Fanya Bernstein was an Israeli writer and poet. She was a member of Kibbutz Gvat. She was born in Szczuczyn in the Russian Empire (in Poland today). Her father was a Hebrew teacher who taught her Hebrew and literature. While she was in high school, she joined the youth movement, HeHalutz Hatzair, (the Young Pioneers). When she was 18, she took part in the first seminar of the Halutz Movement which was held in Warsaw. She joined a training center at Cherlona and began to publish her poems and drawings in the movement’s newspapers. In 1930, she came to the Land of Israel on aliyah with her lifelong friend, Aharon Weiner (Israeli) and she settled in Kibbutz Gvat. The couple had one son, Gershon. On the kibbutz, Bernstein worked in packing during the grape harvesting season. In addition, she worked in education. She was a youth leader for the Gvat children in the Noar Oved Movement.

She also edited the kibbutz journal, conducted a literary circle and lectured. She was also chosen to be a kibbutz representative to the Kibbutz Hameuhad Committee and to the Histadrut. Later, she had to work as a seamstress in the kibbutz clothing depot because she suffered from heart disease.
Bernstein wrote mainly children’s poems. They are written from the children’s viewpoint and deal with children. Many of the books containing stories and poems which she wrote were published after her death. Many of her children’s poems and some of the poems she wrote for adults became classics: Our Car, I Ran, Circle, Let us Ride to the Field, You Planted Melodies, and many more.

HaRav Moshe Zvi Neria was a rabbi, an educator and a spiritual leader. He was the founder of the chain of Bnei Akiva Yeshivas. He is called the “father of the knitted kipa generation” because of his influence on the shaping of the character of the religious-Zionist culture which believes in combining Torah, work and nation.
In 1930, when he was 17, he learned that the Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Hacohen Kook, the chief rabbi of the Land of Israel was working to save yeshiva students in Russia and trying to obtain certificates to enable them to enter the Land of Israel. He wrote a letter, rich in Torah quotes, to the Rabbi’s son, Rabbi Zvi Yehuda. Shortly thereafter, he received an entry visa and a ticket to the Land of Israel. In 1930, he arrived in the Land of Israel and immediately went to Jerusalem. When he met the rabbi and his son for the first time, there was an immediate connection and he turned to public work in the spirit of Rabbi Kook. Through Rabbi Kook, he became acquainted with the Bnei Akiva Youth Movement, which was still in its infancy.

In 1940, despite opposition within the movement, Rabbi Neria and 13 young people founded the first Bnei Akiva yeshiva in Kfar Haroe, a religious settlement. This was the first high school yeshiva. The yeshiva was groundbreaking in that it combined farming with holy studies. With the passing of time, as a result of the demands of parents, high school studies were added (instead of physical work) despite Rabbi Neria’s objections.
In 1978, Rabbi Neria won the Israel Prize for his special contribution to the advancement and development of the society and the state. The rabbi died in 1995 at the age of 82, leaving behind him a generation of students who spread his ideology and educational philosophy in tens of schools all over Israel. His last words, more than anything else, expressed his great love for Israel and its holiness; “I am cold, warm me up with Torah. Holiness I request. The holy of holies I request. Give me the holiness of Eretz Israel, give me the holiness of loving Am Israel”

Hannah Senesh was a Jewish poet and fighter. She was one of the Yishuv’s parachutists, who volunteered to serve in the British army during World War II and fight the Nazis. She parachuted into occupied Hungary, was captured, interrogated and tortured and then executed.

In 1939, she immigrated to the Land of Israel, studied at Hannah Meisel Shochat’s Girls’ Agricultural School at Nahalal for two years and then joined a group of young people who founded Kibbutz Sadot Yam. During this period, she was a leader at the Kiryat Haim branch of the Noar Oved V’Lomed. In 1943, she volunteered for the British army and joined a group of parachutists that was going to parachute into Europe as part of the struggle against Nazi Germany. For communication purposes, Hanna’s code name was Hagar. On March 15, 1944, Hanna and her comrades parachuted into Croatia, near the Hungarian border. There they joined a group of local. In June, 1944, she crossed the border into Hungary partisans and was caught by Hungarian soldiers. She was sent to prison in Budapest, the city where she was born. She was interrogated and tortured. Senesh was charged with espionage and treason (since she was born in Hungary) and tried in a Hungarian military court. However, on November 7, 1944 when she was 23 years old, even before her trial ended, Hannah was executed. After her death, two notes were found in the pocket of her clothing. One of the notes contained rhymes in which she foresaw her death and the second was to her mother in which she asked her forgiveness. Hannah wrote
a diary until her last day. It was published in Hebrew in 1946.

Hannah wrote her poems in secret and all of them were found after her death. Two of her best known poems are “The Match” and the more famous, “Walk to Caesarea”, in which she wrote, “My God, may this wonder never end.”
Hannah Senesh has served as a role model for generations. She became a symbol of self- sacrifice for the Hebrew nation. While in prison, she remained steadfast in the face of torture. Her many poems, letters and writings contributed greatly to her symbolic status.