Tzionut

For discussion.  Don’t take too long, and make it interesting, as you know they get bored easily…

·        Is Bnei Akiva a Zionist youth movement?  Is it more a religious Zionist youth movement?  What makes Bnei Akiva Zionistic?  (discuss with them the ideology of BA  Torah, Avodah, and Aliya – emphasise the Aliya.)  Is it good to be Zionistic?  Etc…

·        Play Word Association with them.  Madrich/a starts with a word (about Israel, Zionism, BA, of course!) and the next person in the single says the first thing that comes to mind.  Continues.  Try to keep all the words Zionistic.  (Examples: Yerushalyim, Israel, Magen David, Hertzl, Tzionut…)

·        Discuss with the chanichim typical Israeli “symbols”.  What makes them typical Israel?  Jewish?  Examples: Magen David, The Knesset, Shelet of Yerushalyim, Menorah, etc…

Games:

Word Chain: Madrich/a chooses a word (related to Israel/Zionism) and says it out loud.  The next person in the circle says another word that begins with the last letter of the previous word, and so on.  Objective:  Keep the words to Israel/Tzionut. 

Line up by Israeli History: Madirch/a gives each chanich/a a card with the name of an event and its date.  Chanichim have a time limit in which they must line up from earliest date to the latest date.  When the time is up, go through with the chanichim the events.

(examples: 1948 – Milchemet Ha’Atzmaut, 1967- Milchemet sheshet Ha’Yamim, 1897 – 1^st Zionist Congress (convened by Theodore Hertzl) in Switzerland, 1909 – establishment ong Deganya, the 1^st Kibbutz, 1947 – The UN vote, 1973 – Milchemet Yom Kippur, 1979- Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty signed.  Etc…

Story:

“On Eagles’ Wings” by Laszlo Hamori (from Flight to the Promised Land)

Thrilling new swept through the Yemenite town where twelve-year-old Shalom lived.  The Jews in the marketplace whispered excitedly to each other, “Israel has arisen again after 2,000 years.  A new David rules in Jerusalem!”  As the news spread throughout Yemen the Jews gathered their household goods and children and began a long trek through the desert toward Aden.  From British-controlled Aden they would somehow find a way to reach the Promised Land.  God would provide a miracle.

One scorching hot morning a glistening silver airplane appeared over the El Hasched settlement in Aden.  Flying low, it circled the tent city.

The people rushed out of their tents, turned their faces upward and stared at the circling plane.

A shrill voice shouted, “The L-rd G-d has sent us a silver bird.”

And as if on command, four thousand Yemenite Jews – men, women and children – bowed to the ground and, with their arms lifted up, recited the creed of their faith:

            “Hear O Israel!  The L-rd our G-d; the L-rd is one.”

A few days later Shalom and his fellow-villagers climbed calmly aboard the huge plane.  The only sign of emotion they showed was that the men covered their heads with their shawls and prayed aloud during the entire trip.  Shalom spent every minute looking out of the round window of the plane.  He could see the Red Sea below and the reddish-gold coast lines of Arabia and Africa.

When they were about three hours out of Aden the little children began to complain that they were hungry.  The mothers, who were dressed in their best clothing festooned with silver jewelry, tried to calm their youngsters, but not even a nasty look from the head of the family helped.  The women decided to take things into their own hands.

At that point the stewardess was sitting in the pilot’s cabin writing a report for the airport officials in Israel.  Suddenly the captain sniffed the air.

“Harry, Leah,” he said to the others.  “Don’t you smell smoke?”

“By golly, you’re right,” the copilot agreed.  He quickly checked his instruments and found everything normal.  The noise of the engines was even and quiet.  Nothing seemed to be wrong.

A sudden hunch made Leah jump up from her seat.  As she opened the door leading to the passenger cabin, smoke began to pour through.  The stewardess and copilot rushed out.  In the aisle between the seats they discovered a small burning pile of newspapers and little pieces of wood.  One of the women squatted beside it holding a kettle of food over the fire.

The copilot did a wild war dance with his size thirteen shoes and managed to stamp out the fire.  The women with the kettle screamed wildly and tried to shove aside the gangly American.

“Idiotic women!  You’ll set the whole plane on fire.  I’ve seen some stupid things in my life, but never anything to equal this!” shouted the copilot.

Leah quickly poured water on the dying embers.  Then she explained to the women that it was dangerous to build a fire on the airplane.  Finally she pushed the angry copilot back into his own cabin and began to pass out sandwiches, hard-boiled eggs and tea to the passengers.

Having eaten, Shalom made his way up to the door between the passenger cabin and the cockpit.  Each time anyone opened the door he stared longingly at the pilots, the strange steering mechanisms, and all the buttons surrounding the pilots’ seat.  Yitzhak, an Israeli truck driver he had met in Yemen, had told him about motors and airplanes.  He would give anything in the world to be able to watch the pilots fly the plane.  But he didn’t dare ask.

So much changed in a short time, thought Shalom.  At one time back home he had dreamed of the day when he would be a teacher and would interpret Jewish law for his congregation.  But Yitzhak had told him there were many rabbis in Israel.  Now Shalom began to dream of a different future.  One day he would be a pilot whose plane would bring Jews to Israel from all over the world.