Page 14 - HaMizrachi #6 TuBishvat 5779

Mizrachi in Israel's National Institutions

Gael Grunewald
ISRAEL'S BORDERS,

ISRAEL'S BLESSINGS

istory can be boring, leave it in the hands of our peers from Enter the RGD, together with the Golan
interesting, or fascinating. It is other nations or leave it desolate.” Regional Authority, who joined forces
H also critical for understanding to restore some vitality and hope to
the present in light of the past. The second stage is determining this beautiful place. The rehabilitation
Israel’s borders and preserving national program included massive refurbishment
Here we are discussing the history of lands. Israel’s borders have never been of buildings, bringing in new groups of
the National Institutions in Israel and determined by a physical border or fence people, improving and laying new water
the role of תּוב ְ ׁ ּ ש ַיי ְ ת ִ ה ְ ל ה ָ בי ִ ט ֲ ח ַ ה, the Rural but by people and communities who and electricity infrastructure, creating
Growth and Development Division lived far out and developed agriculture, additional agricultural areas, and more.
(RGD) in one of those institutions, the tourism and industry away from
World Zionist Organization (WZO). the center of the country. As Joseph The plan worked! Today there are
Trumpeldor said, “In the place where the approximately 100 families living in
The four National Institutions are
the WZO, Keren Kayemet LeYisrael Jewish plow plows the last furrow, there Natur, with almost 350 children and a
(KKL), Keren HaYesod and the will our borders be.” long waiting list for housing…
Jewish Agency. World Mizrachi has And the third stage is the continued On one of my recent field trips, I met
elected representatives in each of these development of the country, improving families who had made Aliyah from
organizations. the standard of living, enhancing France. I myself had the privilege of
rich and varied community life and making Aliyah from there when I was
The WZO was established by Herzl
himself and serves as the aegis for the placing the emphasis on connecting the 18. I was in Bruchin, a community in
other organizations. Its mandate is peripheries to Central Israel. In our eyes, the Shomron, and I saw families who
education, promoting Aliyah and settling the value of settling the Land – upon had made that move. They had left the
the Land. The RGD is the operational which Israel was established 70 years Diaspora and its attendant comforts
division responsible for populating the ago – is as important now, at the start of and come to live in the State of Israel.
Land in Yehuda and Shomron (Judea 2019, as it was back then. Not to be taken for granted at all. And
and Samaria), the Negev and the Galilee. One example of this third stage is the way the locals had been helping
and supporting them since their arrival
But it’s much more than demographic Kibbutz Kerem Shalom, near Gaza. moved me no less, with young and old
growth. Our activities include It was a HaShomer HaTzair kibbutz, doing their utmost to ensure that their
planning, preparing and developing which for years yearned for new blood. fellow Jews would acclimatize in the best
new residential areas and communities, Now it is opening its gates to other possible fashion.
accompanying communities in populations such as religious groups,
crisis (whether social, economic, hence becoming a mixed community That day reminded me that Zionism is
growth, etc.), planning and installing for religious and non-religious alike. We still based on three solid pillars: settling
infrastructure, maintaining public even took part in the dedication of a the Land, education, and Aliyah. And
buildings, and more. new shul there, which represents a very those are precisely the areas we are
significant milestone in this paradigm engaged in on a day-to-day basis. Am
The progress of the State of Israel shift. And even during recent rocket Yisrael Chai!
involves three stages. The first is the attacks, 13 new families moved into the
return of Am Yisrael to its Land and the kibbutz as part of a project initiated by
establishment of an independent State, the RGD.
as the Ramban comments on the verse Gael Grunewald is Head of the Rural
“And you inherited the Land and settled Another example is the community Growth and Development Division of
in it” (Numbers 33:53) – “We have been of Natur in the Golan Heights. Not so the WZO, former Executive Secretary
commanded to inherit the Land that long ago it was a kibbutz numbering 17 of World Bnei Akiva and one of World
G-d gave to our forefathers, to Avraham, members. They hadn’t managed to develop Mizrachi's representatives in the
Yitzchak and Ya’akov, and we will not the place and were on the verge of despair. National Institutions

14