Q&A: Bnei Akiva
Bnei Akiva
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I’m a counselor in Bnei Akiva for the oldest age group, and I’m supposed to educate them toward action and so on, but when I think about it, I don’t know whether there’s really anything Bnei Akiva can actually do in reality. Are all these words I talk about in the activities—mission, the Jewish people, and so on—just empty rhetoric? Do you think youth movements have value for society? Am I really doing something important through counseling?
Answer
In my view, this is a very important activity. Even if at the time it seems to you pointless and as though you’re just dealing with trivial things, in the long run it usually has a positive impact. I wrote this about the usual slogans—that even they have value. But beyond that, it is definitely worthwhile to engage with things that have meaningful content, to discuss questions of values and Torah, and to expose them to meaningful perspectives that will inspire them to think, and not only to act.
In practice, Bnei Akiva does a great many important things in reality, in Israel and around the world. Sometimes we become dismissive of this and it seems minor to us. It really isn’t.