100th anniversary to NOAL - our associated youth movement

Debbie Cohen
Oct 23
2 min read

A big Mazal Tov to NOAL (HaNoar HaOved VehaLomed) – the youth movement associated with Dror Israel – which is celebrating its 100^th anniversary!

Here are some things that you may not know about this incredible and historic youth movement, which brings together youth ages 9-19 throughout the country for after-school activities, weekend trips and hikes, special leadership programs, summer camps, and much more:

NOAL was founded in 1924 by a group of teens working in a match factory in Tel Aviv, as part of their efforts to organize and demand better pay and working conditions.
NOAL continues to serve as the country's official legal representative for working youth and has a department dedicated to educating minors about their rights at work, connecting youth to fair employers, and suing exploitative employers when necessary.
NOAL is Israel's most diverse youth movement – with about 20% of its 90,000 youth members in its Arab and Druze sections ranging from Bedouin areas in the Negev, to mixed cities like Jaffa and Haifa, to Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights.
The youth movement was originally founded as HaNoar HaOved ("The Working Youth") but was renamed to add the "VeHalomed" ("and Studying Youth") after merging with other movements in the 1980s following the unification of the Ihud and Meuhad kibbutz movements.
On the blue movement uniform shirts with the red string, the blue shirt is meant to mimic the work clothes of the Zionist Halutzim (pioneers) and the red string represents kibbutz-style socialism.
NOAL is also associated with Habonim Dror – a labor Zionist youth movement found throughout the Jewish world – and the two consider one another "sister movements".