The year was 1982. Israel was in the middle of "Operation Peace for Galilee," designed to end the bombing of cities and kibbutzim in Northern Israel by the PLO. Around the world and in North America, Israel-bashing in the media was reaching what was then an unprecedented level. Israel was being denounced from every quarter for its "aggression against the Lebanese people", despite the fact that Israel had legitimate security concerns and that most of the violence in Lebanon was, as it has always been, Arab against Arab. On the campuses, the rhetoric was reaching a fever pitch. Criticism of Israel was on the top of almost every students' group's agenda. As for the existing "Jewish" students' groups, at best they stayed silent, and at worst they joined in on the bash-fest. On a few campuses, however, some Jewish students decided that enough was enough.

At the State University of New York at Albany, a group of Zionist students that included myself came to the conclusion that something needed to be done. The catalyst for our decision was the failure of campus Jewish groups to respond to Arab-sponsored anti-Israel and antisemitic displays on campus and their refusal to sponsor any significant pro-Israel programs. The independent Zionist group which we founded on that campus, which exists until this day, had an immediate effect on the climate of the campus, through the unabashed strong Zionist programming that we sponsored. Nevertheless, we knew that to really make a difference, our activities had to extend beyond just our campus alone. Some members of our group proposed that we turn for help to Betar, a group with which some of us had previous contact. When we renewed contact with BETAR's North American headquarters in New York City, we discovered that other fledgling groups like ours on other campuses had also been in touch with them and were thinking along similar lines. Meetings between the groups' leaders were quickly organized and the founding conference of Tagar, with representatives from twenty campuses, was held in Albany. Delegates stayed up almost all night every night, exchanging ideas and making plans, with only brief breaks for a few hours of sleep on cold, hard dorm room floors. It was clear to everyone that something important and exciting was happening.

One of the main issues that we debated at the conference was whether it would be enough to just establish local chapters of Betar on college campuses. On one hand, we knew that we wanted a clear connection to Betar. This was evidenced by our choice of the name "Tagar Zionist Student Activist Movement", drawn from Jabotinsky's use of the word "Tagar," or "the spirit of taking on a challenge," in his "Anthem of Betar". The name also expressed, however, the sentiment that Tagar was also a separate, distinct group whose focus was activism on campus. Within a very short span of time, Tagar spread across North America, and in a few more years, with the help of the World Betar movement, to France, England, South America, Australia, and South Africa. Each chapter of Tagar adapted to the particular needs of its members, often making a name for itself for its outspokenness and willingness to fight the often unpopular battle on Israel's behalf. Unifying all the chapters of Tagar to this day remains the spirit with which the first group began: the willingness to accept the challenge as it comes, and the refusal to sit still and be silent when our Land and our People cry out to us. May we continue to grow from strength to strength.

This fall has special meaning since it is the 15th anniversary of the founding of Tagar.

Tagar was formed during the January of 1983 during winter break. The initial conference took place at SUNY Albany campus. It started as a result of two things:

First, propaganda on campuses was running wild against Israel and the Jews. Second, the Israeli government had no people in the field explaining Israel's need to go into Lebanon in June 1982 to protect the northern borders from daily infiltration.

As Rosh Hanhagah Artzit of Betar at the time, I took it upon myself along with Yitzchak Ben Yaacov (the shaliach to Betar at the time), Hagai Lev (the shaliach to the Herut Party at the time) and Gerald and Debbie Strober (PR consultants to Herut) to go on a nationwide speaking tour explaining to communities and campuses Israel’s position.

As a result we debated many Palestine Liberation Organization supporters and many times got in to physical debates on certain campuses, to the point where riot police were called in.

After every presentation, of course there were those who heckled us, but there were those who came up and supported us. Naturally we collected names of the supporters After a few months and a few hundred names, we met with a special group who called themselves Revisionist Zionist Alternative (after Zev Jabotinsky's Revisionist Zionist Party). They ran a strong group of activists on campus at Albany State in New York. Glenn Mones and Steve Hilsenrath were the leaders.

One thing led to another and we pulled a conference of supporters of our beliefs together during winter break at Albany State and students came from all over the country. With help of some friends like Moshe Schecter, then head of the Sochnut in New York, and a few other friends, we were able to subsidize student leaders who came to join us on this special occasion.

The purpose was to create Tagar, a Zionist activist arm of the Jabotinsky family on campuses throughout North America to counter propaganda and strengthen Jewish student support on campus for Israel.

We started with about 23 campuses and it grew from there. We immediately began a four week leadership training seminar in Israel, mostly held in the Maon Betar in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Tagar had then over the years been adopted by World Betar to be an international organization and they even sent shalichim.

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