Building an Israel we can be proud of

I had my first taste of Israel in 2010 on Habonim’s Shorashim programme. It was also my first trip overseas. Shorashim was fun and a great way for me to begin forming an emotional connection with the country.

In 2013, I went on Habonim’s Shnat Hacshara (gap year programme). Living in Israel for 10 months really gave me the opportunity to explore Israel and its complexities, and marvel at its beauty. Yet I still struggled with what it meant to be a Zionist.

I’ve been to Israel a few times since Shnat, but nothing was more eye-opening for me – and made me solidify what it means to be a Zionist from Habonim Dror Southern Africa, a Zionist in the Diaspora – than when I ran our annual Bogrim Israel Leadership Tour in 2017.

Growing up in the South African community makes engaging with Israel tough, especially given the apartheid narrative. Diaspora Jewry, particularly in South Africa, generally talk about Israel in relation to the conflict. This is something very hard to come to terms with for me.

During the tour last year, I wanted to take a deeper look at Israeli society on the ground, rather than looking at the conflict. This was inspiring. We focused on the refugee crisis in south Tel Aviv. We met fantastic non-governmental organisations that work with Israeli youth in education. We met many people from our sister youth movement, HaNoar HaOved VeHalomed.

Most importantly, we engaged with what it means to take responsibility over the land of Israel from within. This concept resonated with me.

In mid-2016, I decided to join Garin Mafteach – a Garin made up of Habonim chaverim in my shichvah who hailed from Australia, New Zealand, America and the UK.

Now, I will be making aliyah in January 2019 to join our Bogrim movement in Israel, to join my Garin. In doing so, I hope to continue with a life that is as fulfilling as my time in Habonim Dror Southern Africa has been over the past 11 years.

The existence of the State of Israel is important, and we are now celebrating her 70th year of independence. Let us continue working towards an Israel we can all be proud of.

Finding home

Jason Bourne, Netzer South Africa co-mazkir

Not quite knowing what I wanted to do after high school, I decided to go on a Netzer Gap Year programme called Shnat.

Israel was always this amazing place that we were told about, but I hadn’t had the opportunity to visit. So, on February 2 2017, I boarded a plane to start my nine months of living in Israel.

I experienced Israel not as a tourist but as a citizen, with a group of people who are now closer to me than I ever thought friends could be.

We bought groceries from the local Shufersal and Shuk Machaneh Yehuda; we went to Clalit when we fell ill; and we used to catch the number 78 bus to visit our friends at Kiriyat Moria.

We lived and breathed as much Israeli culture as we could.

The first time I realised I was falling in love with Israel was on one of our first tiyulim (hikes). We were on a four-day hike, going down into Makhtesh Ramon in the Negev and back out again. Just the sheer vastness of the desert and being alone with my thoughts alongside some of my closest friends really made me appreciate the place we were in.

The idea of home started to change in my head. It changed from being a physical place to something akin to intangible feelings.

I started to feel a sense of belonging and pride whenever I saw the Israeli flag. I felt a sense of community when coming off the date fields after a morning harvest. I discovered a warm feeling I had only ever felt in Israel. I found a place I felt more comfortable in than I had ever felt back home in South Africa.

One flight closer to aliyah

Brandon Davis, Bnei Akiva South Africa national chairman

One day, after years of searching, a man discovered the Creator of the universe. His name was Avraham and he learned to love the Creator.

Now, the Creator told him to leave the land of his birthplace and go to the land which was to become the inheritance for his descendants.

Ever since then, we, his descendants, have been connected to this land. We have loved it as much as our great, great, great… grandparents, Avraham and Sarah.

We have loved, and continue to love, the land so much that we sing about it, read about it, pray about it and learn about it. It is our heritage, from the dynasty of King David to the state that David Ben-Gurion established. And it overflows with manifestations of this deep love.

In 1948, a miracle happened: the nation of Israel returned to its homeland, our long-lost love.

Today, those of us who do not live in our homeland yearn for it and love it.

This is Bnei Akiva’s love story. We, Bnei Akiva South Africa, are a Jewish Zionist youth movement dedicated to a love of the land of Israel, a love for the people of Israel and a love of the Torah of Israel.

It is this message that has inspired me to love our homeland. I went to Israel for the first time on Bnei Akiva’s Hadracha Tzeira, and in July, this programme will be sending 160 chanichim to Israel.

This trip made my love for Israel a real-life experience. I spent a year in Israel on Bnei Akiva’s MTA programme. It developed me as a person, a leader and a Jew.

Every time I fly to Israel, I count down that I am one flight closer to aliyah.

Let us use the 70^th year celebrations as an opportunity to truly appreciate how far Israel has come.

Seeing Jerusalem for the first time, but still returning

Rachel Raff, SA Union of Jewish Students national chairperson

There is something in the land of Israel that cannot be heard or touched; it is a cry that resonates deep in the soul. It is a cry so strong that it reaches beyond Israel’s borders and echoes into the Diaspora. It is a cry of pride and joy because we have a place we can call home.

It is a place of coincidences and miracles. A place where the spirituality is tangible, and history is apparent with every step you take.

It is a place you never leave behind, but always return to. It is a place where the Jewish people thrive.

Israel is where Jewish people can actualise their potential and surpass others in the fields of technology, research, agriculture, science and medical breakthroughs.

Anyone who has been to Israel knows that most of their experiences in that country leave a lasting memory. One that particularly stands out for me was back in 2016, when I was a madricha on a Birthright trip organised by the SA Union of Jewish Students (SAUJS).

Birthright is an organisation that offers free trips to Jews all over the world who’ve never been to Israel. Having been to Israel twice before, it was an honour for me to guide these students on an exploratory journey of their Jewish homeland and Jewish identity.

There were 45 Jewish students on a bus driving from the Golan Heights into Jerusalem. One of the participants, a singer in the shul choir in Cape Town, asked if he could use the microphone to say a few words before we started to approach the city of Jerusalem. His few words were a beautiful rendition of Naomi Shemer’s Yerushalayim Shel Zahav. Without realising it, the tears were streaming down my face.

The song seemed more poignant then than ever. “… Chazarnu el borot hamayim lashuk v’lakikar (We have returned to the cisterns, to the market and to the market place).”

These Birthright participants were entering a place they had never been before, but they were returning at the same time. They were responding to the cry, so deep, of the Jewish homeland that reached them thousands of miles away.