Bnei Akiva is a religious zionist youth movement. It is the largest youth movement in Israel, and has branches in 37 countries and 50 000 members worldwide and over 75,000 in Israel.

History of the movement

Bnei Akiva was founded in Israel in 1929 by Yechiel Eliash, who recognized the difficulty of remaining religious in a secular environment, and created the movement in support of religious Zionist youth, who were being drawn to secular movements. Around the same time, religious Zionist youth movements were formed in other countries, some being called Bnei Akiva, while others went under the name "HaShomer HaDati". In 1958 the Israeli and worldwide groups were merged and the Mazkirut Olamit (World Secretariat) was created to govern the movement. The anthem of the movement, Yad Achim (the brotherly hand) was written by Rabbi M. Neriya in 1932.