EFAL AND YAD TABENKIN
Efal Study Centre
Yad Tabenkin - Research and Documentation Center of the United Kibbutz Movement
Cooperation in Research and Academic Projects
Efal Study Centre
EFAL is the Study Center of the United Kibbutz Movement - TAKAM. TAKAM consists of 173 kibbutzim located throughout Israel, from the Northern border to Ellat in the South. There are veteran kibbutzim, like Deganya, established in 1907, called "Mother of the Kibbutzim," which already has fourth generation members, to relatively new kibbutzim, with a total population of approximately 80,000.
Efal was established in the 1950s as the cornerstone or the ideological center of the movement. Many kibbutz members have studied here throughout the years. Efal is like a small kibbutz - we have a dining-hall, accommodations for people coming to study here, classrooms and other faculties for study - surrounded by greenery and gardens.
During the years in Efal, we have expanded our activities to different populations outside the kibbutz. Study programs for new immigrants from the ex-Soviet Union have given them some idea about Israel, democracy, Jewish Heritage and basic knowledge about the kibbutz. Groups of new immigrants from Ethiopia have studied here in preparation for their higher studies.
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Yad Tabenkin
Research and Documentation Center of the United Kibbutz Movement
Yad Tabenkin, commemorating Yitzhak Tabenkin, is the research and documentation center of the United Kibbutz Movement. Yitzchak Tabenkin (1897-1971) was one of the first generation of leaders who built the modern Jewish state and among the founders of the labour movement in the Land of Israel and of Kibbutz Hameuchad. He devoted much of his life to developing the philosophy of labour and communal life. He was a member of the Knesset and exercised a powerful influence on the ideological life of the nation.
In addition to its extensive research and documentation activities. Yad Tabenkin conducts seminars and workshops, publishes books and periodicals. and promotes contacts with interested institutions bothin Israel and abroad.
The research activies are carried out by the following departments:
The Institute for Kibbutz and Labour Movement Studies
The Institute for Social Studies
The Institute for Settlement, Defence and Foreign Policy Studies - The Galili Institute - was named for Israel Galili, Israel Galili (1911-1986) was one of the leaders of the kibbutz movement. He was the head of the Hagana (the Jewish underground army during the British Mandate), a labor leader and statesman. He was a member of the Israeli governments during the 1960's and 1970's.
The Institute for Research on Zionist and Pioneer Movements in Eastern and Sephardic Communites
As a research institute, Yad Tabenkin contains additional departments that serve both researchers and other interested parties: the Archives and the Bibliographic Institute, where most of the documentation is carried out; a Department for International Relations, and a research library with a comprehensive collection of material on Kibbutz and communes.
The Department for International Relations promotes contacts between Yad Tabenkin, researchers throughout the world, and visitors from abroad. The office of the international organization of researchers of communes and kibbutz International Communal Studies Association is based in the department as is The International Communes Desk, a clearing house dedicated to intercommunal networking and information. Both produce bi-annual publications. These organizations foster contact with communes all over the world, particularly in the United States, to closer ties, and research, for international relations and exchange of information.
Yad Tabenkin conducts several types of seminars and workshops as well as seminars for the general public and researchers, workshops for kibbutz members and monthly seminars devoted to specific topics conducted in collaboration with the Society for Military History (Tel-Aviv University).
The publication department publishes the following:
Research and study brochures containing minutes of seminars and debates as well as testimonies and documents, an especially written series of particular historical value, taken from the Archives.
Research papers and proceedings of the Galili Institute and the Galili Center.
Background and clarification papers, a series of short studies and interim research reports.
Archival publications, indices to the archive collections.
Bibliographic indices of the movement's journals.
Books dealing with research studies and documentation, some published incollaboration with the Kibbutz HaMeuchad Publishing House and the Defense Ministry.
Mifne, a Hebrew language quarterly, in conjunction with Yad Yaari - a forum for social issues.
Yad Tabenkin maintains contacts with some fifty institutions of learning and research in Israel and throughout the world, including Tel Aviv and Ben Gurion Universities, Bet Berl, Givat Haviva, Yad Yaari, Oranim, the Institute for Kibbutz Research at Haifa University. the Ruppin Institute, and universities abroad.
Yad Tabenkin fosters its aim of supporting young researchers and others studying subjects within its sphere of interest by awarding eighteen research grants annually and biannually. The grants are available to any student at an academic institution working on a master's or doctoral degree and are awarded by a joint committee of Yad Tabenkin and Tel Aviv University.
Cooperation in Research and Academic Projects
Yad Tabenkin and The Efal Seminar Center seek to cooperate wlth interested parties abroad. Areas of cooperation could include research, development of joint data bases and information systems, educational programs, exchange of scholars and joint translation and publication.
In addition, Yad Tabenkin and Efal offer the possibility of seminars at Efal for groups of students interested in aspects of kibbutz and cooperation, in coordination with their professor or faculty.
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