Youth groups in Israel, please help dispel my confusion!

amother

Thu, Oct 18 2012, 12:56 am

HI, we are looking into making aliyah. on the nefesh b'nefesh pages, we keep reading about youth groups, Bnai Akiva, Ezra and Ariel.
My only point of reference is the UK system, where there is quite a lot of BA, small amount of Ezra, and Ezra is much frummer, with very little intermingling of boys and girls. BA is really very modern in the UK, most girls wear pants, most members are not shomer negiah.
Can anyone explain to me what these youth groups are like in Israel please?
Also, I never heard of Ariel before, what is that?

Also if a nefesh b'nefesh page says that one particular youth group is very active in a yishuv/town, does that make reference to the general religious level of that yishuv/town?
TIA, looking forward to your helpful responses!

RachelEve14

Thu, Oct 18 2012, 2:35 am

Bnei' Akiva depends on where the snif is located. Our local one is separate (not boys & girls together), but the buildings are near each other. Ariel is totally separate (buildings not close to each other), and draws the more Torani crowd I would say. We also have Ezra here but it's not walkable to where I live so I know nothing about it. I would imagine on yishuvim you would have one, maybe 2, but not a choice of all three.

DrMom

Thu, Oct 18 2012, 3:39 am

By us, BA is mixed, but is more DL/torani; pants-wearing and non-shomer negia is usually more Tsofim Datim.

That's painting the picture with a very braod brush, of course.

Didi

Thu, Oct 18 2012, 3:44 am

We have both Bnei Akiva and Ezra, Bnei Akiva is separate but when they go on there big trips they go together but different buses etc. Ezra is totally separate, buildings are on opposite sides of the yishuv and boys trips are not at the same time/day as girls. Both groups have kids switching from one to the other, the Ezra group definitely has kids that would not go to BA but also has kids that do. They also start at different ages so some kids will start with Ezra because they start at grade 3 but BA starts at grade 4. Speak to people in the area that you are going to be living and ask them how it is by them.

TzipG

Thu, Oct 18 2012, 4:04 am

We used to live in a neighborhood with Ezra and Ariel. Both were separate, girls all wore skirts, I don't really know about negiah. Ariel was considered the frummer of the 2. It totally depends on the neighborhood, the kids that go, which groups are available in each community.

amother

Thu, Oct 18 2012, 1:46 pm

Hi, this is OP! Thanks ladies, you are so helpful! I am getting a better idea about it now, so Ezra and Ariel are generally more religious than BA I hear. Thanks.
IF you don't mind me asking Didi, where do you live? You wrote that I should ask more about it from people who live where we are moving to. - so , that's the thing, we haven't decided on our exact destination yet! The NBN pages are quite helpful which is why I was trying to figure out if there was a direct correlation between religious level of a yishuv/town/city and between teh most active youth group there. I am still interested in hearing specifics about your own yishuv/hometown.
Thanks!

Ribbie Danzinger

Tue, Oct 23 2012, 2:49 am

Just wanted to add that I thought of you over Shabbat when we hosted the communarit of our yishuv (we have separate Bnei Akiva). I asked her what the difference is between the three groups - she said that Ezra began as a charedi youth group from the start. Ariel was an offshoot of Bnei Akiva so its like copy-paste of BA for those who wanted no halachic compromises, which makes it more segregated from the Israeli social scene. Bnei Akiva is a more universal group that accepts anyone, which is why the halachic standards are often more lenient so that the less frum who might otherwise go completely off the derech are also encouraged to participate.
In general, the atmosphere in Bnei Akiva depends on the snif - the only time it ever has an effect is on tiyulim and camps but now there are usually different routes/camps for boys and for the girls of all the separate branches although they do come into contact with mixed snifim at such times.
Hope that helps!
Welcome to Israel!

chani8

Tue, Oct 23 2012, 3:32 am

I've not read this thread, but just want to say that our kids go to a mixed BA, where the kids are shomer negiah and I was told that they are one of the best behaved, mature group in the country.

Ingrid

Tue, Oct 23 2012, 2:21 pm

We have Tsofim Dati'im here and the girls all wear skirts to piulot. Pretty much similar to BA, except they are more into camping activities and building the community. Really quality, down to earth kids, whereas the BA has quite a few snobby kids and tend to focus more on when they can meet up with the boys and gossip. Since more of the tsofim activities are mixed, I find that the kids are less focused on when they can sneak off with boys, and instead can organize quality programs.