My wife and I recently came back from Israel where we spent quality time with our son, Meir, who is serving in the IDF’s Givati Brigade and attended a B’nei Akiva reunion for my age group, Shevet Moriah, established at Camp Moshava in 1968.

It was a gathering of former members of a special youth movement who went on to become productive members of Klal Yisrael in such diverse fields as medicine, farming, industry, media, education, government, etc. The common thread among all of us was the espousal of the concept of Torah V’Avodah and love for Israel. Thirty-seven people from all over the United States and Canada, along with 80 others who live in Israel, joined to celebrate our times growing up in the world’s largest religious Zionist youth movement and reacquainting ourselves with the long-lasting friends that we made during our formative years. It was a Shabbat full of song, spirited intellectual discussion, and a reunion of a remarkable group of people who began forming their friendships in their teens while in B’nei Akiva, Camp Moshava, and on Kibbutz.

When I was in 7th grade, I had just moved into a neighborhood in Brooklyn called Kensington (we called it outside of Borough Park—it’s on the edge of Flatbush off of Coney Island Avenue.) The local yeshiva kids would walk into Borough Park every Shabbat afternoon and hang out on 14th Ave. Occasionally we would stop into the local B’nei Akiva snif which was in Machzike Talmud Torah and see some friends there. And while most of my friends from Kensington (except one) continued to do the 14th Ave trek, something that Bnei Akiva offered caused me to make it my permanent Shabbat afternoon destination and become a large part of my youth. It is hard to believe today that B’nei Akiva of Borough Park had over 130 kids every Shabbat, but then again it is hard to believe the Borough Park once had lots of religious Zionists.

Our leaders (or Madrichim) led discussions about Israel and Torah, we sang, danced and were served refreshments. There were also various activities during the year and we had a large presence at the Salute to Israel Parade. As I entered high school, the snif had Leilei Limud on Friday nights at people’s homes, where someone gave a D’var Torah, and then we just socialized the rest of the time, building a chevrah (or friendships) that would be everlasting. Ironically, the only time I was caught with a girl by my boys-only yeshiva was on the way to Leil Limmud, but my rebbe for some strange reason didn’t turn me in to the principal and I clandestinely continued to attend Bnei Akiva and Moshava throughout high school.

B’nei Akiva was an organization committed to Aliyah Kibbutzi (moving to live on a religious kibbutz). Part of the program was going to the regional Camp Moshava and after junior year in high school, spending a month with only your peers in the Torah V’avodah Institute or National Seminar, which was held in the old Moshava in Beach Lake, PA. There we had 180 kids from all parts of the United States and Canada developing a strong peer group that would continue after high school when many of us spent a year on a kibbutz on Hachshara (the Hebrew word for preparation to make aliyah). Our group was so large, we wound up on three different kibbutzim, Yavne, Saad, and Ein HaNatziv. The program, which was part-time learning Torah and part-time working on the kibbutz, gave us the opportunity to see the country and live in a communal socialist environment where everyone worked for the kibbutz and lived an observant life. We worked the land, toured the country and became part of the kibbutz society. Because we worked with Israelis on a daily basis, we even became fairly fluent in Hebrew.

After Hachshara, we continued to work as Madrichim in B’nei Akiva. When the Yom Kippur War broke out, over 200 B’nei Akiva college students wound up going back to our kibbutzim as volunteers to replace those serving in the IDF or in the reserves. It was a sobering time in Israel because even though the Arab armies were eventually defeated, Israel lost thousands of young men (my kibbutz, Yavne lost five boys) and the invincibility felt after the Six Day War disappeared. Our sacrificing a semester of college seemed trivial compared to the sacrifice that our friends in Israel were making. More importantly, our experience in B’nei Akiva made us feel part of the country and committed to help Israel in any way we could.

After college, those interested in moving to a kibbutz permanently went as a group, in our case to Kibbutz Ma’ale Gilboa, but those of us who didn’t choose that path eventually left the organization. B’nei Akiva eventually dropped the emphasis on kibbutz and, to their credit, a large percentage of my Shevet made aliyah and have made significant contributions to Israeli society, many in leadership positions in the government, the rabbinate, and industry. Many of us who stayed in the States became active members of our Jewish communities and the love of Torah and Eretz Yisrael that we have today can be attributed to our years in B’nei Akiva.

So, getting together with people, some of whom you had not seen in over 40 years and others with whom we reestablished contact during our first reunion in 2000, was not so much a strange experience but rather a heartwarming gathering of old friends and a revitalization of the memories that we had growing up as idealists and activists. A video that I produced for the occasion (which can be seen on YouTube—key word, Shevet Moriah) brought back wonderful memories of fun the times we spent together. It was an amazing Shabbat that no one will soon forget.

Steve Fox is the President of Fox Marketing & Video Productions and Co-Chair of the Teaneck Holocaust Commemoration Committee. He can be reached at foxy555_aol.com.

By Steve Fox