Tuesday August 16, 2005

Column:

For much of my professional life I advocated for activating youth. I educated, I mentored, I took pride in watching sixteen and seventeen year old kids blossom into twenty-one year old men and women. I believed that it was important to get them involved, to encourage our youth to care about the world around them. I said energize youth, enable them to challenge and improve society, allow them to take an active role in the world they will inherit.

I have always believed that it is important to "challenge authority." More than a phrase, it is a philosophy, an obligation, a rite of passage that, hopefully, the best and the brightest of our youth will embrace and act upon throughout adulthood. Leadership does not always see things correctly and sometimes our leaders need to be challenged, confronted, channeled.

Israel is filled with kids who embrace the philosophy of "Challenging Authority." They are the creme de la creme, they are movers and shakers at fifteen and sixteen and they will be the future leaders of Israeli politics and Israeli society. They are members of youth movements and youth movements are a respected and integral element of Israeli society.

Youth movements are the greenhouse for productive Israeli adults, a precursor to the army and a bond that lasts a lifetime, somewhat akin to Eagle Scouts in America. Youth movements teach kids to accept responsibilities, to volunteer, to raise their voices and be heard on national and local causes. It teaches kids the power of group action and the importance of retaining individuality, a delicate balance.

Members of Israeli youth groups are truly perfect potential citizens and future leaders. They are people who believe the country needs them and are committed to holding and raising their country to the highest possible level.

They are the kids whose faces we are seeing on our television screens and front pages. They are the face of the Gaza Withdrawal.

The most prominent among the youth movements whose members have come to the Gaza Withdrawal is "Bnei Akiva" the sons of Akiva, a renowned Jewish scholar and leader from the Talmud. Bnei Akiva is a religious youth group open to boys and girls that is dedicated to Israel - not just the nation of Israel but also the Land of Israel, the Holy Land of Israel.

Look carefully at the faces.

Most of the people we are seeing on TV and in photos are not residents of Gaza but youth movement kids who have entered Gaza in order not to leave. They are fifteen, sixteen and seventeen year old young men and women who chose to spend their summer vacation in places like Morag and Dugit and Netzarim and Neve Dekalim fighting the redeployment. Look behind the beards, beyond the screaming, struggling torsos and you will see angry, determined kids.

Then look at the numbers.

The Israeli Army thinks that 4,000 to 5,000 Jewish infiltrators have made their way to Gaza in order to bolster the cause over the past few weeks. Those are the kids. They came because they were taught to care, to work for change, to follow their beliefs. They came because this is a once in a lifetime experience for them. The Gaza Withdrawal unifies all the issues that are important to Bnei Akiva youth - the country, the land, a government with which they disagree. They organized, demonstrated and petitioned, they eventually hope to change policy.

Look at the radical settlement Morag. There are forty-two families who live in Morag and sixteen have agreed to leave. On the first day of the disengagement there are over 400 people in Morag. Who are they? They are the kids, the youngsters, the Bnei Akiva members.

The army has said that they will treat the settlers with kid gloves, that they recognize and acknowledge the pain and difficulty the settlers are experiencing. But that begs the question of the kids, of how the police and army will deal with these kids. These kids are in Gaza illegally. Over the past few weeks several hundred have been detained and placed in prison holding cells. Israel's Attorney General, Manny Mazuz, has ruled that the police must release these kids and that they cannot detain others. That means that the only avenue left to get the kids out of Gaza is force.

We've taught them to support causes in which they believe. We've encouraged them to challenge authority. They are young enough to believe that they can change the world. What lessons will today's youth take away from the Gaza Withdrawal? I hope their hopes remain intact.