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Zionism: Habonim Dror

Habonim Dror (Hebrew, "The Builders of Freedom") is an organization that evolved from two Jewish Labour Zionist youth movements which merged in 1982.

Habonim, founded in 1929 in Great Britain, was modeled after the boy scouts and was formed as a "Jewish Youth Cultural Movement" for children aged between 12 to 18. Over a period of a few years, Habonim spread to many of the English language countries where each developed its own independent version of the original movement while still sharing the core ideology of being a Jewish Socialist-Zionist cultural youth movement.

Dror, founded in Poland in 1915, was formed out of a wing of the Tze'irei Tziyon (Zion Youth) study circle. The majority of Tze'irei Tziyon had merged with a group called Hashomer in 1913 to form Hashomer Hatzair, and those who remained outside of the new group formed Dror. Members of Dror participated in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising and other Dror members organised two underground factions in the Bialystok Ghetto.

In the early 1980's, when Habonim's Ichud Kibbutzim network and Dror's HaKibbutz Hameuhad network merged, forming the United Kibbutz Movement, so too did the youth movements.

Today, Habonim Dror exists in seventeen countries worldwide: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Hungary, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States and Uruguay.

Famous graduates of Habonim Dror include: Golda MeirStanley FischerChaim HerzogSacha Baron Cohen, Seth Rogen and Mark Regev among many others.


Sources: Wikipedia; Habonim Dror Website