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Hashomer Hatzair
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Hashomer Hatzair (also transliterated Hashomer Hatsair or HaShomer HaTzair, translating as The Youth Guard) is a Socialist-Zionist youth movement founded in 1913 in Galicia, Austria-Hungary, and was also the name of the group's political party in the Yishuv in the pre-1948 British Mandate of Palestine.
omer Hatzair came into being as a result of the merger of two groups, Hashomer ("The Guard") a Zionist Scouting group, and Ze'irei Zion ("The Youth of Zion") which was an ideological circle that studied Zionism, left wing socialism and Jewish history.
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Hashomer Hatzair (also transliterated Hashomer Hatsair or HaShomer HaTzair, translating as The Youth Guard) is a Socialist-Zionist youth movement founded in 1913 in Galicia, Austria-Hungary, and was also the name of the group's political party in the Yishuv in the pre-1948 British Mandate of Palestine.
Early formation
Hashomer Hatzair came into being as a result of the merger of two groups, Hashomer ("The Guard") a Zionist Scouting group, and Ze'irei Zion ("The Youth of Zion") which was an ideological circle that studied Zionism, left wing socialism and Jewish history. Hashomer Hatzair is the oldest Zionist youth movement still in existence. Initially Marxist-Zionist, the movement was influenced by the ideas of Ber Borochov and Gustav Wyneken as well as Baden-Powell and the German Wandervogel movement. Hashomer Hatzair believed that the liberation of Jewish youth could be accomplished by aliya ("emigration") to Palestine and living in kibbutzim. After the war the movement spread to Jewish communities throughout the world as a scouting movement.
Members of the movement settled in Mandatory Palestine as early as in 1919. In 1927, the four kibbutzim founded by Hashomer Hatzair banded together to form the Kibbutz Artzi federation. The movement also formed a political party which shared the name Hashomer Hartzair, advocating a Binational solution in mandatory Palestine with equality between Arabs and Jews. That is why, when a small group of Zionist leaders met in New York in May 1942 in the Biltmore Hotel, Hashomer Hatzair representatives voted against the so-called Biltmore Program.
In 1936, the kibbutz-based Hashomer Hatzair party launched an urban political party, the Socialist League of Palestine, which would represent non-kibbutzniks who shared the political approach of the members of Hashomer Hatzair kibbutzim and the youth movement in the political organizations of the Yishuv (as the Jewish community in Palestine was known). The Socialist League was the only Zionist political party within the Yishuv to accept Arab members as equals, support Arab rights, and call for a binational state in Palestine. In the 1930s, Hashomer Hatzair (along with Mapai) was affiliated with the left-wing "Second-and-a-half" International, the International Revolutionary Marxist Centre (also known as the "London Bureau") rather than the more mainstream socialist Labour and Socialist International or the Leninist Third International.
Growth and the Holocaust
By 1939, Hashomer Hatzair had 70,000 members worldwide. The movement's membership base was in Eastern Europe. With the advent of World War II and the Holocaust, members of Hashomer Hatzair focused their attention on resistance against the Nazis. Mordechaj Anielewicz, the leader of Hashomer Hatzair's Warsaw branch, became head of the Jewish Fighting Organization and one of the leaders of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Other members of the movement were involved in Jewish resistance and rescue in Hungary, Lithuania, and Slovakia. The leaders of Hashomer Hatzair in Romania were arrested and executed for anti-fascist activities.
After the war, the movement was involved in organizing illegal immigration of Jewish refugees to Palestine. Members were also involved in the Haganah military movement as well as in the leadership of the Palmach.
Hashomer Hatzair today
Today, Hashomer Hatzair continues as a youth movement based in Israel, and operates internationally. In Europe, North and Latin America, as well as in Australia, Hashomer Hatzair organizes activities and camps (machanot) for the youth. Activities are still relatively ideological, but over time have been adapted to the needs of modern communities, vastly different from the context in which Hashomer Hatzair was created.
The movement has 7,000 members worldwide (excluding Israel) running weekly youth activities and camps in Germany, Canada, the United States, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina. Uruguay, Chile, France, Belgium. Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Netherlands, Hungary, Bulgaria, Belarus, Ukraine and Australia.
Famous alumni include Arik Einstein, Tony Cliff, Ernest Mandel, Mordecai Anielewicz, Abraham Leon, Benny Morris, Eliane Karp, Leopold Trepper, Amnon Linn, Abba Hushi, Sam Spiegel, Irv Weinstein, Mančs Sperber, Leon Rosselson, José Gurvich, Milo Adler Gilles and even Isser Harel and Menachem Begin who were briefly members before joining Mapai and the right wing Betar respectively, as well as Kerem B'Yavneh's Rabbi Avraham Rivlin. Noam Chomsky sympathized with and worked with the group, although he was never a member, and his views are generally considered beyond the pale of acceptance by the movement.
With the merger of the United Kibbutz Movement and Kibbutz Artzi, the likelihood of a merger between Hashomer Hatzair and UKM's youth movement, Habonim Dror, has increased and the two youth movements, once rivals, have increasingly co-operated in various countries where they co-exist. The movements even share an office in New York. However, the views of each movement on religion may be an obstacle to merger as Habonim Dror has a stronger identification with cultural Judaism as opposed to Hashomer Hatzair, which has been at times stridently secular and anti-religious — seeing itself as a leader of a legitimate expression of a secular stream of Judaism.
Australia
The movement in Australia is located in Melbourne and was established in 1953 as a break away from Habonim Dror. There was briefly a ken (branch) in Sydney during the 1960s, but it closed due to a lack of members. Many of the original bogrim (leaders) of Australian Hashomer Hatzair settled in kibbutz Nirim. Its building in Melbourne is known as Beit Anielewicz and is currently being upgraded. It runs weekly meetings as well as bi-annual camps which take place in the Australian outback.
Currently there are close to one hundred members of 'Hashy' Australia. Meetings are held every Sunday from 3–5pm for Juniors and 6–8pm for Senior. During Year 10 (age: 15–16) chanichim undergo a 'hadrachah' (leadership) course. This course is run by current bogrim in the movement and teaches the chanichim leadership skills which are used when they lead members of the Junior movement in Year 11. The current Year 11 madrichim (leaders) are from the group of Sasa.
Hashomer Hatzair Australia has a strong belief that chanichim should be active in the community, helping whenever they can. Members often go to rallies and run programs for disadvantaged children.
In Hashomer Australia, every year level has its own kvutza (group). These groups are named after Hashomer kibutzim in Israel. Current kvutzot include: Ga'ash, Sasa, Nir Oz, Lahav and Metzer, to name a few.
As with most of the kenim around the world, every year Hashy sends the chanichim who have just completed school on a 10-month Shnat program in Israel. The current group in Israel is Nir'oz, which consists of: Hannah Green, Laura Dreyfus, Mia Gross, Lyrie Alton,Gil Azaria, Jaclyn Lange, Boaz Burns and Nitzan Ron. After returning from the Shnat program, bogrim have a two year commitment to the movement in which they lead the chanichim of the movement or take up various administrative roles (tafkidim), including Merakez (head of the movement), Rosh Hinukh (head of education), Mazkir (secretary) and Gizbar (treasurer). The current bogrim are from the groups of Yasur, Mishmar HaEmek and Nir'oz. Liraz Jedwab is the Merakez of 2009. Noach Kronich, Ariel "Frank" Gross and Liraz Jedwab currently hold the positions of Grand Poobahs of the Hagshama Va'ad.
USA and Canada
In the United States and Canada camps are organized which last through the school summer break. The two summer camps near Liberty, New York, USA and Perth, Ontario, Canada are both called Camp Shomria. Furthermore the movement runs activities in local cities across the continent on a regular basis throughout the year. Hashomer Hatzair runs educational activities promoting the peace process, socialist-Zionism, Hagshama Atzmit (self-actualization), withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza, and social activism.
Through seminars, camps (winter/summer), worldwide programs and weekly activities in which youth leads youth, Hashomer Hatzair aims to create a just world through socialism, equality of people, and the betterment of Israel and the world.
Hashomer Hatzair has a program called Shnat which sends shomrim (members) to Israel for ten months after high school.
Hashomer Hatzair has collaborated with Habonim Dror and other left-wing Zionist groups to form the Union of Progressive Zionists campus network.
Israel
After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the Hashomer Hatzair Workers Party merged with other left wing parties to form Mapam which became the political party of both the youth movement and the Kibbutz Artzi federation. In Israel it is was traditionally aligned with Mapam and later Meretz. It is not officially aligned with Meretz's successor party, Meretz-Yachad. After a recent merger of the Meretz-aligned Kibbutz Artzi Federation with the Labour Party's United Kibbutz Movement, Hashomer Hatzair is officially not aligned with either party though, by tradition, it is close in outlook to Meretz-Yachad.
France
In France, the youth movement spells Hachomer Hatzaďr with a "c". It was founded in Paris in Belleville area, in 1933, by jews from Poland and Tunisia. Hashomer Hatzair France is extremely active, it has weekly activities, summer, winter and automn camps. There are now about 500 members.
South Africa
Hashomer Hatzair operated in South Africa until sometime in the 1980s when the South Africa government banned the movement and arrested its members because of their anti-apartheid teachings and activism.
Austria
The Austrian Hashomer Hatzair traces its roots to the original Hashomer Hatzair founded in the Galicia region of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Hashomer were among the earliest members of the Österreichischer Pfadfinderbund in 1914. From 1956 to 1972 they were again members of the Scout association Österreichischer Pfadfinderbund. Today the association is a member of the Austrian National Youth Council. Hashomer Hatzair operates one ken in Vienna.
Italy
Hashomer Hatzair operates four kens (branches) in Italy — in Rome, Milan, Florence, and Turin.
Belgium
In Belgium, Hashomer Hatsaďr was established in 1920. Today, 200 hanihim come each Saturday. Four camps are organized by year, often in Holland or in France. The shaliah is Tal Eitan and the shirfa madrihim is composed of yehiam and Eylon and the roshken is The famous the important the beautiful the inteligent Samy Gutman. There was a ken in Liege but it was too small so it has closed.
Switzerland
In Switzerland, Ken Yitzhak Rabin in Zürich consists of some 100 hanihim, meeting on Shabbat afternoon and for two or three camps (annually in autumn and winter, bi-annually in summer), next to the Bogrim's bi-annual trips to Israel or Poland. Special events are held for Pessach, Chanuka and the Yitzhak Rabin memorial. The Ken was founded in 1935 and joined World Hashomer in 1938. During the 2nd world war, there were five major Kenim (Zurich, Basel, Berne, Biel, Geneva) plus activities in a few smaller cities and in the refugee centers. Swiss Shomer members having made alija can be encountered e.g. in Lehavot Habashan and Magen. Today (2009), the Shomer is the largest jewish youth movement in Switzerland.
Mexico
The Mexican branch of Hashomer Hatzair was established in 1940. Since 1983, its "ken" (Hebrew for "nest", i.e., its headquarters), named after Mordechai Anielewicz, is currently located in the Polanco neighbourhood, western part of Mexico city.
Hashomer Hatzair Mexico was founded by Avner Aliphas, a Hebrew professor at the Yiddish school of Mexico and later founder of the "Tarbut" Jewish day school. Aliphas was born in Kolno, Poland, in 1912, and made aliyah (immigrated to Eretz Israel) in 1936 to join Kibbutz Negba. In 1939 he returned to Mexico where he was active in the Zionist movement.
In 1940, supported by the Zionist Organization in Mexico, Aliphas founded Hashomer Hatzair in Mexico, thus giving an option for young people who had been educated towards Zionism at home. This was the first Jewish youth movement that existed in the country; its first Ken was in Tacuba 15, in the city center.
During the next decades, Hashomer Hatzair was one of the few places for secular socialization for the Jewish community. The movement had national presence, with Kenim in several cities, such as San Luis Potosí and Monterrey. As of the present day, the Mexcian branch of Hashomer Hatzair comprises approximately eighty members who regularly attend cultural, educational and sporting events as a group.
Life Movement (Tnuat Bogrim / Kidmah / Kidma / Kidmat Anilewicz)
Around the world, Hashomer Hatzair members have founded a life movement to pick up where the youth movement leaves off. Groups have been organized in Israel by Israelis and non-Israelis, and others were formed in their countries of origin (such as in Canada and the United States).
Canada and the United States
has created three urban communes, one in New York and two in Toronto where members are experimenting with the Israeli model of communot in their home societies. In addition, a new winter trip to Israel for Bogrim called Mifgash takes place yearly.
See also
External links
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