Bnei Akiva

   The youth branch of the Mizrachi-Hapoel Hamizrachi World Movement, founded in Palestine in 1922. Zionist in ideology, its guiding principles are loyalty to Torah, the land of Israel, and the Jewish people. Its specific aim was initially to train its members for a life of Torah VaAvoda (Torah and Labor), reflected in religious kibbutz activity under the banner of the Hakibbutz Hadati Movement. The first Bnei Akiva kibbutz, En Tzurim, was founded in 1946 in the Hebron hills. After Jordan's occupation of that area during the War of Independence, En Tzurim was relocated to the Negev Desert; it subsequently became the site of Yeshivat Hakibbutz Hadati, the principal yeshiva of the religious Zionist kibbutz movement. Since statehood, Bnei Akiva members also served in the Nahal unit of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), establishing kibbutzim, farms, and other settlements in remote parts of the country. They also became the backbone of the hesder religious Zionist yeshiva system in which students combine religious studies with military service. In recent years, graduates of the Bnei Akiva system have entered the upper echelons of the IDF command structure.

   See also Gush Emunim (Bloc of the Faithful); National Religious Party (NRP; Mi-flaga Datit Leumit—Mafdal); Settlement Outposts.