From the Madrichot! Boneh, Rabin, and Yom Kvutza

Hello Workshop parents and other fans!

Yelena and Elena, the madrichot (counselors) here, wanting to give you a firsthand perspective of what the Workshoppers have been doing for the last few weeks. Since the Yam le Yam hike, we have finally been able to settle into a regular Boneh routine including weekly classes about Jewish history, Hadracha (leadership classes), Hebrew, Yom kvutzah and work on the kibbutz. During the last few weeks the Boneh classes have covered the following topics: North American Jewish communities, the Jewish Enlightenment, Anti-Semitism and this last week covered the early foundations of Zionism. Also, to compliment the learning they are doing in classes, the Workshoppers have been going on trips every Thursday. A few weeks ago they went to the Diaspora museum, then they went to an exhibition about Rabin, and today they went to the 1^st and 2^nd Aliyah museums. The Workshoppers have been very engaged and participatory in their classes and siyurim (trips) and are learning a lot.

We have also had some very meaningful Yomei kvutzot (days that are focused on building the kvutzah). We talked about what it means to create kvutzah and the types of relationships it requires, the equality of human value, Gardner’s theory of 7 intelligences, what it means to be part of a world youth movement, as well as having some updates on what is going on in Israel. Interspersed with all these interesting topics, we have had other fun and intimate activities to bring them closer as a group.

Another thing that happened this weekend was the Rabin seminar. This was an intensive 2 day seminar focused on the values that Rabin stood for. The main focus of the seminar was Peace as a value, but it also touched on what makes a democratic society, Nationalism and gave some historical perspective of the Arab- Israeli conflict. For the peulot (educational activities) of the seminar, the Workshoppers were in mixed groups with Habonim Chanichim their age from Australia, New Zealand, England, Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico, and South Africa. We even had a few people do the seminar in Hebrew! I think all of them found this seminar to be very interesting and meaningful and raised a lot of questions of what they want to do as individuals and as a kvutzah to promote peace as a value. This past Monday we had a peulah for them to come together and talk about the seminar as a group and to get ready for the Rabin rally. The Rabin rally is in Tel-Aviv this Saturday evening and marks 15 years since Rabin was assassinated. The chanichim will all be going and are planning to create posters and pins to spread a message they believe in. It should be a very meaningful and memorable experience.

Before we end our post, we wanted to say we are both really enjoying working with and getting to know your kids. They are an amazing group with a lot of positive energy. They are building great relationships with each other and we think with us as well. With that said, we have only just begun this process and we are really looking forward for the rest of the year!

Shabbat Shalom!

Yelena and Elena