THE FOUNDING OF THE WORKSHOP

A dynamic movement must, from time to time, examine its educational methods and institutions to determine whether its aims and objectives cannot be more effectively achieved by other means. Though the Youth Workshop in Israel has, in a relatively few years, succeeded in becoming an essential and integral part of the educational pattern of Habonim, the time has come to analyze the history and the achievements of the Workshop to determine whether it is fulfilling its designated aims. The purpose of this article is to review the factors that brought about the establishment of the Workshop in 19!t and its objectives as perceived at that time.

A great deal has been written about the reaction that developed within all the Zionist organizations and, particularly, Zionist youth movements a short period after Israelis War of Liberation. Since the primary goal of Zionism had been achieved by the establishment of the State of Israel, the raison d'etre of the Zionist organizations was questioned. The state itself, it was alleged, with all the national resources and manpower at its disposal, could complete the realization of the Zionist aims—increased immigration; integration of the immigrants into the economic, social and cultural life of the country; military security, economic stabilization, and further development of the agricultural cooperative and collective settlements. Though only a small percentage of American Jews were at that time anti-Israel, this trend of thought led to a considerable decline in the membership of the Zionist organizations.

In the case of Habonim, this situation was further aggravated by the aliya of many chaverim who had constituted the core and leadership of Habonim since its inception, leaving the administration of the organization to younger, less experienced people. The heritage left to this group of young people was a long history of Labor Zionist youth work in America, a thinly spread-out Habonim movement in over twenty-five different communities, and the oldest Hechalutz organization in the world. Among the doubtful assets were eight hachsharot (agricultural training farms) in the United States and Canada within the framework of Hechalutz. There was also a ninth training farm conducted by Bachad (Religious Zionists), which had been converted to an agricultural school with a total enrollment, at that time, of nine students. Some of these farms were manned by as few as three trainees, with, of course, a shaliach whose task it was to give agricultural and ideological guidance. Only a few of the hachsharot (Hightstown and Cream Ridge) were based on developed agricultural branches; and, needless to say, all were heavily subsidized. Most of the farms were purchased by Hechalutz in the period immediately preceding and following the establishment of the State of Israel through the initiative of the respective organizations and their ambitious, well-meaning shlichim, who wanted to assure places of absorption for the hundreds of American Jewish youth who, under the inspiration of the recent dramatic and historic events in Israel, would swarm to the farms in preparation for aliya.

Unfortunately, this prognosis turned out to be unfounded. The Jewish youth of America did not respond en masse to the call of chalutziut, and all the Zionist youth organizations barely maintained their previous membership. The hardest hit, however, were the hachsharot, where the numbers were, in fact, depleted by the departure of some of the trainees for Israel as soon as immigration was opened and of others who abandoned the farms and the idea of aliya entirely. It became apparent that Hechalutz and the hachsharot would not attract Jewish youth who had not been previously indoctrinated, usually from their early teens, by the Zionist youth groups. In an attempt to maintain a minimum number of trainees on the farms, the various organizations, including Habonim, sent some of their already-depleted leadership group there. Instead of inspiring and attracting potential chalutzim, the farms became a burden and a strain on the movements.

At the same time the maintenance budget of the farms increased, as none of the farms was sufficiently manned to be run effectively. In many cases it was only the presence of the shaliach which prevented their complete liquidation. Hechalutz, as the federation of all the chalutz movements except Bachad, required additional manpower and a large budget for its activities and subdivisions, such as the hachshara department, publicity, and snifim (general Hechalutz branches which were practically non-existent). Practically the only source of income for the budgets of Hechalutz, Bachad, and their respective training farms was the Jewish Agency; and the consequence was that less funds were available for the maintenance and educational activities of the youth movements affiliated with the Agency.

The protagonists of the farms argued that in the Jewish communities in Europe the hachsharot had been and were still to some extent the focal points and centers of the Zionist and chalutz movements, and that there was no reason why they should not occupy similar positions in the United States. The facts, however, were that in America the hachsharot never had the active and vital support of even the Zionist movements and were almost completely ignored by the Jewish communities. At best, they were rendered lip service by the more progressive and outspoken Zionist leaders.

In 1951, the smaller chalutz organizations began to liquidate their farms; and Habonim was faced with the alternative of maintaining its two remaining farms, Smithville and Cream Ridge, at all costs, or finding another form for the presentation of the final stage of education towards chalutziut. Having conducted a number of very successful leadership courses in Israel, Habonim had come to the conclusion that experience and observation in Israel itself were the most effective way of educating towards aliya. Thus, gradually the idea of the Workshop evolved—a program of work and study in Israel, based on the kibbutz, for a selected group of high school graduates, mostly from the ranks of Habonim, who had a positive attitude towards the idea of eventually settling in Israel.

It should be pointed out that the Workshop was not intended to be an exact parallel or replacement of hachshara. The following were to be the three major aims of the Workshop: 1. It should educate and direct towards chalutziut. 2. In some respects it should provide elements of hachshara, 3. It should provide a better-grounded and more-prepared leadership for Habonim—though not emphasizing leadership training as one of its central goals.

The Workshop was viewed as part of an educational pattern which was to lead the participants to a decision to settle in Israel, primarily in the kibbutz and moshav. As planned, and to a large extent implemented, this pattern is based on the educational work in the younger age groups in Habonim. At the age of fifteen and sixteen the formation of pre-Workshop groups is encouraged. In these groups potential Workshoppers prepare for the year they will spend in Israel; they learn Hebrew, discuss the problems of Israel and of the kibbutz, and make their practical plans and arrangements for earning and saving the money needed for their expenses. Before departing for Israel, the entire Workshop meets for a pre-embarkation seminar. Then comes the Workshop itself, followed by the creation of ally a groups or garinim and, finally, upon returning to Israel, actual agricultural training in a kibbutz.

After the first experimental Workshop, the program was altered in that more time was allotted for work and study in the kibbutz and some of the visits and sight-seeing tours were eliminated. Later, another important change was introduced: the time in Israel was increased by two additional months—the months of July and August, when agricultural work is at its peak in the kibbutzim. In addition, less emphasis is now being placed in recruiting non-Habonim people to join the Workshop. These changes, though important, have not altered the basic pattern for education towards chalutziut which was adopted when the farms in America were given up and the Workshop established.

YECHIEL SASSON, Kfar Blum, 1960