About fifty Bogrei Machon LeMadrichei Chul turned up at 11:00 am on the 25th November 2010 at the Agami Quarter of Jaffa. Literally on the shore of the Mediterranean this unique building, the ‘Peres Peace House’, was the setting for the 6th Annual Assembly of the Association of Graduates of the Machon.
Ayelet Meizner, the Director of Events there, went out of her way to receive and guide us through the building so that our introduction to the Peres Peace House was really a special visit. She explained the need for the center, its unusual architecture which seems to flow with the waves of the sea and just as it links the sea with the shore, is designed to link two peoples, Arab and Jew through cultural, educational and sports activities.
Ayelet took us through the building and the photograph exhibition and a film on the activities of the Center which we saw helped us to appreciate that peace between two peoples must also be from ground level upwards.
After a splendid lunch we returned to the building and assembled in the impressive theatre built so that the west wall facing the audience, behind the stage, is one long window that looks straight out onto the beach and the blue Mediterranean, so close as would appear to be part of the building itself.

From this stage we were welcomed by Ran Pundak the director of the Peres Peace House and one of the architects of the Oslo Peace initiative who shared with us some of his efforts and led the debate that ensued on “The Peace Agreement – the Situation Today.”
After coffee and cake we started the meeting of the Association – we were now just seventeen.

Hillel Schenker (Kaf-Hey/25 – USA) was elected chairman for the assembly and Yehudit Morton (Kaf-Aleph/21 – Canada) as his deputy took the minutes.

After everyone had introduced themselves, Emanuel Gestner (Kaf/20 – Chile), the chairman of the Association, summed up the events of the last year. Most of the activities centered on the Bogrei Machon website and the database.

We have at present some 12,300 names of Bogrim, 3,000 of them have listed email addresses – of these about 1,100 are in Israel. However, people often change their email addresses and do not always inform us, this means that many messages that we send are returned undelivered.

We have joined the Facebook world where there is a group of 1,700 names of Bogrim and through Facebook, many Bogrim have managed to connect with us.
The general impression we have is that there is little raport between Bogrei Machon and the Association. The question is then, should the Association try to organize reunions and cultural activities or just be a source of information and aid for finding old friends? There followed a lively discussion on this subject and several suggestions were made to further the activities of the Association.
Yehudit suggested that Bogrim might adopt machonikim who have no family in Israel and in that way a bond would be created between Bogrim and today’s Machon participants.
Tzvi Shaiak (Kaf-Daled/24 – S. Africa) said that all that bogrim are really interested in was making contact with old friends and that is what we should encourage.
Yehuda Guy (Kaf-Hey/25 – UK) asked those present to enter the Bogrim website and the data base which we have spent so much time and effort in producing. He explained how to enter the database and noted that the Machzor administrator has the capability of entering the profile of every member of his/her machzor. He also distributed written explanations.
Arieh Azoulai (Machzor Yod/10 – Morocco), a former mayor of Ashdod, suggested that the Association function from a regular office, that more people be active on the committee, and that financial and other assistance be obtained from people with connections, such as Alan Hoffman of the Jewish Agency who happens to be a Boger Machon. He mentioned people and organizations who also might be of assistance when they hear that we represent a group of people educated in Israel at the Institute of Youth leaders from Abroad, who today have considerable influence in their communities in many parts of the world, and whose potential is not realized by the Israeli establishment. Arieh offered to help make contact with these people and their organizations.
Ralph Phillips Kaf-Tet/29, the treasurer, presented the Association’s 2009 financial report approved by the Audit Committee. Ralph noted that the principal expenditure was for improvement and development of the website and for a meeting and General Assembly of active members which took place in the city of Modi’in. During 2009 only 13 members paid their dues and that included members of the committee. It seems that asking bogrim to pay their membership through the mail or internet is not an efficient way of obtaining dues and another method must be found. A short debate ensued and the financial report was accepted by the General Assembly.
The Assembly now voted on the new committee. Danny Hakim (Machzor Nun/50 from Australia) became a committee member. He offered to work with the younger bogrim through his experience in sport and especially judo and hopes with this new approach to connect with Bogrei Machon.
The list of committee members can be seen on another page in the website (Committee).
Little by little, more and more interest is being given to the Bogrei Machon Association and more and more bogrim are connecting up with their friends from the Machon. We hope that this coming year will give impetus to our efforts.
We shall see …
Emanuel Gerstner
Chairperson

Mr Moshe Levi, Deputy Mayor warmly welcomed us and as did Ms Ziva Assa who is responsible for the “beautiful houses” of the city. They gave us the grand tour and one could sense their pride in this their modern and blooming city. We would like to take this opportunity to thank committee member Daniel Portnoy of Machzor 56 from Argentina for having initiated the idea of holding our Assefa in Modi’in.

The Assefa was chaired by George Leibovitz (Machzor 35) originally from Bnei Akiva, USA. Luisa Tunes of Machzor 52 (Comite, Argentina) acted as Deputy Chairperson. George began by pointing out the symbolism of the fact that the week’s portion of the Torah was “Lech Lecha” which is so meaningful for the Zionist movement and Aliya in general and which is an important Machon LeMadrichei Chul ethic.

Emanuel Gerstner, the outgoing chairperson (Machzor 20 – Ichud Habonim, Chile) reminded those present that this was the fourteenth anniversary of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, to be remembered as a blemish on Israeli democracy and the nation.

The report of the committee’s activities since the last general assembly was then read. A lively debate followed. Two reoccurring themes were the desire for Machzor reunions and ties with the Association[1]. Luisa suggested organizing regional meetings – she thought that this would make it easier for bogrim to get together. In Ralph Phillip’s (Machzor 29 – Hashomer, England ) opinion this could only succeed if there were a boger machon in that area who would take it on him/herself to organize it. This also could be done together with Olim organizations and through web sites of various communities. Daniel stressed that the Association could be a leading force for bogrim. Yehuda Guy (Machzor 25 - Dror, England) thought that the key to Association is the website – we have to encourage bogrim to enter the website and to be active through the website, to update their profiles, to send their photos, to post articles and to be active in the forums. He noted that thanks to the website there are bogrim who have returned to being active in the Zionist world and there are even those who have come on aliya as a result of their renewed association with the Irgun Habogrim.

Ralph Phillips, the treasurer of Association, presented the financial report for 2008 which had been approved by the Inspection Committee, and explained the different clauses. Further details can be requested from the treasurer. Ralph stressed the fact that membership dues are collected only from people during active participation in one of our activities throughout the year. The method of sending out registration forms to members, for them to complete and return with their subscription, has proved unsuccessful. Of the thousands of emails sent to bogrim perhaps five chaverim returned the form and sent the fee. We need to find another method for collecting membership fees.

The financial report was accepted.

The names of chaverim were presented for election to the new Committee and approved by the participants.

 The First Annual Assembly ~ HaMachon Kiryat Moriah - 2005/5766
 
I hereby wish to report the events of the General Assembly which was held on the 27/10/2005 at Kiryat Moriah, Jerusalem which began at 19:30 (the Assifa should have begun at 18:00, but because of the lack of a legal quorum it was decided an hour after the set time to hold the Assifa one half hour later, as   stipulated in the regulations)                                       
There were 15 chaverim present.
 
A. The following were elected to chair the Assembly:
Chairman – Samy Cige (machzor 35)
Deputy –     Hillel Schenker (machzor 25)
Secretary –  Batia Erlich (machzor 40)
B. The Chairman of the Vaad, Emanuel Gerstner, gave a report of the activities of the Vaad, there followed a discussion and the report was approved.                 
C. The treasurer of the Vaad (who unfortunately had to be absent) Ralph Phillips, presented in writing the financial situation of the Amuta as of 31/12/04 to date, and which had been inspected by the control board. A discussion ensued and the report was approved.                                                                                                 
D. Honorary President of the Amuta.
It was agreed to accept the proposal of Prof. Haim Avni but confirmation was reserved until the legal bureau of the Histadrut HaZionut, Prof Avni’s present employer, approves this honorary position. If by any chance the position is not approved the  Assifa gave the Vaad the power to propose a different person.                                            
E. The following chaverim were elected:   
Chairman: Emanuel Gerstner (machzor 20)
Treasurer: Ralph Phillips (machzor 29)
The Vaad:
Yehuda Guy (Machzor 25)
Ran Afek (Machzor 38)
Leonor Mendler (Machzor 38)
Alain Jackobovitz (Machzor 49)
Irit Stroch (Machzor 33)
Joseph Baum (Machzor 32)
Dana Goldberg (Machzor 47)
E. Proposals for the future:
Moshe Nasel (9): proposed that a survey be made to decide what activities should be organized in the future.