israel has recalled its ambassador, and the European Union is moving to censure
Austria. Although I am pleased to see that Israel is not the only country
reacting, I am a bit worried of the impact of these initiatives on democratic
values. Haider was elected with 27% of the popular vote in Austria. In my
opinion, the most appropriate response is to harshly condemn all racist and
anti-immigrant comments that issue from the Freedom Party or Haider, but to
only suspend diplomatic relations with Austria if they actually implement his
party’s racist policies. Austria should know that we are watching them, and we
hold the entire government, not just the Freedom Party, accountable for any
inappropriate policies. One positive thing we should note, however, is the
speed with which the international community moved to condemn Haider.
Garin Alpayim Prepares For Big Move
Meanwhile, there is much better news to report
from within the movement. As the clock is ticking
on the year Alpayim (2000), the members of Garin Alpayim, (HDNA members who are
planning to
move to Israel to create an urban Socialist community) are
turning their dream into a reality.
In the wake of the excitement from Veida, where urban
socialist garinim were endorsed as a new direction for the movement, we are now
focusing more on the practical, rather than ideological, issues which the garin
must face.
I recently met with an Aliyah
Shaliach to open up my ‘tik aliyah,’ the first official step in my process of
becoming an Israeli citizen. Although I try not to fool myself about the
challenges I’m going to face, I also very excited about the prospects that lie
ahead. After I finish my term as Mazkir this summer (and after a short stint as
Rosh Naaleh), I’m planning to join the nascent but growing community of Habonim
Dror olim in Israel. Our garin is
following the example set by a British Habonim garin, who created a socialist
commune in Jerusalem (see article by Danya Cohen in this issue!).
Fulfilling Ahad Ha-Am’s vision (more or less), Israel is now the
world-wide center of the Jewish people. I want to be in Israel to be a
participant, rather than a spectator, in the emerging Jewish nation. But I also
find there are a lot of things happening in Israel which I’m not so proud about
- stuff like the second-class status of Israeli-Arabs, the politicization of
religion, the discrimination that women suffer, to name a few. I want to be in
Israel so that I can work to make Israel a country that Jews worldwide can
truly be proud of. If you are at all intrigued by the possibility of living a
Socialist-Zionist lifestyle, on either a short-term or long-term basis, I’d
love to discuss my plans with you. Don’t hesitate to contact me: mazkir@habonimdror.org
Mansfield,
Ontario. Mansfield, Ontario. Mansfield, Ontario. Mansfield,Ondario. Mansfield,
Ontario. Mansfield, Ontario. Mansfield,Ontario.
Winter Seminar ‘99- Some wonderful pictures.
Mansfield,
Ontario. Mansfrield, Ontario. Mansfield, Ontario. Mansfeild, Ontario, Mansfield
Ontario. Mansfield, Ontario. Mansfield, Ontario.
B’Tnua Contents:
February/ March 2000-
Shvat/ Adar 5760
A Habonim Dror North
America Publication
Mmmm………What’s That Scent You’re Wearing?
Alexis Kort p. 1
Ken Reports
P.
2
My Personal Relationship with Jesus Christ
David Lobes P. 3
Who Kidnapped Mazkirut Artzit? P.
4 & 5
Winter Seminar ’99 Photos P.
6 & 7
Judaism in HDNA: A Paradigm Shift
Ezra Weinberg and Zack Teutsch P.
8 & 9
Live From the WTO Protest
Lindsay Ross P.
10& 11
Little Bayit on the Prarie
Ayal, Benji, Rodney, and Tuval P. 12
& 13
The Israel Bayit Regulates
Danya Cohen P.
14
Austria Elects Racist Party to Power, Garin Alpayim Update
Jared Matas P.
15
Other Random Pictures of your Beloved Movment and
Mazkirut P. 16 & 17
A Cheery Workshop Update from Workshop 49
Workshop 49 P.
18
Btnua
is published by Habonim Dror North
America, for all chvrei t’nua (movment members).
Circulation:
1600
Send
all submissions to: programs@habonimdror.org
or mail them to:
Habonim Dror
114 West 26th st. Suite
1004
New York, NY
10001
Volume XVIII, Issue #6—Febuary/March 2000-
Sh’vat/Adar 2000
Winter
Seminar 1999: An Update
In this Issue:
·
Winter Seminar Photos
·
Workshop 49 Update
·
Bayit Updates from Jerusalem and Edminton
·
Ken Reports
B’Tnua is a publication of Habonim Dror North America, 114
W. 26th Street. Suite 1004
New York, N.Y 10001 programs@habonimdror.org
