Part VI
Going out to the Transit Camps
Registration took place in cities and towns throughout the
country. Through the Yeshivah Committee, teachers were even
sent to Tiberias, Tsefat, Nahariya and other cities where
they registered students for schools belonging to Chinuch
Atzmai, the fourth sector of education. For a week, they went
door to door according to a list that was supplied to them
before by a friend of the activists. The immigrants merited
to see chareidi people, young girls modestly dressed,
which was a refreshing change from the secular activists that
they had had enough of seeing.
"We felt as if we were walking in the path of Soroh Shenirer.
She, too, had sent young girls to distant towns where there
were Maskilim, Bundists and Communists. Today, I wonder how
could she have sent young girls to such isolated places? It's
true that there was the local rabbi who gave moral strength
and backing. But it seems like it was a time of action. We
also registered the students at the behest of the rabbis who
said that there was no other choice and we have to go out.
And even so, whole communities were erased from Israel."
Going out to the transit camps was also undertaken after
consulting with gedolei hador. Three students who were
about to finish their studies in the seminary were sent to
the Ein Shemer Transit Camp and three others to the one in
Rosh HaAyin. The pretext was to learn Hebrew with the
immigrant children but the goal was to connect with the
mothers and to serve as a constant reminder that in Israel,
too, there is spiritual life, and Torah and mitzvos
are valid here just like abroad.
Rav Lieberman, who completely backed up the teachers he sent,
came after two or three weeks to give them support and to
hear how the work was going there. He counseled them how to
explain to the immigrants the difference between the Torah-
true workers and the secular administrators. "He cautiously
told them to say that there are religious people and non-
religious people." That kind of expression isn't dangerous
and even if someone from the Jewish agency heard it, they
couldn't be angry or vengeful. In fact, secular clerks from
the Jewish Agency patroled behind the classes to make sure
that the teachers were teaching Hebrew reading and writing
only.
"Hagaon R' Shimon Baadani, who in those days was a student at
the Ponevizh Yeshiva, was our liaison with Maran the Chazon
Ish," recalls Mrs. H, one of those emissaries. "He would
cover himself with a blanket when he arrived at the camp and
thus he'd look like one of the immigrants and wouldn't be
recognized by any of the guards as a chareidi
activist. R' Baadani would go from tent to tent, giving
encouragement to the immigrants and saying to them: 'See, I'm
also Yemenite and you see that I keep Torah and
mitzvos!' Through him, Maran, the Chazon Ish led us,
as well as R' Eidelman, who invented many different excuses
in order to meet with the mothers at night and to teach them
about Jewish life in Eretz Yisroel.
In order to get rid of the secular counselor who was put with
us in the hut, we would make up excuses like the need to wish
Mazel Tov for a bris, wedding or another
simchah and we would sneak out of there for some
clandestine activity."
In the evening, the chareidi teachers would circulate
among the tents of the transit camp and convince the innocent
parents that even here in the Promised Land, they had to
continue keeping Torah. They also spoke to the Mori —
the religious authority of the immigrants, about the need to
strengthen the Yemenites in observing religion.
"We also had an interesting suggestion whose goal was to
prove to the olim that spiritual life had not
disappeared even in the secular State of Israel. We offered
them bus fare to travel to nearby Petach Tikvah where Hagaon
R' Zev Eidelman lived with his wife Chana. The righteous
couple took upon themselves the important task to tour with
the Yemenite immigrants among the synagogues and yeshivahs in
the area and to show them religious life."
The decline in the surrounding religious life around was
terrifying. The cutting off of peyos, the desecration
of Shabbos, conversion. Aldema, one of the camp heads, was
successful in sneakily obtaining the trust of the immigrants
when he donated a paroches to the shul but
afterwards he formed a line for cutting off their
peyos. On Rosh Hashonoh, so the immigrants in Ein
Shemer related, the youth were taken to the fields so that
they could see how the farmers ploughed and planted.
Not Getting into Routine
Even with their small strength, these pioneer teachers tried
in some way to stem the terrible tide. "The camp's
administration decided to erect a proper school," says S,
"but before that, they announced registration in which the
immigrants themselves chose the educational branch where they
wanted to send their children. The teachers were forbidden to
interfere in these proceedings or to use any propaganda for
one branch or another. And then the teachers from Bais Yaakov
heard about a secular school principal who had arrived there,
gathered the immigrants together and lectured to them. The
man said dramatically, 'We brought you to the country, we set
up settlements, we did everything for you. If you want us to
continue helping you, say that you are only interested in
attending our school.'
"When we heard about this propaganda, we also decided to
speak up. I stood in front of a group of parents that
gathered and appealed to them: 'What happened in Yemen? You
kept Shabbos and Kosher. Is it appropriate to come to the
Holy Land and here not keep Shabbos? Do you want your
children to keep Torah? Say that you are only interested in
the education of Agudas Yisroel (the fourth branch).' While I
was talking, I noticed that the camp's manager arrived but I
wasn't afraid.
"I continued speaking to the immigrants. After a short time,
he called me aside and wanted to know the meaning of this
propaganda. I told him about the secular school principal who
had lectured there the previous day. The transit camp manager
denied this and even invited to me to clarify the matter at
their Tel Aviv office. I went to Tel Aviv and made my claim.
They refused to believe me but said they would investigate
the matter and sent me back to the camp. The manager's
disappointment was evident on his face when he saw me coming.
He was hoping I'd be fired.
When at last registration for school took place, there were
already no teachers in the camp. It seemed that the threats
to the immigrants' livelihood had done their job.
Another plan that was suggested was to put the youth in a
separate camp where they would merit a secular 'education'
devoid of any religious influence. The Bais Yaakov teachers
well understood the intentions behind the innocent plan and
even knew that the parents wouldn't agree to give up their
children but waited for the right time to act. This wasn't
long in coming.
One day, it was circulated among the camp's youth that the
first step in being accepted to the youth camp would be an
Oneg Shabbat party on Friday night and both teenage boys and
girls were invited. "When I found out about the party, I
approached the camp manager," recalls S., "and I asked him
how he was giving a mixed party for the immigrants when they
keep such stringent separation that even weddings took place
in one place for women and at a distance, for men? The
manager answered coldly that even in Israel, religious people
have mixed parties and that there was no reason to be
extreme. I answered him that he had to act according to the
Yemenite tradition, but he claimed that they had to get used
to the reality of another kind of life and ended the
conversation."
That afternoon, the Bais Yaakov teachers went to visit the
Yemenite tents and by word of mouth, they passed on the
message of the party intended for Friday night and told them
to go and see it for themselves. The girls didn't mention the
problem about the party. They only made sure that the
parents' curiosity was aroused. And in fact, during the
party, the children were told to sit together. Some of the
girls insisted on sitting separately but mixed singing began.
The parents, who up until that point had waited outside
quietly, stormed in angrily. They each dragged away their own
children and the party was over. The moral was well learned.
The administration saw that the plan to have a separate youth
camp had little chance of success.
"We went to teach in Ein Shemer and were exhausted from the
weight of the work. Rav Lieberman arrived with Rav Levin and
said to us, 'Don't get into a rut; don't get bogged down by
routine. You are emissaries! Every day you must do, work, get
closer and remain fresh.' This became our life: to strive for
perfection and greatness, to work tirelessly and remain
fresh."
