Well, I was wrong. This "World Betar Reunion" was humongous! Even though there had been registration, nobody bothered having us sign in when we got there, or we'd still be on line two days later.
This wasn't a chatty get-together at all. The entire large, at least by Israeli standards, Jerusalem Theater auditorium was full, including the aisles. There were Betarim of all ages and countries. The ceremony performance was well-planned and executed, not taking all that long. We sang the old songs, saw photos of Betar history and activities from all over the world and listened to just a couple of speeches.
The grand finale was young active Betarim marching onto the large stage. They were from lots of countries. The only disappointment was that there didn't seem to be any young Americans, even though in the powerpoint of active sniffim, we did notice one labeled "Brooklyn."
There were quite a few bogrim from the 1960, and possibly earlier, from North America in the audience, although the organizers didn't interview any for the movie, which was part of the event. Also, we caught sight of only one photo of our activities.
Here's a list of "our crowd" who attended. If I left anyone out, please add in the comments, and I'll correct the list. Steve Adler, Izzy and Sandy Herman, Yonah Ferman, Reuven Genn, Rena Epstein-Genn, Nissan Teman, David Sprung, Reuven and Yehudit Miller, Robert Glick, Batya and Yisrael Medad. Ahron Bashani Braunstein and Zeev Ben-Yoseph. Baruch Krauss, Chaim Fischgrund and Emily Udler.
The ceremony didn't last all that long. Obviously, the auditorium was to be used for something else a bit later in the evening.
Here are some photos I took at the Gala World Betar Reunion:
JPost report.
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