The Brothers Green – part 2
There are many ways to love a country. One of them is to take tours across it, while another is to connect youth and new immigrants to its roots. Arie Ben Gurion, an enthusiastic Zionist with a compelling surname, expressed his love of the Land of Israel both through its paths and by educating the new generation. Here is the continuation of his trip
The previous chapter dealt with his childhood, his studies in Haifa and his training in Kibbutz Naan. Here is a peek into some of Arie Ben Gurion's activities in the education field.
Members of the "activities group" who graduated from the Naan training, joined Beit Hashita, the movement's first kibbutz, which first settled near the Harod Spring and in 1935 moved to its permanent location.
As an educator of the young generation, Arie attempted to combine new and secular content into the Jewish tradition and educate his students to love Israel's culture and the renewed homeland. And there is no way to
do so which is more convincing than taking the students on trips to the country's landscapes and meeting its fascinating history up close and personal.
In the photo: Henrietta Szold in a meeting with Beit Hashita educators in honor of the absorption of Czech youth (from the right: Henrietta Szold, Tikva Sarig, Avraham Bergenfeld and Arie Ben Gurion).
In 1939, the youth immigration ("Aliyat Hanoar") brings Jewish youth from the Czech Republic who fled the growing Nazism in Europe. The group arrives in Beit Hashita and Arie is one of its educators.
The youngsters learn the Arab language and Israel's culture. Simultaneously, they begin working in the different kibbutz industries.
Arie, in his own way, leads them through the country's paths and brings them to a new kibbutz on the Dead Sea's northern shore – Beit HaArava. There the young immigrants are recruited to the hard work in the potash plant, and in their hours of leisure they go on trips around the Dead Sea and across the Judea Desert.
"Evil spirits" tell the Aliyat Hanoar administration about the project. The administration members are against exposing the youth to the harsh conditions and decide to give up on Arie's work in the education field. But not for long.
In 1941, a group of German youth arrives in Israel and is accepted to professional studies at the Titz school in Yagur. Arie is summoned to be their teacher and educator.
In 1943, Aliyat Hanoar brings the "Tehran children" to Israel, and Arie is recruited once again.
Tehran children greeted in Moshav Magdiel.
- Next chapter: A rare documentation of a trip Arie took (and photographed) to Syria and Lebanon, and a trip to the Negev in search of the path leading to Masada.
