By Elad Benari
114 years after the First Zionist Congress was held in Basel in 1897, the 31st National Youth Zionist Congress was held this week in the city of Arad and was attended by about 1,000 young people.
The two-day Congress was entitled “The Negev – From Vision to Fulfillment”. During the Congress, participants received tours of the Negev, conducted meetings with visionaries, and participated in study groups on issues such as immigrant absorption, settlement of the Negev, strengthening the periphery, the power of youth influence and more.
The Congress was attended by Minister of Information and Diaspora Yuli Edelstein, the Chairman of the Knesset’s Committee for Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs MK Danny Danon, the Chairman of the Knesset’s Committee on Education, Culture and Sport MK Alex Miller, the IDF’s Chief Education Office Brigadier General Eli Shermeister, World Zionist Organization (WZO) Chairman Avraham Duvdevani, Arad Mayor Tali Plosko, the head of the WZO’s Department for Activity in Israel and Countering Anti-Semitism Yaakov Haguel, and the chairman of the Zionist Council in Israel Yigal Bibi.
“The Congress talks about developing the Negev and is aimed at making the youth know about what’s going on here, about the Negev, and how to settle it in the future,” said Ofra Natan Bezalel, the Youth and Children Activity Coordinator of Arad.
“The teens had meetings with about 25 people in each session, and they came up with a few decisions, among them to come to tour the Negev in order to get to know it better,” she said. “The second decision is to settle down all over the Negev.”
Yaakov Haguel described the youth who participated in the Congress as “wonderful youth” and added, “I’m very happy that they came here. I’m very happy that this event was successful and, as you can see, there is a great celebration here.”
Haguel added that the teens reached a resolution that calls on the Prime Minister to continue to settle the Negev and the Galilee because that is what Zionism is all about.
“Zionism didn’t end in 1948,” he said. “It also continues today and we intend to continue to strengthen Zionism.”
“We should not be embarrassed to say that we are Zionist and we are proud to be in the land of Israel,” MK Danon told Arutz Sheva. “I was very happy to see more than 1,000 youngsters coming to Arad from different parts of Israel and speaking about Zionism today.”
He added, “I feel that we have a strong future and I told the youngsters to be involved and take leadership roles. With all the obstacles and challenges we have from Iran and other areas, if we believe and if we are strong, we will prevail.”
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PHOTO COURTESY OF ART FREDMAN Township residents David Sotnick, left, and Art Fredman stand near the Israel/Syria border during a trip they took to Israel in December. During the community service-oriented trip, Sotnick, Fredman and four other residents from Millburn lived and worked on an Israeli army base for 12 days, packing surgical bags and medical kits for the Israeli soldiers. |
By Lindsey Kelleher
Millburn resident Art Fredman and five other men from town replenished field surgical bags and medical kits for Israeli soldiers during their trip to Israel in December.
They made sure each bag and kit contained unexpired medicine and a sufficient amount of gauze and band-aids.
"Every life in Israel is valuable and irreplaceable," said Fredman, about the Israeli soldiers who fight on the front and non-front lines to defend their nation.
The December trip marked the third time Fredman traveled to Israel with other men from Congregation B'nai Israel's Men's Club to help Israeli soldiers. David Sotnick, Joshua Schor, Hernan Wurgaft and Arnold and Barry Koster were the other Millburn residents who made the 2011 trip. The trips are part of the congregation's Sar El (Service for Israel) program. Each year, about 5,000 volunteers from 30 nations around the world come to Israel's military posts as Sar El representatives. The December trip included volunteers from Australia, England, Germany and other countries.
"We enjoyed the rare opportunity to see Israel from within a military post and mingled with soldiers and other volunteers," stated Sotnick in a press release.
"It's one thing to take a tour of a country, but until you live with and share experiences with the country, you really don't know the country," noted Fredman.
Aside from assembling surgical bags and medical kits, the volunteers listened to stories from the Israeli soldiers during their 12-day stay in cottages at a medic base in the central region of Israel. Fredman told The Item of Millburn and Short Hills last week that these soldiers, who were both men and women mostly between ages 18 and 22, would talk about their goals of going to college one day and traveling around the world.
"The soldiers want to see India and lots of places in the United States such as Las Vegas. They dream of seeing Broadway, Washington D.C.'s Capitol Building, Hollywood and the Grand Canyon," said Fredman.
He added that many of the Israeli soldiers have friends and relatives living in New York and around the world.
Because of differing religious beliefs and cultural backgrounds, the volunteers were not allowed to discuss certain controversial topics with the soldiers such as politics, religion or sex, unless they pertained to their specific volunteer work.
