Bnei Akiva
Bnei Akiva emblem
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| Motto | Torah ve'Avodah (Torah and Work) |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1929 |
| Type | Jewish Youth Movement |
| Legal status | Nonprofit organization |
| Purpose | Educational |
| Headquarters | Jerusalem, Israel |
| Location |
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| Coordinates | 31°46.892′N 35°12.988′E / 31.781533°N 35.216467°E |
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Region served
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Worldwide |
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Membership
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Youth |
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Parent organization
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Hapoel HaMizrachi |
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Staff
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25 (2016) |
| Website | www |
| Remarks | named after Rabbi Akiva |
Bnei Akiva (Hebrew: בני עקיבא, lit: Children of Akiva) is the largest religious Zionist youth movement in the world, with over 125,000 members in 42 countries. It was established in 1929 in Mandatory Palestine.
Bnei Akiva was established as the youth wing of the Mizrachi movement. The axiom of Bnei Akiva is Torah v’Avodah, a phrase coined by Rav Shmuel Chaim Landau (Shachal). Bnei Akiva first came into existence in the late 1920s, following World War I. Concurrent with the establishment of the movement in pre-independence Israel, organizations of religious youth operated in the Diaspora. Some of them adopted the name Bnei Akiva and others had appellations such as Hashomer Hadati. Twenty-five years later (1958), the Israeli and Diaspora groups merged and the Mazkirut Olamit (World Secretariat) of Bnei Akiva was formed.
Bnei Akiva's twin ideals of Torah and Avodah loosely translate to religious commitment/study and work on the land of Israel. The movement has an anthem called Yad Ahim. As a pioneering Zionist youth movement, Bnei Akiva believes that it is a central commandment of Judaism to emigrate to the land of Israel--"make Aliya"—and maintains that the future of the Jewish people is tied to the state of Israel. Bnei Akiva feels that Jewish youth in the Diaspora should be educated to realize that the State of Israel needs them, and that they, in turn, need it. In the early years of pioneering, Avodah was understood as meaning agricultural work, as reflected in the symbolism on the "Semel" (see below, #The Emblem). In more recent years, there has driven a shift in ideology towards a broader definition of working for the development of the country. (See Avodah article).
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