Monday, March 18, 2024

Baruch Kraus - Jerusalem - Dec 1965

 

Visiting Baruch on Machon when I attended the 10th Kinus Olami.

Kinus Olami - Opening Ceremony - Kfar Raziel - Dec 1965

 


Sheldon Lerman & Mickey Bar-Neder - Kinus Olami - Dec 1965

 


Bet Sefer Lemadrichim Misdar - 1966 (1967?)


 LtoR: Efraim (Frank) Dimant, Yisrael (Winkie) Medad, Barak (Bruce) Koffler

Zamira Miller - Jabotinsky shav lamoledet - NYC July 7, 1964

 


Aaron Zvi Propes visit to Betar Toronto - 1965

Left to right: Standing – Sheldon Lerman, Marty Jacobson, Harry Wolle, Bruce Koffler, Sammy Polster Seated – Annie Jacobs, Aaron Zvi Propes, Renee Starkman

Saturday, March 16, 2024

The Anti-German Soccer Team Action, 1950

 




The movement received threatening letters as well as letters of support.

And a contribution of $2 to cover the cost of the tomatoes.

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Friday, March 15, 2024

Winter Camp in Canada

From Barak Koffler:

Here are 3 winter camp pictures taken in the mid-1960's at the Canadian Youth Hostel north of Toronto.

The first one is me and Carla Gringorten.



The second one, a Toronto Betaria but I cannot remember her name.



The third one is the gate to the hostel and under it are Sam Polster, Zamira Miller, kneeling: Risa Gringorten,  back 3-- I do not remember but I think the girl was named Debbie, kneeling: Sarah Schwartzburg, beside her I think is Miriam Kalina?, kneeling in front is Mel Laytner, and at far right is Michael Brender (Danny Rosing's stepbrother).


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Thursday, September 7, 2023

Raid on Camp Shomriya, 1964

The report by Yeshayahu Lerman:







Michael Chayes, Eli Solomon, Naomi Atzmoni, Benny Rosen, Chuck Hornstein, Yishy Lehrman, Danny Epstein, Joey Grunberg, Tom Kovary, Mel Laytner, Uriel Messa, Yitz Aptowitzer, Rafi Gleich, Wally Chayes, Steve Shiffman. 

Len Fuld recalls of those summer camp raids:

I remember having to sneak out of my bunk to meet the chosen group of raiders at a specific time of night, hiking and jumping into the ditches on the side of a road when cars came by (getting a huge thorn in my thumb) and then being assigned to stand guard outside of the entrance to their camp.  It was thrilling for a kid my age as was the initial initiation meeting, again late at night, sworn to secrecy, standing by a barrel of burning wood.       


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Tuesday, August 8, 2023

Yitzhak Heimowitz z"l

From Dani Heimowitz

Dear Betarim,
It is with great sadness that I need to inform you of the passing of my father Yitzhak Heimowitz this morning, Aug. 7, in Sheba Tel Hashomer hospital at age 88.

Yitzhak (formerly Netziv Betar in the US in the 1950s), his wife Phyllis and I (a 5 month old infant) made Aliyah from New York in Oct. 1968.

Yitzhak and Phyllis met in Camp Betar in 1954 and were married for 64 happy years.

---

Yitz's autobiography:


Aaron Bashani wrote:

It is with great sadness that I learn of Yitzchak Heimowitz’s passing. I met him for the first time at an outreach gathering outside the old Madison Sq Garden in 1953, joined Betar, attended the historic Beit Sefer of 1954 and rose to be his Sgan Natziv and Betar Office Manager, 1957/58 on 44th Street, before my Aliyah Alef.  He was an inspiration to all of us with his calm and dedicated leadership --  and especially his championing of a national response to Jewry’s plight that was able to unite both secular and orthodox (and everything in between) with true Hadar Betari, so needed today.

 

During the years thereafter, we had many occasions to meet and to talk on the phone. Most notable of our meetings were (1) his arrival on a visit to Israel in the early 60s when he brought me my US Army Draft Notice (I was to be exempt due to a benign hernia), (2) at Orly Airport outside Paris in 1962 (1964) when he accompanied Rosh Betar z’l on a stop-over on the way to reburial in Israel, (3) at a 1965 meeting in New York for Soviet Jewry, etc, etc

 

Among other means, he will be memorialized through the proposed International Freedom Museum on the two-front Soviet Jewry Struggle.


Let his memory be a blessing for all Yisrael


---


Chuck Waxman sent this photo of Yitz with Shlomo Ariav, Sol Taubenfeld, Reuven Genn and I think a young Jonathan Friedman




Wednesday, July 19, 2023

29 Tammuz 2023

 


L-R: David Dwek, UK Betar; Chaim Fischgrund, Baruch Kraus, Yisrael Medad, 
Steve Adler, US Betar at Mt. Herzl

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Monday, May 29, 2023

JTS, Betar and the Irgun

From Matt Futterman

I was given permission by a friend to share anonymously this story that was part of a discussion on Zionism and various American religious streams. This story is about the Jewish Theological Seminary from a time before the Conservative Moment was known for being more pro-Zionism than other movements.

“In the 1940s, a group of Betarim requested the use of a classroom at JTS, purportedly to hold Hebrew classes. In fact, the classroom was being used by the IZ"L  ("Irgun") to teach how to break down weapons so that they could be shipped to Palestine. At the time, my mother was working in the Beitar office in NY as personal assistant to Moshe Arens -- then Netziv Betar in NY, but secretly running IZ"L activities in the U.S. -- and she was directly involved in the gun smuggling operation. Many years later, my mother told Dr. Max Arzt (in my presence) that she had a confession to make, and told him how the classroom was actually being used. He replied that no apology was needed.  JTS wasn't fooled and was well aware of what was really going on.

“As an aside, many years later, when I was undergoing a security background check in the IDF, I was asked for the names of people who knew me and my family both in Israel and abroad. When I sat with the investigator, he looked at the list and asked: "Who is Moshe 'Mischa' Arens"?  I replied. "He's our boss". The soldier asked: "What do you mean?" I replied: "He's the Minister of Defense". The investigator seemed surprised and went on to the next name: "Mordechai 'Mordi' Dolinsky"(another of my mom's Betar friends). "Does he live on Rechov Chabad in the Old City?" I said that he did. "Oh, I was in basic training with one of his sons". Interview over. Later, when Mordi was on his death bed at Hadassah Hospital, Mischa came to visit. Mordi took great delight in telling him that while IDF field security seemed to have no idea who Mischa was, they knew who he was.”

Sayeret Golani Memorial - Chaim/Chuck Hornstein (Haran)

Members of Betar New York and former campers at the unveiling of the memorial for the soldiers of Sayeret Golani killed in the Yom Kippur War and who fell at the battles for Mount Hermon.

Chaim/Chuck Hornstein (Haran), a Betari from New York and camper was killed here. I have underlined his name.

לָנוּ, לָנוּ, יִהְיֶה לָנוּ
כֶּתֶר הַחֶרְמוֹן,




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Thursday, March 16, 2023

The 1942 Pledge of Allegiance

In April 1942, the leadership of Betar, USA, led by Aaron Tzvi Propes, pledged an oath of allegiance to the ideas and ideals of Rosh Betar, Ze'ev Jabotinsky:


Among them, Zippora Levy, Yeshaya Warshaw, Aaron Hanin, David Goodman, Saul Bard, Alexander Gurevitz, Simcha Rosenberg and Chaviva Sudarsky.

Translation:

Dear Rosh Betar,

We, your pupils, hereby inform you we remain faithful to your Torah. If, all together and each individually, we have not this past year acted on our Betar task, we ask your forgiveness. We will do our best this coming year to "sanctify the name of Betar" that we carry with your permission and according to our allegiance. 

Found here.

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