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 .