Amal, Habonim's Hebrew-speaking camp, has completed its third season. After three uncertain years of experimentation, Amal has realized the dreams of its founders; it has won national recognition as one of the outstanding Hebrew-speaking camps in America. Habonim has never had an opportunity to determine the future of this nascent institution. We have been too concerned with the very survival of Amal to give adequate consideration to its role within the movement. Institutions, however, do not await official decisions. Amal, in its three years of existence, has established its own camping patterns and set into motion uncertain forces. Even a cursory evaluation would disclose that Amal has fostered the study of Hebrew in our movement, has attracted a considerable number of new haverim, and gained for Habonim new prestige in the Jewish educational world. But it might also be shown that Amal's successes have not been achieved without prejudicing the halutzie character of our camps.
It was but three years ago that we hesitantly opened Amal on a rented site in Vermont. The movement greeted this venture with singular indifference. Few haverim expressed interest in attending Amal. In view of the small registration, the Merkaz, on one occasion, nearly decided to abandon the project. But we felt strongly that we had a mission to fulfill in Hebrew camping. We were disturbed by the cloistered atmosphere of many existing camps. They were fostering a native Hebrew-speaking elite. Their educational program bypassed halutziut. They glibly spoke of the national poet, Bialik, and chose to ignore the pressing need of Eretz Yisrael: an American halutz aliya. Therefore, despite the initial movement apathy, we decided in favor of continuing our efforts on behalf of Amal. We opened in the summer of 1948 with a handful of campers. The staff had little Hebrew camping experience and was poorly prepared. This was hardly an auspicious beginning.
Haverim. seriously questioned reopening Amal in 1949. They felt that it had failed. Strong arguments were advanced for giving up Amal-our personnel shortage was acute, there were but dim hopes of registering an adequate number of campers, and the national budget could not again sustain a financial loss such as it had in Amal's first season. It was therefore with great trepidation that the Merkaz finally decided in favor of reopening the camp. This was to be its last chance.
Amal's partisans were soon active on all fronts. Prominent Hebrew educators were solicited to add their names to our list of sponsors. Several Jewish educational institutions were induced to award scholarships to Amal. This time, the camper response was more encouraging. The season began with forty-five campers who were determined to make it a success. We hoped to create a camp modeled along the lines of our other camps. And, to a large extent, we succeeded. We ended our second season with the realization that Amal had proved itself. It was no longer an experiment. Many observers claimed that our campers spoke more Hebrew than the campers of any other Hebrew-speaking camp in America, and this we had seemingly accomplished without vitiating our halutzic Zionist program. Nor did our work go unnoticed in the Jewish community. During the winter of 1949-1950, the number of sponsoring Jewish educational institutions increased from two to six, and twenty-two scholarships were awarded to Amal by various Hebrew school systems. In recognition of Amal's promise, the Merkaz assigned Tel Meir, in Connecticut, to its fledgling Hebrew camp as its permanent site.
This past summer we confidently opened the season with sixty haverim. As evidence of our coming of age, an ambitious program was prepared for the public. On August 9th, a performance of Yitzhak Lamdan's Masada was witnessed and applauded by sixty parents and guests. Hebrew educators from many sections of America visited Amal during the season and were impressed with the serious educational work that we attempted. Daily formal class work had been introduced, and great emphasis in the discussion program was placed upon Jewish history. The 1950 season was most successful.
Moshe Margalit, 1950