I remember going to the airport to see the first group of volunteers off. We were all at the El Al lounge in the International arrivals /departures terminal having a wonderful kumzits. Suddenly one of our chevra dashes in all out of breath, runs into the bathroom and when he comes out he no longer has his tilboshet on!!
When I asked him what happened he told me that he was being chased by the airport police. If you remember the terminal, there was a mezzanine with flags of all the nations. Seems our Betari decided to pull the pole with the Russian flag out of its mooring - he was very strong - and rip the flag off. True story - and I should know - I still have part of that flag. Does anyone remember who the Betari was?
Showing posts with label Six day War. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Six day War. Show all posts
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Some Amatzia Pics
Yours truly (with fellow Machonik French Betari Yonel Charvit) protecting Amatzia and the entire Homeland
Beit Awa (or Beit Iksa) being bombed across from Amatzia, Six Days War
In quieter days, Big Ben and I and others would play at being cowboys at Amatzia
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Picture From Walter Chayes
This is a shot of me in the April 10, 1972 issue of TIME. The front cover of the issue was 'What It Means To Be Jewish". I had not heard from Chuck Waxman in years and he called me in El Paso to tell me that the shot was in the weekly iss ue of TIME.
Johnny Braun is the curly kid on the left. I don't remember who the speaker was.
Walter Chayes
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
More About Betar N.A. volunteers by Benny
The last episode.
After several days of off again, on again, the second group of volunteers left on an Olympic Airline (the only one where we could get last minute tockets) bound for Paris, France. I don't remember the exact date, but the war was over by then.
In Paris, we were met by a group of French Betarim, led by Jacques Kupfer, the Rosh HaHanhagah of France. They took us to their moadon, which was in a predominently jewish section of Paris, and that evening the French Betarim organized a kumzits for us.
The next day, they took us around to see some of the Parisian sites while we waited for an El Al plane to take us the rest of the way to Israel.
We had been instructed to not talk openly of our intentions.(I supposed that it was due to the American embargo on travel to Israel). As far as anybody was concerned, we were just a bunch of American students on holiday.
During our tour of Paris we met other American students "on holiday". Among them was Yedidiah "Didi" Soloveichik, a Cuban-American Betari, and Dave "Dizzy" Dizenghouse (sorry if I mispelled the name). They had been on our original list of the 200 who had been told that they would have to find their own way to Israel. They, too, were quite secretive about their intentions and we each played the game, knowing full well what they were.
Upon arrival in Israel, the Jewish Agency had already organized a clearing house for the hundreds of volunteers who were still pouring in from many parts of the world.
One interesting fellow we met was a Portuguese Catholic who though he descended from the "conversos" and wanted to rediscover his roots. For some strange reason his name. Pedro Da'Oliveira has stuck in my in my mind.
We were assigned to Kibbutz Ginnosar, by the Kinneret. Although several of the Chavrei Kibbutz received us warmly, the woman liaison with the volunteers soon brought us to another reality. As the Kibbutz was not know for its Kashrut and most of us kept Kosher, we requested some dishes which we would Kasher and provide for our own food, supplemented with the Kibbutz's
vegetables. Apparently, this was viewed as a great insult by the liaison lady to which she responded with as much self-righteous
indignation as she could muster: "If you want Jews, go back to the United States!"
Well, we didn't go back to the U.S. but all, except for Tzvi Neuwirth, who liked it at the Kibbutz and decided to remain, hitched rides back to the clearing house set up by the Jewish Agency.
From there, they assigned us to a youth village, at Kanot. We stayed there for a week or so until the Hanhagah Haolamit got its act together and sent Shlomo "Bubi" Ariav, our former Shaliach in N.Y., to gather up all the lost sheep. Eventually we wound up at Yohanah Jabotinsky youth village in Be'er Yaakov where we stayed until the end.
That's about it, except for one final commentary:
Opportunities are often presented to do the right thing. We, however, do not often take advantage of them. By no stretch of the imagination am I saying that what we did was heroic in any sense. Certainly not so when compared to the sacrifices of the previous generation of "machalnikim".
I would like to think, though, that at the very least, on this occasion, we took the opportunity to do the right thing.
Some names and dates are slowly forgotten, but the events and the faces are indelibly etched on my mind. I hope they are on yours as well...
Benny
After several days of off again, on again, the second group of volunteers left on an Olympic Airline (the only one where we could get last minute tockets) bound for Paris, France. I don't remember the exact date, but the war was over by then.
In Paris, we were met by a group of French Betarim, led by Jacques Kupfer, the Rosh HaHanhagah of France. They took us to their moadon, which was in a predominently jewish section of Paris, and that evening the French Betarim organized a kumzits for us.
The next day, they took us around to see some of the Parisian sites while we waited for an El Al plane to take us the rest of the way to Israel.
We had been instructed to not talk openly of our intentions.(I supposed that it was due to the American embargo on travel to Israel). As far as anybody was concerned, we were just a bunch of American students on holiday.
During our tour of Paris we met other American students "on holiday". Among them was Yedidiah "Didi" Soloveichik, a Cuban-American Betari, and Dave "Dizzy" Dizenghouse (sorry if I mispelled the name). They had been on our original list of the 200 who had been told that they would have to find their own way to Israel. They, too, were quite secretive about their intentions and we each played the game, knowing full well what they were.
Upon arrival in Israel, the Jewish Agency had already organized a clearing house for the hundreds of volunteers who were still pouring in from many parts of the world.
One interesting fellow we met was a Portuguese Catholic who though he descended from the "conversos" and wanted to rediscover his roots. For some strange reason his name. Pedro Da'Oliveira has stuck in my in my mind.
We were assigned to Kibbutz Ginnosar, by the Kinneret. Although several of the Chavrei Kibbutz received us warmly, the woman liaison with the volunteers soon brought us to another reality. As the Kibbutz was not know for its Kashrut and most of us kept Kosher, we requested some dishes which we would Kasher and provide for our own food, supplemented with the Kibbutz's
vegetables. Apparently, this was viewed as a great insult by the liaison lady to which she responded with as much self-righteous
indignation as she could muster: "If you want Jews, go back to the United States!"
Well, we didn't go back to the U.S. but all, except for Tzvi Neuwirth, who liked it at the Kibbutz and decided to remain, hitched rides back to the clearing house set up by the Jewish Agency.
From there, they assigned us to a youth village, at Kanot. We stayed there for a week or so until the Hanhagah Haolamit got its act together and sent Shlomo "Bubi" Ariav, our former Shaliach in N.Y., to gather up all the lost sheep. Eventually we wound up at Yohanah Jabotinsky youth village in Be'er Yaakov where we stayed until the end.
That's about it, except for one final commentary:
Opportunities are often presented to do the right thing. We, however, do not often take advantage of them. By no stretch of the imagination am I saying that what we did was heroic in any sense. Certainly not so when compared to the sacrifices of the previous generation of "machalnikim".
I would like to think, though, that at the very least, on this occasion, we took the opportunity to do the right thing.
Some names and dates are slowly forgotten, but the events and the faces are indelibly etched on my mind. I hope they are on yours as well...
Benny
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Amatzia - June 1967
This was taken on Amatzia during the 67 war. Our artillery is initially falling short from target. Target was the village of Bet 'Awwa. They opened fire on two of our halftracks.
-Ben Rappaport
Amatzia
Friday, February 1, 2008
Harry's Story
Benny,
Sharing your memories reminds me of our activites.
Our moadon was on a main street, in the heart of Toronto Jewish area. We set up a table outside with a sign & as people walked by donations started pouring in. A Betaria came running in & showed us a check she had just received for $5,000.
I went out to thank the lady & I remember her exact words-
Harry Wolle
Sharing your memories reminds me of our activites.
Our moadon was on a main street, in the heart of Toronto Jewish area. We set up a table outside with a sign & as people walked by donations started pouring in. A Betaria came running in & showed us a check she had just received for $5,000.
I went out to thank the lady & I remember her exact words-
" I was planning to give this money to the U J A, but with your enthusiastic young people, here it is."
Harry Wolle
Thursday, January 31, 2008
More From Benny
1967, Eve of the Six Days War
I don't quite recall who and how many of us attended the meeting at Reuven Genn's apartment. (As the years pass, the memory dims. So, somebody will have to help me with the names). The disussion, tho' , centered around what we felt was a coming war and what role we - in Betar - should play.
The decision to send volunteers was unanimous. An initial group was to be sent almost immediately and was to be led by Reuven Genn. ( Again, I don't remember all the names and numbers in that first group), and a later group to be sent as soon as funding could be found.
We, of course, had to make provisions for the staffing of the upcoming Camp Betar season and the day to day operations of the Betar office, as well as the continuing activities of the various Betar maozim.
The group led by Reuven left for Israel shortly afterwards, but I will leave it to the members of that group to recount their own experiences. However, the group had the distinction, among other things, to be the very first group of volunteers to arrive in Israel from anywhere! (It was sometime in early May, I believe...)
As for the rest of us, we immediately set forth to make arrangements for a second group of volunteers - mainly, the raising of funds.
One amusing incident that I do recall happened with Aviva Stone and Leah Cohen. Levy Silverman (our Guizbar at the time), took the Israeli flag in our office, gave it to the two Betariot and told them to go to the street, in front of the office, and raise some funds. An impromptu sign was quickly painted ~
And the two girls were sent on their way. They stood on the corner, holding the flag by its four corners, and to our amazement, passersby began to throw money into the flag. Within the space of a couple of hours they collected close to $200. Not much by today's standards, perhaps, but at that time anything over &20 was considered a respectable amount in Betar.
(To be continued...)
Benny
I don't quite recall who and how many of us attended the meeting at Reuven Genn's apartment. (As the years pass, the memory dims. So, somebody will have to help me with the names). The disussion, tho' , centered around what we felt was a coming war and what role we - in Betar - should play.
The decision to send volunteers was unanimous. An initial group was to be sent almost immediately and was to be led by Reuven Genn. ( Again, I don't remember all the names and numbers in that first group), and a later group to be sent as soon as funding could be found.
We, of course, had to make provisions for the staffing of the upcoming Camp Betar season and the day to day operations of the Betar office, as well as the continuing activities of the various Betar maozim.
The group led by Reuven left for Israel shortly afterwards, but I will leave it to the members of that group to recount their own experiences. However, the group had the distinction, among other things, to be the very first group of volunteers to arrive in Israel from anywhere! (It was sometime in early May, I believe...)
As for the rest of us, we immediately set forth to make arrangements for a second group of volunteers - mainly, the raising of funds.
One amusing incident that I do recall happened with Aviva Stone and Leah Cohen. Levy Silverman (our Guizbar at the time), took the Israeli flag in our office, gave it to the two Betariot and told them to go to the street, in front of the office, and raise some funds. An impromptu sign was quickly painted ~
HELP ISRAEL!
And the two girls were sent on their way. They stood on the corner, holding the flag by its four corners, and to our amazement, passersby began to throw money into the flag. Within the space of a couple of hours they collected close to $200. Not much by today's standards, perhaps, but at that time anything over &20 was considered a respectable amount in Betar.
(To be continued...)
Benny
Thursday, January 24, 2008
How I Heard of Betar
I was introduced to Betar by Dennis Lipkin. It's mentioned here. He brought a bunch of us "Great Neckers" to the Manhattan Moadon and then brought Betar to Great Neck.
I hadn't heard of Betar before, even though I was already involved with SSSJ and NCSY.
The 1960's was a magic time, full of idealism, The Man of La Mancha and the Six Days War. I'm not going to say, "to be young, again," since I don't "feel" old. My idealism hasn't tarnished a bit.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Betarim and the Six Days War
For many Betarim, the Six Days War was a watershed.
Recent participants in the Machon L'Madrichei Chutz program had all been at Amatzia, right on the border, and the returning madrichim to North America passed on their experiences. Ben Rappaport, a recent oleh from Brooklyn, lived there.
As soon as the tension period broke out, Betar took the lead among all North American Jewish youth and organized a volunteer movement. One Betari, me, Yisrael Medad, even found himself in a foxhole, awaiting the Jordanian advance:
On the day the war broke out, I travelled down to Tel Aviv after spending the previous night at Mevo Betar with the 'gang' of Betarim, including Benny Ben-David of Mizrachi HaTzair, learning extreme first-aid measures, and at the Metzuda picked up two volunteers to take them back to Amatzia (I will remember their names soon).
So, one of the first projects I propose is reviewing that short period:
1. How did the volunteers get organized? Who was in charge?
2. Any great stories while in the States?
3. Who actually came over? Where'd they end up? What did they do?
4. What did the Betarim who couldn't come do in NY and other cities?
5. Pictures?
6. Newspaper clippings?
7. What happened afterwards?
Recent participants in the Machon L'Madrichei Chutz program had all been at Amatzia, right on the border, and the returning madrichim to North America passed on their experiences. Ben Rappaport, a recent oleh from Brooklyn, lived there.
As soon as the tension period broke out, Betar took the lead among all North American Jewish youth and organized a volunteer movement. One Betari, me, Yisrael Medad, even found himself in a foxhole, awaiting the Jordanian advance:
On the day the war broke out, I travelled down to Tel Aviv after spending the previous night at Mevo Betar with the 'gang' of Betarim, including Benny Ben-David of Mizrachi HaTzair, learning extreme first-aid measures, and at the Metzuda picked up two volunteers to take them back to Amatzia (I will remember their names soon).
So, one of the first projects I propose is reviewing that short period:
1. How did the volunteers get organized? Who was in charge?
2. Any great stories while in the States?
3. Who actually came over? Where'd they end up? What did they do?
4. What did the Betarim who couldn't come do in NY and other cities?
5. Pictures?
6. Newspaper clippings?
7. What happened afterwards?
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