Bnei Akiva of the US & Canada, the religious Zionist youth movement, is sending a delegation of 24 staff and young adult leaders to the 14th World Bnei Akiva Veida taking place January 16-20, 2019 in Jerusalem. Every four years, the leaders of Bnei Akiva in every country around the world are invited to Israel to participate in Veida, the Bnei Akiva World movement’s governing conference. As the State of Israel is a core focus of the Bnei Akiva Movement around the globe, it is fitting that the conference takes place in Jerusalem. From the first Veida in 1954 until the most recent in 2015, this unique gathering allows each country’s leadership to shape the movement’s future direction through engaging in meaningful conversations and congressional voting. Bnei Akiva of the US & Canada is proud to make up almost 25% of the Bnei Akiva World Congress.
One of the 24 delegates is Matan Bauman from Chicago. Matan is currently studying in Israel, but was extremely active in the Chicago Jewish community throughout high school. Matan started off as a madrich in the Bnei Akiva Chicago Snif (chapter) and at Bnei Akiva’s Camp Moshava I.O in Honesdale, PA. He eventually became Rosh Aleph (Head of elementary grades), and then Mazkir Galil (City Program Director) for Chicago. This superstar teen was also involved in multiple chessed projects such as delivering food to the needy, and creating educational opportunities through Pencils for Promise. Matan plans to draft into the IDF in March and credits Bnei Akiva for helping develop his love of Israel & Am Yisrael. As Matan puts it, “it is an empowering feeling as a teen leader to join a group of directors and board members and know my feedback and opinions are helping shape the future of an international movement.”
This year Alan Silverman and Channah Spiegelman, Director and Program Director (Rosh Mosh) of Camp Moshava IO, where Matan attended for seven summers, will be honored with the “Hineni” Award for exceptional educational work. Matan is personally excited to support his camp directors and expresses, “their deep commitment to the camp, the movement, Israel, and the Jewish people at large has inspired me and thousands of campers.” Rav Shaul Feldman, Executive Director of Bnei Akiva of the US & Canada describes, “their genuine dedication to Am Israel and Eretz Israel is unique. Each of them puts their entire beings into the work they do, and the success of the camp speaks for itself.”
This year’s Veida is especially significant, as it will go hand in hand with Bnei Akiva of the US & Canada’s 2018 yearlong strategic planning audit and Strategic Conference which brought together all the directors of the Moshava camps, program directors, and stakeholders to develop a strategic roadmap for the future of the movement in the US & Canada. There will also be a dinner hosted for all the US & Canadian delegates the Sunday evening following Veida, to encourage the spirit and excitement from Veida to continue throughout the upcoming year through the major internal developments and enhancements.
