Lee and Sophia grew up in a strong Jewish framework.  Having both attended Jewish days schools as well as being members of the HaBonim Dror youth movement, a strong Jewish identity and a connection to Israel were not a choice so much as a mandate.  “It’s sort of been ingrained in my skull that I would have a connection to Israel,” said Lee, a Detroit native.

Although thoroughly exposed, Lee and Sophia explained when growing up, they were confronted by two very different ideologies concerning Israel.  “At Jewish day school,” says Sophia who lives just outside Philadelphia, “if you criticized [Israeli] government corruption, or the treatment of Arab Israelis, or the gap in the economic status, if you said any of these things they’d say ‘what, you don’t support Israel you’re a terrible Jew’.” 

Their Jewish youth movement, HaBonim Dror, on the other hand, demanded they have a very critical view of Israel.  “In HaBonim,” says Lee “it was like, ‘let’s talk about Israel’s problems.’ but I think we talked about Israel’s problems too much and not enough of the good things.”

Such an education resulted in Lee and Sophia holding complex conceptions of Israel and Zionism.  “Zionism…is just so interesting because you’re looking at this country that’s not really our country but everyone says it’s our country because we’re all Jews," said Lee.  "And so, it’s a very interesting relationship, at least for me as an American who never lived in Israel but who was always taught it was a homeland but never really felt like it was a homeland…In school I just wanted to talk about Israel as Israel, as something that needs to be changed, as something that is still growing.” 

Sophia holds a slightly more personal relationship with Israel due to her parents having made Aliyah when she was four.  Although returning to America by the time she was in fourth grade, Sophia notes her family continues to speak of Israel in a favorable light and her own memories of her time here remain idyllic.  “Part of what makes Zionism so difficult is that it’s a love and a support and a criticism and a work towards a country that you don’t even live in a lot of the time… that’s what this [year] is for me, trying it out a little bit, getting a step closer to the actual real thing.”

Currently living on a Kibbutz outside Jerusalem, Sophia and Lee, along with their fellow HaBonim Dror participants, are involved in Workshop, the Israel experience track of the world HaBonim Dror youth  movement.  While in Israel, workshop participants will engage issues concerning: social justice, Jewish identity, Zionist ideology, Israeli history, student activism, the Jewish year cycle, the Israeli army, the Arab-Israeli conflict, archaeology, international HaBonim Dror, and Israel-Diaspora relations. 

For more information on Habonim Dror see

HaBonim Dror homepage

MASA HaBonim Dror program page