| British Teens of Bnei Brith at Givat Haviva |
British Teens of the Bnei Brith Youth Organization have a Givat Haviva Experience as part of their Israel Experience
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Robin Scher and Ruth Newman help explain borders, lines and fences to BBYO teenagers during a recent seminar at Givat Haviva’s International Department
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“Our seminar here at Givat Haviva today is not going to be easily forgotten by our youngsters,” said Bnei Brith Youth Organisation youth leader Robin Scher, who had attended a likewise seminar dealing with the Arab citizens of Israel and the Palestinians some years ago when he was on gap year in Israel.
“I remember the seminar a few years ago as being quite special, generating a great deal of interest from amongst my peers at the time,” said Robin, nowadays a student at Manchester University.
“Already a number of our teens have said that this day has been one of the highlights of this years tour,” added Robin.
BBYO is a London based organization but Robin and his movement co-worker Ruth Newman - also studying at Manchester University and hailing from Dublin, Ireland – are hoping to be able to start a branch of the organization in Manchester.
“At the moment the Jewish youth in the north of England seem to be split between Habonim Dror and Bnei Akiva,” said theology student Robin, “and with the exception of a few small Federation of Zionist Youth groups the north is starved of a pluralist youth movement.
BBYO national fieldworker Blake-Ezra Cole, a self-taught and successful photographer with a few exhibitions of photographs taken in Israel during his gap year and subsequent visits leading BBYO tour groups, is also no stranger to the Givat Haviva campus and the co-existence projects and programs stemming from the Arab-Jewish Center for Peace.
Blake-Ezra spent a period working for the Jerusalem Post covering political rallies, major sporting events and the Israeli general elections prior to deciding to take up the BBYO fieldworker post and has remained in close contact with Givat Haviva staff throughout.
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