HE'A HE'A HE'A RAH RAH RAH
Habonim Dror Australia
3 JULY
הערה
Issue
Collectivism
So...What's a collective? Collectivistic cultures emphasize the needs and goals of the group over those of the individual. In such cultures, relationships with other members and the interconnectedness of the group play a central role in each person's identity. In this zine, we look at the Black Lives Matter movement as an enactment of collectivism. We uncover how symbols inform collectivist movements like our own, Habonim Dror. We look at the role of relationships in a collective. We also see how collectivism has sometimes been undermined, in the case of colonisation and white-washing of Jewish history. For HDOZ to enact our ideology and take responsibility for the Jewish People, Israeli society and the world, we must be a collective. For our tzvatim, va'adot, shichvot and kenim to function, we must be a collective. We are One People – Am Echad.
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RESOURCES
BLACK LIVES MATTER Guardian Database Deaths Inside: https://www.theguardian.com/ australia-news/ng-interactive/2018/aug/28/deaths-inside-indigenousaustralian-deaths-in-custody Indigenous Education Exclusion: https://www.theguardian.com/ commentisfree/2019/jul/05/even-education-has-been-used-as-aweapon-of-white-supremacy-in-australia How to be a Good Ally: https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/ article/2018/05/28/how-be-good-indigenous-ally Unpacking White Privilege: http://nationalunitygovernment.org/cgisys/suspendedpage.cgi
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“May their memory be a revolution.” By Sarah-Rose Richmond This phrase was initially used to commemorate victims of domestic violence and deaths of trans women in Israel. It plays on the common Jewish saying, “May their memory be a blessing” which we say when someone dies. Today, this phrase is used to empower victims of police brutality. For George Floyd and all of those who have suffered as a result of an oppressive system which discriminates against the marginalised, "May their memory be a revolution.” The theme of Issue 3 of He'arah is collectivism and we should realise that systemic and real structural change can only be achieved through a collective voice. Of course, every individual act makes a difference. However, when acting as a collective there is added influence and persuasiveness to instigate change within a stagnant system. Also, as a collective we create powerful momentum that challenges the status quo. By motivating each other we can collectively drive change. We must act together as a collective to peacefully protest, intentionally listen and uplift the narrative of our First Nation's people, educate ourselves, recognise our privilege, support ethical companies owned by people of colour and change the system. Black Lives Matter means Tikkun Olam. Recently we were inspired by Aretha Brown as a speaker at our Tikkun Leil event 4
יהי זכרם מהפכה (night of learning and speakers) and as we listened, we realised how important it is for our movement to stand with First Nation's people. As a movement that holds the core value of Shivyon Erech Ha’adam (the equality of all people), we need to recognise our own privilege and the realities of Australia. This systemic racial oppression is also very present in Australia (not just America). First Nation's peoples’ unemployment rate and access to education is much lower than other Australians. 1 in 5 First Nation’s women have experienced physical violence in the previous 12 months, compared to 7% of non-Indigenous women. History has shown the importance of the collective to stand up against injustice. Women acquired rights through the Suffragette movement and riots. Also, gay and queer people attained rights through Stonewall. As Desmond Tutu says, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” Justice, justice shall you pursue. Collectively we must continue the momentum that’s been created. Aleh Vehagshem!
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COLLECT THINGS BY TAMAR GORDON
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Speak to Me by Judd Behr A man staring out the window wondering wishing he was lying over the moss – green vibrant and shimmering life, wishing he could once if only once reconnect with humanity. A young woman all alone. All the voices around her keep shouting – the whole house trembling as everyone tugs on her life, her values, her life What is humanity? Unattuned death will come soon, like a hungry, feeding hyena. And when it comes it would abruptly consume slaughter violate torture all those in its path like a child seeking love and compassion. A person, gazing, wondering what their future will hold, what they will become, what they should do. Years of segregation, isolating & Confining torture all they wanted was love and compassion. Please speak to me. 7
Jewish People of Colour Jewish history is something that a lot of us [Jews] feel that we understand well, however the history we familiarise ourselves with tends to be only that of our own ancestors, resulting in a privilege of one Jewish story over all others. There are many groups of Jewish POCs around the world, and it is time that we start legitimising their narratives in order to build a collective Jewish memory & identity. Below are a few details about the ‘Cochin Jews’, the oldest group of Jewish people from India. Cochin Jews The Cochin (or Malabar) Jews are a group of Jews originating from Southern India. The first records indicating a somewhat large amount of Jewish arrival to India date back to around 70 CE, suggesting that this immigration occurred after the destruction of the second temple. The Cochin Jews had a positive relationship with Indian rulers, being able to freely own property and build synagogues. They faced no persecution at the hands of the Indian authorities at any point. It is thought that the Cochin Jews followed only the tradition of the Rambam, and didn’t adhere to any other authorities or laws. After the establishment of Israel, most Cochin Jews made aliyah, with around 2-3 thousand living in Israel in the 1960’s. There is now an estimated population of 7-8 thousand Cochin Jews in Israel, a number that grew largely due to intermarriage. Many live in Nevatim, a moshav in the Negev in Israel’s south. A cookbook called ‘Spice & Kosher - Exotic Cuisine of the Cochin Jews’ was published in 2013 and is currently available on Amazon.
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Top: Cochin Jewish children photographed in 1936 Bottom: Cochin Jews from the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia
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BUSY BEES BY MAIA LOEFFLER It’s interesting to think that human ideologies and ideas can come from the interactions and patterns we observe in nature. There are many animals that exhibit ‘collectivist’ behaviours, prioritising the community over the individual. One such animal is the honeybee. Bees have always been described as hard-working, productive creatures. We see them in our gardens, flying from daisy to daffodil, always on the go. Throughout history, they have been adopted as symbols of organisation and group morality by many political unions. The collectivism of honeybees comes to light in their collective responsibility over their hive. Worker bees will put in their all to ensure the hive is functioning well, to the point that they sacrifice their lives to safeguard the future of the colony. From stinging enemies, to travelling extreme distances, to voluntarily excluding themselves from the hive when sick - bees exhibit collectivism in its purest form: a selfless plight for the good of the community. A lot of people are scared of bees, and maybe there’s something in that. These creatures are frightening and powerful because they aren’t afraid to stand up (or sting) for what they believe in. I say we should take a page out of their book. As bees already know, a shared goal is more a meaningful, rewarding and engaging one. I challenge you all to find a common goal – political or not – and fight for it. Together. 10
My Jewish Identity
By Ruby Borer
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Here are two images I made with fellow Habo bogeret and artist, Tamar Gordon. We made these as part of a project for Limmud Oz 5. Artists from around the world came together to make art, share art, and then make even more art based on the work of others. It was truly a collective experience, where I didn't only focus on my art, but also working together to make a completely new piece with other people. By Tal Levin
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Habonim Dror's Semel on the Collective Identity So why do we need a symbol on all our merch? Why should we put a Magen David with a wheat stick in the centre on all our chultzot? Why is it on all our flyers? It’s our values and beliefs that unite us, not some old drawing crafted at the first world veida of Habonim Dror in 1983. Whilst so much has changed in the last 40-odd years, why is it that our Semel is still the same? You might be in Manchester visiting an old friend of yours from Shnat. You might be on a family holiday in South Africa invited to a shabbat dinner by the Jews you met at the local holocaust museum during a tour. You might be walking through your local neighbourhood. You might be at a rally in the city in the Jewish block. You might be in Jerusalem walking through all four quarters of the Old City. Sometimes it’s the strangest places you go that you’ll catch a Habonim Dror Semel out of the corner of your eye. This has definitely happened to all reading this, all chaverimot who have grown up in the movement. It could be on the front of someone's T-shirt, or on their hat or chultzah. Wherever it is, you immediately have a connection with that person. It’s like bumping into a Jew at a random place around the world, but that feeling tenfold. That person, no matter where they grew up, shares something with you, something large and profound. They share a belief system with you, they share a language with you, they’ve been on a similar journey to you and they’ve grown and become a better person from it, just like you have. 14
Symbols, mottos and slogans have an immense impact on history. They become timeless identifiers with a cause or a movement. The Habonim Dror Semel represents equality, social justice, Socialist-Zionism, Secular Judaism and the weirdest and strangest dances. It represents ice-breakers and every method that Jewish informal education has ever seen. Seeing the Semel and connecting to it makes you feel a part of something bigger than yourself, it makes you feel a part of a collective. We need a symbol on all our merch because Habonim Dror is bigger than me or you. It’s a part of history, a shared collective history. We inherit the Semel and the Semel is our heritage. The Semel gives us hope and inspiration.
By Matt Levy We are all single grains of sand lying upon the seashore, promised to Avraham to build a nation. Tiny and alone and insignificant. But in partnership with others we become a heap, with the power to make beaches and shape how the waves of change will arrive upon our banks in the future. But it all starts with your single grain.
By Benji Sharp 15
Extract from ‘Builders and Dreamers’ Sandy Simon, New York 1989 Any time is a bad time to be digging in a cemetery, but digging at dusk just may be the worst. As the shadows stretch out, any noise becomes ominous. The two Habonim members standing in a pit in Queens tried to ignore their jitters. We had only three more feet to go, and then we could lie down, try the grave out for size and head home. We always lay down to try out our work for size – it was our way of showing the spooks we weren't afraid. Two shovels more. And then the ground kicked back. A foot protruded up from the earth - or more precisely, a leg. Just a leg. A single, truncated leg. It was the spring of 1973, and the contract between the New York Metropolitan cemetery owners and Local 365 of the Cemetery Workers and Greens Attendants' Union had expired a few months earlier. Work stoppages aren't usually considered a viable option for cemetery workers; the footage on the evening news of anguishing of 1973, and the contract between the New York metropolitan cemetery owners and families standing around an unburied coffin does not engender public support for the workers' demands. This is especially true in New York, with its large Jewish population. In accordance with biblical injunction, traditional Jewish law dictates that burial must take place within twenty-four hours of death, or a day or two on the outside. And so, the cemetery workers issued an ultimatum and waited for the owners to come to the negotiating table. Deadlines were replaced by more deadlines, but without the power of a strike, there was no pressure and thus no talks.
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After a few months of deadlock, a strike was called. I don’t remember whether the union actually voted to strike, or whether the walkout was simply ordered by the union's enduring president, Sam Cimaglia. I do remember the television news clips showing the last gravediggers' strike. And they showed members of Betar and the Jewish Defense League leading "strike teams" to the cemeteries. For a not-so-modestfee, they would strike a blow against what they called anti-Semitism by striking physical blows against the cemetery workers. After that, they would bury the coffins of the Jewish dead. As a member of Habonim, I had been sensitized to the needs and rights of workers, including the right to strike; I had equally learned of the right of all people freely to follow their religious persuasions. As a teenager, I firmly believed there was a simple solution to every problem, no matter how intractable it seemed. As merakez eizor, New York regional director of Habonim Labour Zionist Youth, I decided to put my principles in action. So I called up Sam Cimaglia. After a few moments of low level dÊtente (I expressed my sympathy for his members' plight, and he expressed sympathy for those whose religious beliefs require speedy burial) I suggested a plan. Habonim would coordinate a team of volunteers to dig graves. If a family had a letter signed by a rabbi, stating that the burial was required by a religious belief (and not mere convenience) then we would do the job. For our work, we would charge whatever the cemetery owners charged for digging the plot, and we would donate the money to a strike fund for the workers. Sam expressed profuse enthusiasm for the idea, with one caveat. He said he would agree to let our volunteers dig the graves. His workers would even advise us. But he did not want to accept any money. The union would help us because it was the right thing to do, and not to make money.
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HOROSCOPES Aries (March 21 - April 19): There is nothing more important in life than love. Do something about it. You are often quite selfish, sometimes having balance means putting others first. Libra (September 23 - October 22): Cats. Not the James Cordon version. Let the feline spirit guide you towards inner-peace and outward aggression. Meow. You’ll be in touch with your neshama this month, take full advantage of it. Tell your mum you love her. Taurus (April 20 - May 20): April is the cruellest month, breeding. Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing. Memory and desire, stirring. Dull roots with spring rain. Be open to unexpected friendships, they will be rewarding. There is no reason for you to be miserable. Be free, be yourself, even if it means you might create tension with others. Scorpio (October 23 - November 21): Your desire to study Talmud will be met with great obstacles. Watch out for Avigdor and other embodiments of misogyny. You may fight with your family this month, let them ground you. Sometimes you need to be brought back down to earth. Gemini (May 21 - June 20): No more tears. Enough is enough. Pull it together and keep climbing that corporate ladder. Every rung is one step closer to your dream of wearing a beige power suit. Your energy is fiery. People would be wise to get out of your way. Nothing will deter you from getting what you want. Sagittarius (November 22 - December 21): Go to a doctor and say, what’s up! Your health is of upmost importance this month. Take a long thoughtful shower to wash away your sins. Honesty is the best policy when you encounter emotional roadblocks. Cancer (June 21 - July 22): That one photo you hate? Do not tell anyone about it. Do not sue the person who took it. It will lead to more humiliation and massive legal fees. Look up the Streisand effect for more information. Move out of the background and onto centre stage. All you have to do now is ignite the engine.
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Capricorn (December 22 - January 19): You’re the OG star yet to be born. Meet Bradly Cooper to seal your fate in the hall of fame. You are not Lady Gaga but you can be if you want. Same DNA, but born this way. Monetary success is coming your way. Don’t let them tell you you’re not a star. Leo (July 23 - August 22): Drop the ‘a’ in your name because you are unique. Keep singing and cut some bangs, it’s never too late. You might be charged with energy but feel you have nowhere to aim it. The force is there all you need to do is create the goal. Virgo (August 23 - September 22): Does the year 1942 mean anything to you? Well, it’s when I was born. Commit that to memory, it will be an answer to a trivia question one day. You’re welcome. Enter loads of competitions this month, luck is on your side.
WITH BARBRA STREISAND Pisces (Febuary 19 - March 20): Sometimes you’re looking for love, but you receive food. Accept it with grace, better things come for those who wait. Soon you will record your first studio album. You will have a great deal of physical power, use it to propel you towards the studio. Aquarius (January 20 - Febuary 18): Be careful! There are people out there that want to rain on your parade. Carry an umbrella just in case. Problem solved. Now follow your dreams of being the first female comedian to perform in space. Strong feelings have been building up inside you. You are doing yourself a disservice by keeping things bottled inside, let it all out.
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Hey! That's my Jumper At the beginning of 2014, with all the excitement of an 18 year old just out of school, I boarded my flight to shnat with my shichvah (Keren) of 32 friends and soon to be friends. I joined HDOZ relatively late, at the end of year 11, and the ideology of the movement had set a fire under me. Suddenly I was thrown into the world of Socialist-Zionism and to say that I was captivated by the collectivist approach of the movement would be to put it lightly. I could not have been more excited to build shituf (cooperation, but in a deep socialist sense) with my shichvah and kvutsah; both through the deepening of our relationships and the collectivisation (making something private into something collective) of our possessions. Therefore, it wouldn’t surprise anyone to know that when the first clothes kuppah in my kvutsah was established (a shared pot of all our clothes), it was me and one other friend who were behind it, moving all our clothes from our suitcases into a wardrobe in the living room where both of us could access any of it at any time. As the year went on more people joined the clothes kuppah and the girls also started one as well until by the end of our Shnat, the vast majority of our kvutsah was sharing clothes with one another. The clothes kuppah was accompanied by other structures to reflect our experimentation with collectivism: a money kuppah (where those who chose to, put all their money together), and the collectivisation of the laptops, which although somewhat remaining the possessions of individuals had a strong consensus that they were there for everyone to use. The goal was to be as ‘socialist’ as possible, and the way we attempted to do that was by removing as many ‘private’ possessions as we could. While I definitely don’t regret the vast majority of the experiments that I participated in that year, upon reflection it’s clear to me that we were missing something more fundamental about collectivism. It seems fairly straightforward, the world is an unfair place and a lot of that unfairness comes from the unequal distribution of resources (money, education, jobs etc.) and if all possessions become everyones then we have ‘equality’ right? Yes and no. While technically we were ensuring that everyone had access to everything, we were missing what I think is a more fundamental reason for the
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By Raphael Cohney pursuit of equality. The problem with the inequality in society is not strictly that everyone has different amounts of things, it is the fact that the unequal distribution of resources leads to some people having lots of their needs fulfilled and some people not having any, or at least very few. The incredible diversity of the human race means that while one person may be entirely satisfied with a one bedroom apartment and pasta napolitana for dinner every night where another may prefer a full 12 person share-house where every meal is different. The point being that not everyone has the same needs and we are not trying to create a world where they do. Accepting that we can see that the goal of collectivism when it comes to possessions is not necessarily to make sure everyone has a bit of everything, but rather to try and make sure that everyone has their needs met in the best way possible. Bringing it back to Keren Shnat 2014, when I think about the clothes kuppah now, firstly I think about how fun it was and how it diversified my wardrobe. But then I remember all the times I wore t-shirts that didn't fit me, or I look back at a photo and realise how poorly my clothes matched. I think about how frustrated I was that some people were unwilling to make their laptop completely public, without considering that maybe it filled a need in their life that I wasn’t seeing. When I look at my life today, I have one bank account which I share with my kvutsah, we have a bookshelf full of books that belong to all of us, our kitchen is full of cooking utensils that belong to all of us, and our showers have shampoos, conditioners and body wash that all of us can use. But then I go into my bedroom and I have a wardrobe full of clothes that are mine, my laptop, my phone and a bunch of other possessions which I get to control. That’s not to say that we never share those things with each other but it meets our collective and individual needs better to maintain our chosen level of private ownership. A beautiful thing about shaping your life is that you get to choose how to do it and the same goes for collectives. There is no ‘one size fits all’ and nor would I want there to be.
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Culture and Collectivism Cultures all through the world treat collectivism differently. Australia as a whole is known as a more individualistic society, meaning they focus on the success of a single person rather than working together to all be successful in a communal way. If a country is more ‘collectivist’, they are more focused on working as a community and encouraging everyone to care about one another. It is important to remember that the original owners of this land, the Aboriginal people, were a collectivist society, which has been greatly affected by the individualistic ways of colonisers.
Here is a graph representing the amount of individualism or collectivism in difference places. The more red, the more individual and the more green, the more collective. Do you think Habo is more collective or individual? Which kind of society would you prefer? Are you surprised by the map?
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HE'A HE'A HE'A RAH RAH RAH הערה
Thanks for reading He'arah Issue 3! Edited by: Maya Buhrich, Tal Levin, Itai Shaul and Yael Grunseit Thank you to all who contributed. Submit to our next zine at: https://forms.gle/ hUZuZnbNsdiA5cte7