25TH JUBILEE BNEI AKIVA EMBOSSED BADGE JUDAICA "GOD WILL" 1929-1954DIAMETER: 2.5 CMBnei Akiva, founded in the British Mandate of Palestine in 1929, is the largest religious Zionist youth movement in the world today. It is active world-wide, with over 125,000 members in 37 countries. There are 75,000 members in Israel and 54,000 members in the rest of the world. Locally, Bnei Akiva"branches" with each age group constituting a pronounced shevet, "tribe".Bnei Akiva was formed primarily as the youth wing of the Mizrachi movement about 80 years ago. Mizrachi believed in bridging the gap between the secular Zionists, who aimed to rebuild the land of Israel, and the religious community who were predominantly against this new ideal. Their aim, simply, was to have “one total Judaism…one which retains the Torah as its soul, the nation as its body, with its place in Eretz Yisrael.” (Rav Javetz). This principle of ‘the Jewish people in the land of Israel living according to the Torah of Israel’ lies at the core of BA’s beliefs.The other axiom associated with Bnei Akiva is that of ‘Torah v’Avodah’, a phrase coined by Rav Shmuel Chaim Landau (Shachal). Torah is viewed as not just a set of laws to which each Jew must adhere but also “the spirit of our nation, the source of our culture and the essence of our souls”. This nationalistic element of Torah is the reason for our rebirth of the Jewish people in Israel and all Zionism must stem from it. Meanwhile, Avodah is an aim to make the Jewish people productive as a nation by rebuilding the land of Israel. Rather than just being a group of individuals, Avodah calls for the nation to begin to rebuild itself through creativity and physical labour.Bnei Akiva is a nationalist movement within Israel, strongly identified with The The Religious Kibbutz Movement and the National Religious political party. Outside of Israel, the local branches of Bnei Akiva are under the Bnei Akiva Olami (Worldwide) organization.Typically, in any given country, Bnei Akiva will operate local Shabbat groups, summer camps, leadership seminars, Shabatonim, and other activities. Bnei Akiva in the Land of Israel is organised separately from the world movement. It is run in Israel by the National Secretariat (Hanhala Artzit).Today, Bnei Akiva is the world’s biggest Religious Zionist organisation and the second biggest Jewish youth organisation in the united kingdom. Bnei Akiva UK runs summer and winter camps, Israel tours, Israel gap-year schemes, programmes for Israeli Ethiopian children, weekly meetings, charity projects, camps for special needs youth plus many more activities in the community.INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING: $8 (REGISTERED AIRMAIL)
