On Thursday, November 14, World Bnei Akiva inaugurated Beit Bnei Akiva, the organization’s headquarters in Jerusalem’s Givat Mordechai neighborhood. “This building is the culmination of a 20-year dream,” says Michael Silver, co-chair of WBA, which is the largest Zionist youth movement in the world, with over 110 branches in 26 countries.
Silver, who is in his fifth year as co-chair of the movement, explains the need for a world headquarters. “World Bnei Akiva never had a home,” he says. When the organization brought groups from overseas for its gap year Hachshara (training) programs, students had to stay in youth hostels that provided less than optimum conditions.
“We always had to outsource facilities and services,” he says. In 1997, the Israeli government granted a plot of land in the heart of Jerusalem to Amutat Tirat Yosef, named in memory of Yosef Burg, the well-known Religious Zionist leader and politician (1909-1999).
World Bnei Akiva is active in 26 countries, 43 cities, and 110 branches globally, and over 100,000 Bnei Akiva alumni have made aliyah. The movement organizes several Israel programs and a pre-army Mechina academy, providing over 2,500 overseas participants each year with Israel experiences.
The flagship programs are the gap-year “Hachshara” (training) programs that have thrived since the pre-state years until today. The Samson Beit Bnei Akiva is located in the heart of Jerusalem, on the outskirts of the Givat Mordechai neighborhood, within walking distance of the Western Wall, the Knesset, the Botanical Gardens, and the Israel Museum – and a short walk to the new light rail station.
Funding for the $15 million facility was provided by some of religious Zionism’s most prominent families, including the Samson family from South Africa and the US; the Koschitzky, Goldstein, and Gitler families from Canada, Israel and the US; the Feldman family from Mexico and Israel; the Goldman family from the UK and Israel; and the Cher and Lamm families of Australia.
Other major donors include the Hochstein, Pushet, Kronitz, Melnick, Schwartz, Neuman and Meyer families. “The donors are truly partners in this project. They are the best of the best, and their interests and vision are very much aligned with Bnei Akiva’s vision,” says WBA co-chair Michael Silver.
Samson’s daughter Dorothy Sank said, “Bnei Akiva plays an important role in our family’s life, and it is our pleasure to assist in building a vibrant educational center in Jerusalem for Bnei Akiva members from around the world.” The land was intended for building a youth and community center. Amutat Tirat Yosef is furthering its aims by providing a home for Beit Bnei Akiva (Bnei Akiva House) from which the neighborhood will benefit.
“I’m very happy about this stipulation,” says Silver, “as a core principle of Bnei Akiva is to be actively involved in and contributing to the local community.” Construction of Beit Bnei Akiva began in February 2018, with the generous support of some of the leading families in the Religious Zionist world (see box for more information), such as the Samson, Koschitsky, Goldman, Feldman, Sher, and Lamm families. The World Bnei Akiva Center, which will be known as the Samson Beit Bnei Akiva, is set to open its doors to the public in early January.
SAMSON BEIT Bnei Akiva will serve as a home away from home for Bnei Akiva members and alumni alike. The center will be an educational and residential base that will include a 150-bed guest house, an event hall, community center, synagogue, beit midrash (study hall), dining hall, auditorium, conference rooms, and lecture halls.
The building will enable World Bnei Akiva to improve its programming and influence on multiple levels. Having a strong and central location in Israel’s capital will allow Bnei Akiva to more effectively reach Jewish youth worldwide and leverage all the organization’s current resources.
“We have been in the business of hosting groups in Israel from overseas for 70 years, so we’ve got a good feel for what the needs of these participants are,” says Silver. “We’ve thought about it very carefully.” Silver views Samson Beit Bnei Akiva as much more than an impressive structure; he envisions it serving as a home for leadership programs in Zionism for the entire Jewish world.
“The building was built by Bnei Akiva and was funded by Bnei Akiva families from around the world. But the plan and the dream are much more ambitious than that. It will serve a much wider community in the Diaspora and in Israel, and this intention fits with the Bnei Akiva approach.
“Taglit-Birthright will use it, as will all sorts of programs coming from overseas. We will offer Birthright some assistance with the educational part of the program. The idea is to make it a place of education, not just for Bnei Akiva. The Bnei Akiva approach is not to stay in our little corner. It’s a Zionist and leadership initiative,” he explains.
Silver anticipates that Beit Bnei Akiva will also be available to families to rent for special occasions such as Shabbat chatan (bridegroom) celebrations. EFRAT METZLER-PORAT, deputy director of WBA, views the Samson Beit Bnei Akiva as a home for Bnei Akiva graduates.
“My vision as head of the Bogrim B’aretz (Israeli graduates) Department is that Beit Bnei Akiva will be a home away from home for them, especially for lone soldiers and lone B’not Sherut [girls doing National Service]. There’s something about the fact that we call it the ‘House of Bnei Akiva’ so that every student who participates in Bnei Akiva and every counselor views it as their home.”
Both Silver and Metzler-Porat point with pride not only to the large number of World Bnei Akiva graduates serving in the IDF but also to Bnei Akiva emissaries serving in cities around the world, who returned to Israel for reserve duties, leaving their wives and children behind in the Diaspora.
In fact, the director-general of WBA, Rabbi Zvi Elon, has been serving in the IDF reserves for much of the past year.Metzler-Porat adds that the location of the Samson Beit Bnei Akiva is also significant. “The fact that it is near the center of Jerusalem and near the soon-to-be-completed light rail makes it very accessible. Many lone soldiers who are part of Garin Tzabar have a place in Be’erot Yitzhak or Sdeh Eliyahu, but it’s a bit out of the way for them.”
Garin Tzabar, according to its website, is for young Jewish adults (18-24) who make aliyah and want to make Israel their home and serve a meaningful service in the IDF as lone soldiers. “Having this home in the heart of Jerusalem where you can take the light rail and be at the Western Wall in a few minutes is very important,” she says.
Beyond the completion of the Samson Beit Bnei Akiva, the World Bnei Akiva movement has another reason for celebration this week. The movement’s secretariat was established in 1954, and this year marks the world movement’s 70th anniversary.
On Wednesday, WBA opened its quadrennial Veidah (conference), where 100 leading representatives aged 17-23 from the movement’s branches worldwide, representing between 15 and 20 countries, have gathered in Jerusalem to discuss the movement’s pressing issues of the day.
Among the issues that will be discussed at the conference, which ends on Sunday, will be the rise of antisemitism around the world, the need to attract youth from technology-based activities into group participation within Bnei Akiva, and how to ensure that graduates of the movement remain in their native lands to assume leadership positions, if only for a short time, before making aliyah.
While the next World Bnei Akiva Veidah will be held at the Samson Beit Bnei Akiva, the current one’s main event this year will be held at the Jerusalem Theatre, directly following the grand inauguration of the new world center.
After spending Shabbat together in central Jerusalem, the delegates will head to Kibbutz Saad, which was established by olim from Bnei Akiva, for an all-night program where they will vote on the movement’s new resolutions before returning to their home countries.
This article was written in cooperation with World Bnei Akiva.