The Challenge

1967
Sound
16m

David Ben-Gurion visits a youth centre in Leeds in this promotional film for the Youth & Hechalutz Department of the Jewish Agency in London

This promotional film for the Youth & Hechalutz Department of the Jewish Agency in London highlights initiatives for young Jewish people in 1960s Britain. A youth centre in Leeds is honoured with a visit from Israel's first prime minister David Ben-Gurion, while a group of teenagers embark on a special programme living and working on a kibbutz in Israel. Their adventure is interrupted by the outbreak of the Six-Day War, prompting a crush of young men signing up to fight for Israel; a swift and decisive victory meant that their services were not ultimately required.

The work carried out by the Youth & Hechalutz Department of the Jewish Agency. Based at Rex House in London, the agency takes up the challenge of guiding the younger generation of British Jews. It encourages education about Jewish culture and arranges visits to kibbutzim. There is footage of David Ben-Gurion opening an agency youth centre in Leeds and delivering the inauguration speech. The film also shows some of the thousands of British Jews who volunteered to fight in the Six Day War, registering with the agency.

Jewish Britain

Jewish life on screen: a century of insights and hidden histories

This collection uncovers insights, injustices and hidden histories across a century of Jewish life on British screens. It brings together documentary and first-person accounts of Jewish life in the UK, alongside historical dramas and artists’ work exploring the 20th century Jewish experience. The earliest surviving depictions of Jewish characters in British cinema offer a troubling insight into antisemitic representation, yet prejudice was later tackled head-on, with newsreels documenting the anti-fascist movement of the 1930s.

Drop in on joyous family weddings and community gatherings, and see the ways in which UK Jewry supported Jews young and old, and those fleeing persecution, in a selection of fascinating films from the 1900s to the 1980s.

This collection is generously supported by the Neil Kreitman Foundation, Shoresh Charitable Trust, John S Cohen Foundation, and Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation.