Figure 1.--This unidentified, but obviously loving Haifa family is celebrating a boy's Bar Mitzvah, probably during the 1960s. He looks to be with his grandfather and mother. |
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We do not yet have much information on boys' activities in Palestine and Israel. Our Isreali archive is still limited. A major component of Jewish settlement in Palestine was agricultural kibutzes. Thus many Jewish children were involved with agicultural work. The most important activity is of course, as in most other countries, school. Jews in Palestine laid the foundation for a fine modern public education system. Religion is also very important in Israel, the only Jewish country. Jews are almost unique among religious groups in that Jewish is boyj an ethnic and religious term. This of course was a major debate in the early Jesus movement as to wether converts should be sought asmong the gentiles, essentially whether Judaism should remain an ethnic religion. Not all Isrealis are Jews and even among Jews, there are both religious and secular Jews. There is also a mostly Muslim Palestinian minority as well as amall number of Christians. Many of the important Israeli holidays are Jewish holidays. Even Independence Day has a Jewish dimension to it because it created a Jewish state. We do not know much about popular games and sports. We also notice a variety of different Israeli youth groups. As in most other countries. soccer is the most popular sport.
A major component of Jewish settlement in Palestine was agricultural kibutzes. Thus many Jewish children were involved with agicultural work.
Israel has one of the finestr school systems in the world. This is not surprising given the traditiinal Jewish respect and support for education. Surely one of the reasons that Jews managed to exist as a small minority in Chistian Europe and the Islamic Middle East was the education of their children. At a time when the vast majority of people throughout the Middle East and Europe were illiterate, Jewish children were taught to read abd write, in part so they could read and study the Torah. In this regard they were similar to the Protestants that emerged fromnthe Reformation. Thus it is not surprise that Israel from its foundation have given considerable attention to education. Thus Israel has the finest educational system in the Middle East. Some countries with oil-based economies like Saudi Arabia have belt wonderful physical facilities, but none of the countries have achieved the same academic results. We do not yet have much information about Israeli schools. We do have a page on kibbutz child care. Isreali school children have not worn uniforms. Fashions were influenced by the generally European origins of most Isrealis. Early images mostly show boys wearing short pants. Climate was another factor. Fashions since the 1970s have generall been the same as the American-influenced pan-European fashions worn in Europe, again affected by the climate. A HBC reader describes the experiences at one school in 1979. We also note the first day of school at an Isreali primary school. The children all wear sport casual styles. Sandals seem very popular. We also see very large book packs. Hopefully our Isreli readers will provide us some information about Isreli schools and schoolwear.
Religion is also very important in Israel, the only Jewish country. Jews are almost unique among religious groups in that Jewish is boyj an ethnic and religious term. This of course was a major debate in the early Jesus movement as to wether converts should be sought asmong the gentiles, essentially whether Judaism should remain an ethnic religion. Not all Isrealis are Jews and even among Jews, there are both religious and secular Jews. There is also a mostly Muslim Palestinian minority as well as amall number of Christians.
sraeli national holidays (Chagim) are the historic Jewish Holidays. Tere is also Independece and Memorial Days which of course have religious dimension to it as Israel is a Jewish state. Shops and other businesses are partially open during Jewish holidays. The general pattern is thsat in Jerusalem they are closed and in Tel Aviv and Haifa most are opem.they're usually open. Jewish holidays because oftheir Biblical base, like Easter, do not have definitive, repetive dates. Yom Kippur was used by the Egyptians as a useful fate to attack Israel at aime the country would ve less prepre, rather like the Japanese attacking Pearl Harbor on a Sunday.
We do not know much about popular games and sports. As in most other countries. soccer is the most popular sport.
Israel has a very active summer camp program, as any internet search will show. We have not, however, been able to find much information about the history of summer camping in Israel. There are some strong influences. Germany had a very strong youth movement and summer camping. This was not especually the case of Jews, but they oparticipated in the overall movemnent, often in separate youth groups and camps. The same was true of the United States, again often with seoparate groups and camps. Neither of these countries provide major numbers of immigrants to British mandate Palestine. This changed in Germany with the rise of the NAZIs, but British policy limited immigration. After indeopebdence, Holocaust srvivoirs could immigrate freely, buy the number of German Jews were not large. Few Americam immigrated to Israel, but American finalcial support from the American Jewish community was vital in the early days of Israel and there were American cultural influences. An important influence here is the youth group movements like Scouting which was important in Mandate Palestine even without many Germans and Americans. And youth groups often promote summer camping. Another factor was Israel's econmomic success. Except with countries that have mandated youth movements (Communists anf Fascist), there are strong summer camp movements only in prosperous countries where parents can aford to send their kids to camp or have charitable efforts for low-income kids. We suspect that summer camping developed in Israel mostly after indeoendence, but our information is still very limited.
Describing the Israeli youth movement is somewhat complicated. This would include not only the modern Isreli organizations, but organizations formed before Israel became independent in 1948. In this regard, these organizations are often associated with the British protectorate of Palestine. The British gained control over Palestine from the Ottoman Turks during World War I (1917-18) and governed under a Laegue of Nations Mandate. This can thus be confused to the modern usage of Palestine which is associated with Arabs. We also will list here the international Zionist youth movements which developed in Europe during the 20th century.
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