Sotsyalistishe Kinder Farband

Flag of the Polish Skifistn in 1936

The Sotsyalistishe Kinder Farband or SKIF (Yiddish orthography: סאָציאַליסטישער קינדער־פֿאַרבאַנד, Polish: Socjalistyczny Związek Dziecięcy, 'Socialist Children's Union', or S.K.I.F.)[1] was founded in Eastern Europe as the youth organisation of the Jewish Labour Bund, a Jewish Socialist political party. S.K.I.F has three core ideological principles: Chavershaft ("camaraderie", equality and empathy), Doikayt ("Being here", Jews should live, build their culture and struggle for their rights wherever they dwell, rather than seeking refuge in a Jewish homeland), and Yiddishkeit (Jewish identity through Jewish and Yiddish culture).[2][3] The plural form of a SKIF member is SKIFistn and the leaders who run SKIF are the Helfer, aged in their late teens to early twenties.

The S.K.I.F. in Poland is now defunct.[4] The Melbourne S.K.I.F established itself in 1950. The Melbourne SKIF, is the last remaining SKIF branch,[5] and subsequently it is usually regarded as the SKIF organization itself. However, the SKIF in France didn't disband, but in 1963 changed its name to Club laïque de l'Enfance juive, CLEJ [fr].

  1. ^ Blatman, Daniel (2003). "For Our Freedom and Yours", Vallentine Mitchell.
  2. ^ "Info - SKIF". skifinmelb.weebly.com. Archived from the original on 12 November 2009.
  3. ^ NSW, Board of Studies. "Making multicultural Australia - multicultural Research Library Video: Arnold Zable describes the Bund and SKIF, and post-Holocaust development of the Jewish community". www.multiculturalaustralia.edu.au.
  4. ^ "Untitled Document". Archived from the original on 19 July 2008. Retrieved 23 August 2009.
  5. ^ Frost, Natasha (18 July 2023). "A Yiddish Haven Thrives in Australia". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 14 September 2023.