HASHOMER HATZAIR PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

 

Eighty-five year-old Eitan Ben-Or was one of the firstborn to founder members of Mishmar HaEmek, one of the flagship kibbutzim of Hashomer Hatzair.

Eitan’s parents, Nechamia (Bertek) and Berta, were from Poland, the country where 95 years ago the Hashomer Hatzair movement was founded

At the recently held Shomer Tamid anniversary celebrations at Givat Haviva, Eitan was one of the 7,000 former and present day members of Hashomer Hatzair who came together to celebrate a rich past, continuation of activities in present times and a hopeful future.

“The Shomer Tamid was a phenomenal event.  I got to see people I hadn’t seen for 50 years, some even closer to 60, as well as meet with Hashomer Hatzair teens from Jerusalem whose youth leader this year is my grandson, Noy Lev-Or from Mishmar HaEmek,” said Eitan proudly, spreading his hands wide as if to emphasis what a big day it had truly been for him on a personal and family level.

“The whole event was organized so well, even to the point of having club-cars at the entrance in order to take the older folk to where they needed to go.  I was really impressed with the organization, especially the cleanliness, order and clarity of where you should go and how to get there. I truly take my hat off to those that were behind this memorable day,” said the Jezreel Valley octogenarian.

Like with his parents, Hashomer Hatzair became an inseparable part of his daily kibbutz life, high school education and adulthood.  Leading youth at the Jerusalem branch of the movement, giving a year to a new kibbutz Carmia in 1965, taking up the post with wife Batia as emissaries in 1969 for 2 and a half years in Los Angeles on behalf of Hashomer Hatzair and Mapam, as well as a decade of activism in the Arab sector for Kibbutz HaArtzi Federation of Kibbutzim during the 1970s when he worked closely with Givat Haviva.

Eitan Ben-Or was among 7,000 former and present members of the Hashomer Hatzair movement who came to the ingathering of the extended Hashomer Hatzair family celebrating the 95th anniversary of the movement.  Grandson Noy, who has bright ginger hair worn Rastafarian style, was another.

 

Eitan and Batia Ben-Or, Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek

 

During his 1942 movement stint in Jerusalem the meeting place of Hashomer Hatzair was in the basement of a building belonging to the family of movement contemporary Ephriam Reiner. 

“We lived in a room in the house and there was a young girl in the family at that time.  We all got on very well together,” he recalls.

During the Shomer Tamid gathering, Noy introduced his grandfather to one of his own young charges from the City of Gold, “another youngster with bright ginger hair,” laughs Eitan.

“I was asked a lot of questions by this young Jerusalemite and he began to tell me stories that he had heard from his grandmother about her days in the movement as well.  After a while his grandmother, who was present at the event, came over to speak to her grandson and I discovered the ‘young girl’ who lived in the family house when I was a madrich (youth leader) there!”

Eitan was actually born in Nahalal as Mishmar HaEmek founders at that time worked and lived in different places, some in Afula and some in the moshav.  He was six years old when the kibbutzniks of yore settled on the slopes of the Menashe Hills in l929 although the kibbutz celebrates its birthday from their coming together in 1922.

“I am ten years older than Hashomer Hatzair and one year younger than the kibbutz,” joked Eitan who will shortly be celebrating his 85th birthday together with wife Batia, daughter Dafna, sons Yoav and Yair and a host of grandchildren.

“Hashomer Hatzair for me was and still is a way of life, a philosophy of life reaching out to purity, social justice and contribution to wider society from within one’s own community.

“We had no thoughts of studies or careers, only thoughts of how one could lead, work with city youth and imbue in them the values of Hashomer Hatzair, and make kibbutz life an attractive alternative. 

“Hashomer Hatzair celebrates the joy of life, love of the country through traveling everywhere and enjoying the learning experience of familiarity with the land through those movement activities.  It is still all so deep in my blood,” he explains.

Eitan met up not only with the once upon a time young girl and nowadays grandmother of Noy’s young charge, but also with former Americans whom he helped make aliya during the time he and Batia were emissaries in Los Angeles, like Moshe Chertoff from Kibbutz Shomrat, his movement contemporary Uri Pinkerfeld from Kibbutzim Revadim and Arab Israelis with whom he had close contacts during the period he was active in the Arab sector.  At that time he was responsible for activities in an area stretching from Mus-Mus in Wadi Ara to the far corner of The Triangle, Kfar Bara and Jaljulya.

“Hashomer Hatzair has given me memories that are so vital, vivid and heartwarming to dwell upon and the Shomer Tamid event opened a flood gate of mostly positive past experiences and the opportunity to share them with people who were an important part of different periods of my life,” concluded Eitan, who now looks forward to the 100th anniversary of the movement whose way of life is still appealing to his kibbutz born grandchildren.

Eitan is an accomplished ceramics artist and wife Batia, an avid gardener.  Visiting the family home at Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek one walks in to a miniature wonderland created by Batia’s green fingers and Eitan’s artistic flare.

Amongst the ceramic birds and animals scattered throughout their garden and adorning the high wall surrounding their home, Eitan has now created and laid out a ceramic mini-kibbutz model in his own backyard.

A favorite place for kibbutz kinder and for members to bring their visitors, the Ben-Or corner signifies their love of nature, creativity and a way of life that they still deem special.

 

Kibbutz from a kiln