ARMED FORCES CONTACT

"It was very good to hear from you and to know who is where and what is going on in the movement. We get very little news, especially Jewish."

This is from a typical letter received by the Habonim Armed Forces Contacts Committee. Every day brings its quota to the office— at least two or three, sometimes as many as ten—from the four hundred members of Habonim in the armed forces.

The letters come in from all parts of the United States, Great Britain, Italy, North Africa, the Pacific, India, Iceland; anywhere that the armed forces of the United States are to be found in any considerable numbers, there will be found GI Habonim. Every branch of service is represented: army, navy, marines, maritime; the range of ranks, from lowly private up to captain. There are several girls, too, in the Waves and the Wacs.

When a member of Habonim enters the service, his interest in the movement is bound to slacken at first. Orientation and basic training make tremendous demands on the time and, even more, on the energy of the new GI. Unless he was very much involved in movement work, he very rarely gives it much thought. When an occasional publication or circular comes, it is quickly read and soon forgotten. But, as the routine becomes less novel and less absorbing, the magazines are read with more interest; and there are greater demands for news of "what is the gang doing?" and "what's new at the ulam?"

Thus far the answer of Habonim to this demand of their members has been a monthly letter. It can be divided roughly into three parts. The first section deals very summarily with the main Jewish events and currents of the month. Since Furrows is also mailed out to all Habonim servicemen, the letter tries to avoid duplication and, in less formal style, concentrates on highlights.

The second part of the letter deals with what is going on generally in Habonim. Preparation for Camp Kvutza, national gatherings, new educational developments—these are generally the material for the second part. The third section consists of "personals." Who was promoted, who moved where,, who was in on furlough, who got married— all of this makes this part of the letter the most popular. The material for it is drawn almost entirely from the many letters received from the servicemen themselves by the Armed Forces Contacts Committee.

In recent months the committee has attempted to expand its work and to make Habonim members in the services aware of their responsibility to the movement. After broaching the matter in a letter and
receiving several encouraging replies, a questionnaire was sent out asking members in the services to fill in names of servicemen they have met who might be good contacts for the movement and to specify whether the contacts are to get membership application blanks or just be sent pamphlets and material. Thus far, about seventy-five names have been sent in, and more are coming in slowly.

This is a project that must take time to develop. The atmosphere in the army militates against anything resembling organizational work. There are no rules against talking to individuals and interesting them in an idea such as Zionism. But the situation is not conducive to it. Nevertheless, much can be done.

In the army the Habonim member meets Jewish fellows from all over the country, each reacting to his Jewishness in different ways. There are some who try to hide it. Others parade it obnoxiously. Most take it for granted with an unconscious dignity. These quickly earn the respect of their non-Jewish comrades. Almost every Jewish fellow, at one time or another, questions the nature of his Jewishness and wonders about its implications for himself. With most, it is a momentary thought, quickly forgotten; but there are many to whom it is a recurring thought and who grope for answers. Most of them would find in the Zionist analysis the solution.

It is important for the future of the Zionist movement that some form of educational work be done through the Zionist members in the army. There is a fertile ground for individual contact work. No Zionist group has as yet attempted it. In the Habonim Armed Forces Contacts Committee we are feeling our way slowly. But the scope of the task is far beyond the strength of Habonim alone.

Other Zionist groups working in this field have been largely content to limit themselves to keeping in contact with those members whom they previously had. The general clearing house for the youth groups is Hechalutz, which has an army mailing list of over eight hundred. Every month they are sent the publications of several Zionist youth groups and a Zionist news publication called Palestine Information, This, too, is only keeping contact with already-confirmed Zionists.

With the situation within the service discouraging the servicemen themselves from taking the initiative, with the Zionist youth groups overwhelmed by their own war-created problems, with the senior bodies lacking the imagination to perceive the opportunity, the moment is slipping. Thousands of young Jews, meeting Jewish communities all over the world, stirred up by contact with the Jewish tragedy when they enter the European continent, and from time to time questioning within themselves the meaning of being a Jew, should not be abandoned to return to their social clubs, their card games, and their apathy.

The Armed Forces Contacts Committee of Habonim is beginning, with its limited forces, to try to take advantage of this psychological moment.

DAVID GOLDBERG, New York, 1944