The Comings and Goings of November 2009
By Lydia Aisenberg
December 13, 2009
November began on an extremely wet and windy footing with torrential rain, thunder and lightening. Although most welcome, the pelting rain, high winds and flooding of roads in the Givat Haviva area made our popular tours of the Wadi Ara region somewhat difficult but not impossible.
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Members of the German Journalists Union – visited Israel through Keshet, a center for educational tourism. The journalists, interested in the kibbutz way of life, Jewish-Arab relations and learning about the topography of the region, participated in an International Department's organized seminar incorporating those topics and more!
Hailing from the print and electronic media, the group comprised seasoned journalists as well as a student or two. For the better part of the day the weather treated them kindly as they were taken around Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek visiting the Holocaust Memorial (Pinat HaGola) – one of the first such memorials to be created in Israel - and also visited the in-house museum of the kibbutz (known as The Emda) where they were able to view artifacts, models and photographs from the 1920s to the late 1940s as well as speak to kibbutz born Abi Paz whose grandfather was a founder member of the almost 88 year-old kibbutz.
With the Jezreel Valley basking in sunshine after a few days of heavy rain, the journalists were able to enjoy extraordinary visibility from the Green Line/security fence at the Salem checkpoint, Israeli Jewish and Arab communities dotted throughout that portion of the Valley, as well as follow the clearly defined course of the Green Line/security fence cutting across the valley between the Israeli communities and the Palestinian villages and autonomous city of Jenin.
"This has been a tremendously interesting and important day for us, surely not to be forgotten", commented one of the journalists at the end of the exhausting and exhilarating day.
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Thirty-seven high school students from Philadelphia presently on their semester in Israel program at the Alexander Muss High School in Hod HaSharon, accompanied by four educators, participated in a one-day seminar.
After a session with Lydia Aisenberg, the students met with lawyer Amir Gara from the Arab Muslim village of Jatt near Baka al-Gharbiya, and later went out for a short tour of the Amir mountain range and Barta'a village with Lydia.
The 15 year-old students showed a lively interest in the topics dealt with and asked Amir Gara many sensitive questions as well as gave their opinion about some of the comments he made in his address to them.
As one young man said, "I guess it is going to take a long time to figure this out!".
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The German Federal Agency for Civic Education brought a group of 23 music journalists to a visit n Israel that coincides with the concert in Tel Aviv of the German band 17 Hippies who are participating in an Israeli-German musicians exchange.
The journalists spent a day at Givat Haviva. Following an introduction about the campus activities, the media folk met with Taiseer Khatib – a third year Ph.D Candidate, Anthropology, Haifa University. Mr. Khatib holds a B.A. in Anthropology and Education from the University of Heidelberg, Germany and undertook studies in Social Anthropology at York University in Toronto.
The journalists joined Lydia Aisenberg for a detailed tour of Wadi Ara, the Dotan Valley and Amir Mountain range as well as the village of Barta'a.
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Thirty-five students from the Gann Academy – The New Jewish High School of Greater Boston, a pluralistic day school founded 13 years ago – who are presently on a semester in Israel program at the Alexander Muss High School in Israel at Hod Hasharon, also spent a day at Givat Haviva where they worked with Lydia and Wadi Ara lawyer Amir Gara, a stalwart speaker to groups of youngsters from abroad coming to our seminars.
The 16-17 year-old students from Boston proved to be extremely well prepared in dealing with the related topics, showed great maturity in their understanding and ability to formulate searching questions. They proved to be way above average of that age group normally encountered by the International Department staffers.
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Members of the Habonim-Dror youth movement from Britain and Holland presently in Israel on a 10-month youth leadership course and coming toward the end of a four month stint at Kibbutz Ein Dor, met for a few hours at their kibbutz with British born International Department staffer and freelance journalist Lydia Aisenberg who frequently writes in the British Jewish press.
The 15 British youths (all except one from the city of Manchester in England), and 6 Dutch peers, have been studying Hebrew, Jewish and Israeli history, Zionism, Israeli society, and socialism. Apart from studying they have also been working in the kibbutz, founded in 1948 by the Hashomer Hatzair movement and physically situated in the Jezreel Valley under the shadow of Mt. Tabor.
Much to her surprise – and delight – Lydia discovered that all 21 youngsters had been on an International Department seminar at Givat Haviva and undertaken a Wadi Ara tour at some time during the last two or three years and spoke very warmly of their past Givat Haviva experiences.
The day's discussion concentrated on anti-Semitism, secular Jewish identity and how to combat some of the anti-Israel activism they are probably going to have to deal with upon their return home and begin their university studies next year.
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Members of the International Department traveled to Jerusalem to address educators and volunteers from overseas working at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.
Over the last few years the International Department has hosted mostly groups from Germany and Austria for a day seminar and visit to the Givat Haviva campus and Wadi Ara region. The German and Austrian folk, mostly educators participating in one-week to 10-day long seminars at Yad Vashem, gave very positive reports of their seminars at Givat Haviva. Hopefully after the International Department presentation this month, the various desks dealing with Yad Vashem's overseas groups will be directing more groups to Givat Haviva in future.
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During a visit to Givat Haviva, New Yorker Dan Fleshler – who spends much of his free time trying to convince the American Jewish community to support Israel's peace camp and an end to Israeli settlement expansion – joined Givat Haviva staff for a tour of Harish, the Reichan-Barta'a checkpoint in Area C of the West Bank, Katzir observation platform and a visit to Barta'a village.
Although Dan has visited Israel a dozen times in the past, the tour taken with Givat Haviva through the Dotan Valley, up and over the Amir mountain range and to the divided village of Barta'a, was a first time experience for the author, writer, media and public affairs strategist, a Senior Advisor with world leading communications consultancy firm Kreab & Gavin Anderson of New York.
Dan Fleshler's book, "Transforming America's Israel Lobby - The Limits of Its Power and the Potential for Change", was published earlier this year by Potomac Books.
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Mid-November Givat Haviva celebrated the 60th anniversary since foundation, and also the 65th anniversary since the death of Slovakian-born member of Hashomer Hatzair, British Army trained parachutist and kibbutz member Haviva Reik, after whom the educational center is named.
Together with the staff of Givat Haviva - and the many hundreds of guests who came to share the emotional day of exhibitions, panel discussions, reflection and unveiling of a memorial to Haviva Reik – the International Department staff members were honored not only to be present at such a milestone event, but also to be on hand to assist members of the Friends of Givat Haviva Associations from Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Holland, France and the United States who came especially to Israel for the commemorative events.