Matches made in youth movements

TALI FEINBERG

Some of the many matches-made-on-machaneh share their stories:

Asher and Felicity Klawansky:

Asher: We met at Habonim machaneh and “clicked” straightaway. At first it was a long-distance relationship as I was from Krugersdorp and Felicity was a Durbanite.

Later on I had made aliyah and she was on Shnat Hachsharah (year-long leadership programme) and the romance developed from there. Our Habonim background gave us shared values, but more importantly she was beautiful.

We lived on Kibbutz Nir Eliyahu for 16 years and had four kids and returned to South Africa in 1990. We have just celebrated our 42^nd anniversary. We are now proud grandparents of five delightful grandchildren.

To this day we have many very close friends who were with us in Habonim and who have similar stories to ours. 

Kelli and Benjamin Lunsky: 

Kelli: We met at a Habonim National Seminar in 2000, and our romance began in December 2002 on the hallowed turf of Onrus.

For us, getting married on the campsite was a “no-brainer”. It is the soil where our roots are buried and from where we have grown, and the paths and trails of this beautiful place are imprinted on us.

There were so many things that made our campsite wedding extraordinary. How many people get to stand under the chuppah in their most precious, sacred place with all of their loved ones surrounding them? Our ceremony was hand-crafted and officiated by a dear friend and fellow member of the movement. It was our most meaningful peulah (activity) on the campsite to date!

We’ve been happily married for the last eight years and, in that time, we have built a home, welcomed two gorgeous Yorkie dogs into our lives and fell in love all over again when our two beautiful children entered our world. 

A youth movement develops members with a common culture, tradition and deep-rooted values. Choosing to spend our lives together was the easiest decision we ever made. Our union made so much sense. We already had a shared foundation, religion and compatibility that is hard to find elsewhere.

We spent the best months of our youth at Habonim Dror machaneh and we can’t wait to help our children pack and decorate their “trommels”. It thrills us to know they still have such a magical journey ahead of them! It’s Onrus or bust! 

Ian and Carla Rozowsky:

Ian: Carla and I met on a dusty path at Onrus in Sollelim at Habonim Machaneh Tuval (1981). Carla was 14, and I was 15. We have been married for the past 25 years. Our children Shea and Reede have subsequently attended several machanot.

Wanting to give something back to the movement that brought us together, we returned to Onrus 30 years after meeting as volunteers at three machanot – the best Decembers of our adult lives. We emigrated to Australia in 2014, which brought our involvement to a sad end. 

Megan and Asher Jacobson:

Megan: We met at Betar in 1998. It was Asher’s fifth year at camp (he was in standard 8) and my first year at camp (I was in standard 6.)

We were in different age groups, started out as friends and saw each other once or twice the year after camp. We only reconnected seven years later in 2005. We dated for almost seven years and got married in 2012. So, we’ve known each other for almost 20 years!

We are both from Johannesburg and studied at the University of Johannesburg. Asher did a BA Marketing and I studied optometry. We decided to move to Cape Town in 2010.

Asher now works as programme director at Lobster Ink. Megan is an optometrist at Tygerberg Hospital and has a master’s degree in clinical epidemiology from Stellenbosch University. We were blessed with a beautiful little boy in 2015, named Samuel.

We will give our child the option to choose if he would like to go to a youth movement and if so, then encourage it. It’s a great way to socialise and meet new people. Maybe even your “one day” spouse!

Our relationship advice is to acknowledge that time together is a blessing, not to be taken for granted. 

Casey and Darren Slot:

 Casey: Darren and I both went to Bnei Akiva camp and met on the bus on the way to camp in 2006. He was 15 and I was 14.

It was an instant romance; we were inseparable the whole of camp from the day we met on the bus. We started dating a few days into camp.

We both went through Herzlia High School together. We got married on December 11, last year, exactly 10 years after Darren asked me out at camp in 2006, and we can’t wait to continue our journey together. 

Being part of a youth movement, you’re able to find someone who has similar values and beliefs to you, and you share common ground. Camp is always the best years of your life, and even more amazing being able to spend it with the one you love.

We will definitely send our kids to Bnei – it will always have a special place in our hearts for obvious reasons.

Eric and Mel Beswick:

Eric: We met at Netzer Maginim (now Netzer South Africa) in 1989 when we were in the same shichvah together. We only became a couple much later when we were on shnat in 1992.

I moved to Cape Town from Johannesburg in 1993 to be with Mel. She studied teaching and I completed a marketing degree. Mel has since taught at a government school in Plumstead and now teaches at Reddam. I worked in marketing and sales until I was offered the job of Temple Israel Cape Town executive director in 2008, where I still am today. Mel also works at Temple Israel as cheder principal and marketing co-ordinator.

Both our children, Daniella (13) and Nathan (11) have been to Netzer. While Mel would be okay if they went elsewhere, I am adamant that Netzer is the only option! 

Lee-Ann and Greg Gelb:

Lee-Ann: We only really met in our later Bnei Akiva days, once we were both madrichim. It took a good few years for me to come to my senses; let’s just say that Greg was persistent!

Greg: I knew from the get-go we were meant to be more than just friends. When I had that “eureka-moment” I remember messaging Lee-Ann to let her know this discovery…  let’s just say I knew I had my work cut out for me from then on!

Lee-Ann: I was involved as a madricha through university and was on camp two months before our wedding. We actually dropped in at the campsite recently. Now I work in the digital department of an advertising agency.

Greg: I’ve been fortunate to remain within the Jewish community and I currently am the executive director of Cape Town Torah High School.

Lee-Ann: In terms of challenges, Greg stopped coming to camp the older we got, so it was a month apart each year. Bnei was a springboard into other hadracha roles in the community, and we simply slotted Bnei events, Shabbatons and camps into our schedules. It was just part of what we did and we loved it. 

Greg: It was hard for me to say goodbye to Lee whenever she went to camp, but as they say, “absence makes the heart grow fonder”. I knew she was doing great work for the South African community and the lessons we both learned from Bnei Akiva have really helped us reach great heights in our Jewish community as well as our personal lives.   

Lee-Ann: I’d certainly encourage my children to get involved with Bnei – I’d want them to have the same magical experiences we had, so I would 100 per cent encourage them to be involved in a youth movement. 

Sandi and Stephen Kaye

Sandi: We met at Habonim and were a couple ever since. We had a long-distance romance between Cape Town and Johannesburg for eight years and maintained contact through weekly love letters and calls made from the “tickey box” on the corner; we thrived and always felt very lucky to have “made it”!

I moved to Johannesburg and we got married in January 1985 in Cape Town (10 years after meeting). We moved to Canada, six months after our wedding. The first four years were spent in relative isolation on the prairies which only strengthened our bond. We moved to Vancouver in 1989 and have been here ever since.

We felt that it was important for our children to have a Jewish education, a Jewish camp experience similar to the one we had at Habonim, and an Israel experience. These, in addition to maintaining a Jewish home, have shown to be the most important factors contributing to children valuing their Jewish identity and hopefully choosing a Jewish life partner.

Hilary and Ian Meyer:

Hilary: We met at a Zionist conference in Johannesburg in September 1972 as Habonim delegates and started going out together at Habonim machaneh at the end of that year (72/73) at which we were both madrichim.

We worked well together as madrichim, running seminars and machanot. We then lived on the kibbutz until Ian decided to further his studies and was not accepted at university in Israel as his Hebrew was not of a high enough standard. He was encouraged to come back to South Africa to continue his studies in psychology. I had already obtained my B Arch degree.

So, we returned and he read for his masters and we were married in December 1978 in Cape Town and returned to Port Elizabeth for Ian to complete his masters. We settled in PE, Ian in private practice and me working as an architect.

In 2008 I organised the first international Habonim reunion at the Onrus machaneh site – a great success with chaverim coming from all over the globe.

A youth movement is a great place to meet a partner because working together bonds people. You see one another at your best and worst and learn to challenge one another and learn from one another.

Both our children attended Habonim machanot. I wanted my children to experience those bonds and that sense of freedom, intellectual and cultural involvement and the confidence and leadership training that have proven to be the most amazing “gift” to all members of the youth movement.

Pictured: Kelli and Benjamin Lunsky got married at the Habonim campsite in Onrus.