Boneh Sikkum

After a long, but fascinating, challenging and unique 20 weeks on Kibbutz Revivim, Boneh came to a close. The final week of Boneh was a seminar in which the chanichim focused on learning about Youth Movements. From learning about the relatively new concept of youth and moratorium, to the history and development of Zionist youth movements, to the formation of Habonim, this was the educational focus of the final week. In addition to this final module, this week was an opportunity to reflect on Boneh as a whole. It was an opportunity for Eden to reflect on how much they have grown, both individually and collectively, throughout Boneh. Going through the educational content, all of the siyurim (day trips), guest speakers and seminars helped Eden put how much they have learned and experienced into perspective. Along with this, was the opportunity to reflect on participation in all of the elements of Boneh; Avodah (work), Ivrit classes (Hebrew) and cleaning. The seminar concluded with a Tekkes (ceremony) that Eden were responsible for creating and facilitating, which many parents for able to attend. Thank you so much for coming if you were able to be there.

Overall, this has been one of the most successful and fun Boneh experiences. Chanichim and madrichim alike have learned a great deal and had many new and meaningful experiences. Eden have been a pleasure to work with, and Kibbutz Revivim will miss them very much.

A huge thank you to everyone who was involved in this Boneh, especially the Tzevet of madrichim and educators and all of the chanichim who have been wonderful to work with.

The traditional Kvutzah painting that Kibbutz Revivm ask each year's group to make

Kvutzah Livluv (blossom)

Ofra - our wonderful liaison and support on Kibbutz Revivim

Final Machon Letter

June 2013

Dear Parents,

Shalom for one last time from Jerusalem where the 125^th English speaking Machon has just ended. It has been a pretty packed final month with lots of highlights since I last wrote to you all.

A major highlight of this last month or so was the Tiyul Tzafon (Northern Tiyul), a full week away from Kiryat Moriah up in the North of Israel, getting to know that part of the country. Among many different cities and places we went to, we visited the Kinneret, the borders with Lebanon and Syria, the Golan Heights, a Druze village, Rosh HaNikra and Acco. We explored various topics while at these places including such things as the early pioneers and Aliyot, our borders, past wars and future threats, our relationships with Lebanon and Syria and minorities in Israel. Some special highlights of the tiyul were the visit to the Kinneret graveyard where many of the early Zionist heroes are buried, some beautiful hikes including one pretty long one which included a swim in a beautiful pool towards the end of the hike and kayaking down the Jordan river.

The whole tiyul was done in partnership with the JNF (Jewish National Fund) who helped us fund the tiyul. In terms of accommodation, we camped out for a couple of the nights in big tents at the JNF site at Lavie which was a really beautiful setting to come back to after a hard day’s activities and the increasing partnership we are creating with them is very positive and is something we hope to really build on even further in the future. For the other two nights we were in Nahariya. As always, a group of the Machonikim were very involved in planning and running certain elements of the tiyul and they really did a great job including such things as providing amusement, games and creative quizzes and songs for the long bus rides, running peulot in the evenings and an occasional day time peula linked to the educational visit of the particular pace we were visiting at the time.

Since the last parents’ letter we have had just one and half weeks of regular studies and classes, one week before going off on the Northern tiyul and a final half a week after we got back. This was therefore the period when all of the on-going classes and courses came to an end as we asked them in each one to reflect on what they'd learned in each area and how, as a result, their thoughts and beliefs had changed.

Also in this fortnight were the usual array of special events including a final Yom Yisrael day trip entitled "Over the Green Line" where we took them into a couple of the settlements in the West Bank; Efrat and Hebron. We started the day with an overview lecture placing the history of this part of Israel in context and then went off to Efrat to meet the mayor and hear from him what life is like in his city. Then it was off to Hebron where we first visited the Tomb of the Patriarchs where all of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs except Rachel are believed to be buried. In Hebron we also met with the Spokesman of the Hebron Jewish community. Finally, we met with one of the representatives of Peace Now to hear a left-wing perspective on the issue.  This was generally agreed to be one of their most thought-provoking and interesting trips and sparked off lots of conversations and debates among the Machonikim, coming as they do from their very different youth movement ideological backgrounds.

Other special events in this period included the final optional Beit Midrash on the theme of “our right to the land” in the sources run by someone who teaches at one of Israel’s secular humanist Yeshivas. Coming as it did the very evening we got back from the above “Over the Green Line” Yom Yisrael, it was of course very topical and a significant number of them chose to come along.

There were two more excellent, optional Sunday Selections evenings; a Psychodrama session reflecting on the issues of being away for a year on a gap year and the meaning of “home” in that context and an “Accessibility Tour” where they got to experience one of the trendy streets quite near Machon that has loads of restaurants and coffee bars in it, Emek Refaim, from the perspective of someone with a disability and to see just how easy or difficult it is for disabled people to negotiate the streets and shops there.

There were two more weeks of the Open House structure with a selection of 4 random sessions each time which included such eclectic choices as: “Internet Anti-Semitism”, “Lateral Thinking”, “Intro to the Arab World”, the Israeli Kitchen and an “Israeli Politics simulation game”. This framework has proved a really successful addition to the second half of their programme with a lot of them saying commenting on just how hard it is to choose each time and some even finding themselves wanting to go them all!

In terms of evening peulot, the final Chavurah ran their big peer-led programme which was a fun look back at the last 4 months of Machon plus there was also the annual MASA evening event attended by thousands of long-term Israel programme participants in the country at this time. The highlight for them was a fantastic performance by the Israeli Acapela group, “The Voca People”.

For most of the penultimate week of the programme, we moved into a special seminar entitled 'The Contemporary Jewish World' where we aimed to bring all of the Machon learning together and to leave them with some of the big questions about Israel, Judaism, Zionism and the Jewish People to take with them and to carry on thinking about during either the second half of their programmes as they actually go out into Israeli society for those Southerners who have just started their year and as a form of conclusion to their whole educational journey for the Northerners who are now finishing their year.

One of the biggest highlights of this few days was a huge simulation game looking at the different factions in the Jewish world, both historically and today where, through a form of 'Jewish Congress', we debated which movement and approach to Judaism held, and now holds, the greatest prospect for the Jewish people both surviving and thriving. There was also a budget simulation game where they had to decide on what the key priorities were for a Diaspora Jewish community today, workshop sessions on such topics as “Who is Israeli”, “Who Needs a Shaliach” and “Israel-Diaspora relations”, inspiring talks by high quality speakers such as Avraham Infeld and Gadi Taub, a trip to the Museum of the Diaspora in Tel Aviv (where most felt they would have liked even longer time to wander around) and a really interesting Aliya panel with people from the youth movement world who’ve come here at a variety of times in the last 20 years or os, talking about the challenges and achievements of their own personal Aliya stories. All in all, this seminar provided a very good way to conclude the content learning aspect of Machon.

The vast majority of the group chose to stay at Kiryat Moriah for their final free Shabbat weekend so that they could be together as a group. On the Friday morning most of them went off to Tel Aviv to see/take part in Tel Aviv’s colourful Gay Pride Parade and then, after a mostly relaxing Shabbat, they went off on Saturday evening to the Old City to see the Jerusalem Light Show and then finished off with an impromptu dance party.

Then, in this final week we started with a 2 day special tiyul, again planned entirely by the Mazkirut, a representative committee made up of people from each of the movements. The first day saw a lovely hike, something this particular machzor has really enjoyed doing, followed by the afternoon and evening spent on one of Israel’s lovely beaches near the Netanya area.

Mostly it was a very chilled, social atmosphere with plenty of time for them to simply chat to their friends while watching the sunset but also included a somewhat more energetic Beach Olympics competition and a thoughtful, reflective style peula where they got to think back over their Shnat /Machon period to help them, both as individuals and as a group, look back at what they'd achieved and the relationships they'd made and to start the process of saying goodbye to each other and to the community they've built together over these last four months.

As a nice little bonus, the food was really plentiful and probably voted by them as the best they have had so far during Machon! After a night spent sleeping on the beach under the stars and an early breakfast, they headed off to a Water Park for a final ‘kef’ (fun) experience before heading back ‘home’ to Kiryat Moriah for a shower and a well-earned sleep. All, in all; a very well planned and thoroughly enjoyable start to their final week on Machon.

After they got back everyone was really busy with such closure kind of things as finishing off their Yearbook editing their group videos and collecting their various obligatory t-shirts and any other 'gimmicks' they'd produced. These final few days were taken up with various sikum (closure) activities run by us including, among other things, filling in evaluation forms to help them reflect on their experience and to help us make the Machon programme better, a final Chavura session with again time for reflection on how they've developed individually and as a group through both the group chavura time and through regular individual one-on-one conversations, and a Carnival initiated and run by them for local neighbourhood kids (in English) to give something back to the local community and also to raise some funds for a local Tzedaka project which tries to alleviate some of the worst effects of poverty in Jerusalem. It was a really lovely event with stalls and music and food that they’d baked themselves and a good chance to put some of their hadracha skills into practice, albeit with a much younger age group than they will be working with back home in the movement. They really worked hard to decorate the site and to make some creative and fun activities for the kids and it was great to see how they all pulled together to make it happen despite the relatively little free time they had available at this point in the programme. They also managed to raise a few thousands shekels for the tzedaka organisation they were sponsoring.

Yesterday evening there was the final last night activities which consisted of a nice buffet-style meal on the Tayelet (the beautiful local look view of the whole of Jerusalem), a really excellent cabaret style evening of songs, skits and screenings of the various videos that they'd made plus the giving of the letters they’d written to each other and then a final party at a local club that we had hired out for them. All in all the whole final evening took place in a really lovely atmosphere and it was clear just how much this machzor has bonded throughout this last few months.

That took us to the final morning earlier today where there was an early wake up to do all the final packing, clearing up and the room check-outs and then the traditional Machon closing tekes (ceremony). Quite a few friends and parents who are out at the moment visiting were actually able to join us for this session where we and the Machonikim, handed out their certificates, yearbooks and photos and made some final speeches before formally closing the programme and sending them on their way either home for the Northerners or to the rest of their year with their respective youth movements for the Southerners.

Finally, most of the group went off to eat their last meal (for a long time at least) in the Kiryat Moriah dining room, joined by a few of the parents who thus got to share in this classic Shnat/Machon experience, and then there was just time for some tears and some goodbyes and it was off with their respective movements to the next stage of their journeys.

In closure, we hope that you have appreciated these update letters and that your children have enjoyed their Machon experience educationally, socially, spiritually and in terms of their personal development as much as we've enjoyed working with them.

All the best,

Haggai & the Machon tzevet

Sneak peek!

Here are a few pictures from yesterday on Kibbutz Revivim. Day 1 of Sikkum Seminar

Upside-down shocko drinking challenge!

Dylan has a new best friend

Mud!!

Reflection on experiences on Boneh on Sikkum Seminar

3rd Machon Update

May 2013

Dear Parents,

Shalom again from Jerusalem where the Machon is more or less at the three-quarter mark and thus the Machonikim are certainly beginning to feel that the end is nearing. In fact there are only two more weeks of ordinary classes to go and four more weeks in total left of the programme but, despite this, their energy remains high, the machzor is continuing very successfully and most of them seem to be realising that they really have to make the most of every educational and cultural opportunity in this last month or so.  

The period since our last letter continued with the regular classes and courses, including a new set of choices of Electives on Tuesday mornings where they could choose from Book Club, a Photography course, an class on the early Chalutzim (Pioneers) and, finally, ’Talking Israel’ an elective to give them some Hasbara (advocacy) skills to help prepare them for going back to being active Israel advocates on their University campuses back home.

This period has also however been dominated to one degree or other by the religious and national chagim.  A few weeks ago it was the very special days here of Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day for fallen Israeli soldiers) and Yom HaAtzma'ut (Israeli Independence Day). Which, as you probably know, flow into each other. For Erev Yom HaZikaron on the Tuesday evening we went to Latrun, a famous site about half an hour outside Jerusalem, together with the South American Machon as well as thousands of other young people on gap year programmes in Israel, to attend a special MASA tekes. It was generally very moving, especially when one of the soldiers who was focussed on, who lost his life during the start of the second Lebanon war in 2006, was Nir Cohen, a Machon madrich who had died just a couple of months after the Machon group he had worked with had ended. 

The next morning we took them up to Mount Herzl to see how Israeli families who have lost loved ones deal with this difficult day and we gave them time to be able to wander around the graves and reflect on what the day meant to them as well as to Israelis. Many chose to go to those graves which had no families there for them and some were involved in giving out special flowers to those families and others who came to pay their respects. The place was totally packed but at 11.00 when the siren went off and everything came to a halt while there was total stillness and quiet all over Har Herzl. Though it was for many a very moving morning it also gave many of them a sense of being somewhat more of an outsider to Israeli society than they are usually used to feeling, as this is perhaps the most "Israeli" chag of all. In the afternoon when we got back they met in their Chavura groups to reflect on and process their experiences from the days and then, after running some peer led peulot (programmes) for each other on the themes of Yom HaZikaron (Memorial and Yom HaAtzma'ut, they started to get ready for whatever Yom HaAtzma'ut celebrations they were choosing to be part of. This included beginning to deal with the somewhat unique, strange and very Israeli atmosphere of moving so immediately from the sadness of one chag to the joy of the other within the space of a few minutes.

For the evening and day of Yom HaAtzma'ut we gave them the day off and encouraged them to go off and explore how Israelis and different parts of Israel celebrate Independence Day here. For most that consisted of parties and concerts in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and various other cities on the evening and barbeques and a carnival atmosphere kind of fun in the parks or city centre on the day itself. Again, many of them were able to reflect on the very different ways that Israelis celebrate Yom HaAtzma'ut here as compared to how this is done and what they are used to in the Diaspora.

Next up we had Lag B'Omer, a time traditionally marked in Israel with, among other traditions, bonfires in every neighbourhood. The evening of Lag B’Omer fell this year on a Saturday and thus, because the Rabbinic and education authorities wanted to discourage people from maybe breaking Shabbat before it had gone out, they gave children another day off school and encouraged people to hold these bonfires on Sunday instead. All this mean was that, for most of the country, there became two nights (and in some cases even three nights) of these festivities with different groups and communities doing them on Saturday, Sunday or even Monday evening!

On the Saturday evening those Machonikim around Jerusalem were free to wander round the city and see how Israeli families and kids celebrated this chag while another whole group of about 25 of them organised a bus to travel up North to Mount Meron, the site of the tomb of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, the anniversary of whose death is on Lag B’Omer. Traditionally, hundreds of thousands of people make pilgrimages on Lag B’Omer to celebrate this anniversary and our group joined in to see what it was all about. They certainly had a unique experience although it did involve a lot of travelling for quite a short visit and they then got back at about 9.00 in the morning am or so after an all-night coach ride home to go straight into their classes – now that’s commitment to experiencing different aspects of Israeli society! Then, the next night, on the Sunday evening, our madrichim organised a Machon bonfire for them in the local neighbourhood complete with singing and bonfire type food and most of the group came along for at least some of the evening and the atmosphere was really lovely.

Finally, in terms of these chagim, last week was Shavuoth. Just before the chag began we ran a couple of sets of study session, a day time Tikun Leil/Yom if you will. We decided to do this in the daytime rather than doing a Machon Tikun Leil Shavuoth in the evening so that those who were staying in Jerusalem could join the many Jerusalemites who stay up all night to go to study sessions and lectures all over the city, which being in Jerusalem, means that quite a few are in Jerusalem. Lots of them did in fact do this and quite a few others went round to the houses of a couple of the Machon lecturers who invited them over for a more home-atmosphere study evening. At about 4.00 a.m. a whole group of them walked down to the Kotel along with hundreds if not thousands of others Jerusalemites and then went back to Kiryat Moriah to sleep and recover a bit. Since Shavuoth was on a Wednesday this year we decided to the give them the Thursday off from classes and that meant that they had a 4-5 day break including the chag itself. Quite a number of them took the opportunity to go away for some or all of that period to visit friends and family and/or to go camping or even, for one group, to combine the camping with biking around the Kinneret. This morning they returned refreshed to the normal Machon routine for these final weeks. 

These special days have of course taken up much of the focus of recent weeks but, apart from their regular courses and classes which have all continued on as usual, there have also been the usual number of other special events and highlights. There have been three Yom Yisrael days out. The first was focussed on the issue of minorities in Israel, especially Israeli Arabs, and involved a trip to Givat Haviva to meet with and hear from a number of Israeli Arabs about their experiences and the issues that affect their communities. 

The second Yom Yisrael focussed on the issue of Israel as a democratic state and compromised of a special tour of the Knesset for our group where they got to meet a number of MK’s followed by staying at the Knesset for a game designed to explain the Israeli coalitions based political system and then a peula involving party presentations and a mock election ns to see how Machonikim would have voted in our recent elections (which it turns out, perhaps not surprisingly, was somewhat different from the way Israelis did actually vote at the end of last year).  

Finally, we went for the third of these Yom Yisrael days down South to Sderot to meet with residents and learn about what life is like in an Israeli city that has been under regular rocket fire from the Gaza Strip for many years and then across to the Erez checkpoint at the border with Gaza to look at the issues related to this aspect of the conflict. The evening before this trip we offered an optional evening lecture from one of the most popular Machon lecturers, Yair on the background to this part of the conflict and 55 of the 87 came along to his excellent presentation. Yair, as well as being an ex Machonik himself, is now the International Media Coordinator at Office of the President of the State of Israel, President Shimon Peres.

As to the evenings, the optional Sunday Selections have included an Israeli Film Night, a Mind, Body & Soul session focussed on approaches to holistic health and a fascinating meeting and discussion with a number of Jewish and Palestinian young people who have been involved in various dialogue projects through ICCI, an organisation that encourages the coming together of the three monotheistic faiths’ to try and show how religion can be a force for healing within society,

The Wednesday evening programmes have included another couple of optional Beit Midrash session, one on the themes of food ethics and vegetarianism in Judaism and one on ‘Aliya L’Regel’, the idea of the traditional pilgrimages that Jews make to Jerusalem on the three foot festivals each year, Pesach, Succoth & Shavuoth.  Also, there was another of the Chavura peer led programmes for the whole machzor, this time an excellent and really well run fun murder mystery evening as well as an optional programme with the better English speakers from within the Latin American Machon for those people who wanted to get to know some of them a little better.

Another new structure we have started in the last couple of weeks is a slot on Sunday afternoons called "Open House". Most of the education on Machon is organised in courses lasting anything from 4-12 weeks but on this afternoon we bring in some interesting outside people and offer a fascinating range of one-off sessions that they can do without needing to commit to a whole course. We try to cover different content and methodologies each time and just some of the sessions offered so far have been: Jewish Stars in Hollywood, Urban Navigation Skills, Judaism and the Matrix, the History of Youth Movements, a Creative Writing Workshop and a meeting with Michael Freeman, an ex Machonik who is very soon off to be Israeli’s Deputy Ambassador to South Africa.

One major aspect of Machon is its pluralistic nature with a group of people with very different ideological beliefs needing to live and learn together. One particular challenge in this regard is the way in which Shabbat happens. Most weekends are free and Machon participants can choose whether they stay at Kiryat Moriah or go off doing their own thing around Israel. Those that stay need to try and be aware of the differing needs and sensitivities involved in the very different levels of Shabbat observance and this isn't always easy. For two Shabbatot during the programme however we require that they all stay together and we aim to work out a programme that tries to be as pluralist as possible while respecting all the different beliefs. The first of these Shabbatot, in the first month of Machon, was run by the tzevet (staff team) and the second which took place a week or so ago, was run by the Machonikim themselves.

A va'ad (sub-committee) made up of representatives from the different youth movements and ideologies put an enormous effort into making this happen. They organised a great programme that included a choice of creative activities (chugim) on Friday afternoon, a joint Kabbalat Shabbat service and an Oneg on Friday evening with a choice of a relaxing meditation or a story time session. On Shabbat morning they did not try and do something all together but rather organised three separate services for each of the three streams of Judaism represented on this Machon. In the afternoon there was a choice of what they called “intellectual chugim” and then, after a little Shabbat shluff break, they finished the Shabbat with a Seuda Shlishit third meal and a lovely Havdala to close. Of course, not everyone was equally comfortable with everything in the programme but overall it was really successful and had a great atmosphere and a great deal of credit must go to all of those who helped plan this very successful Shabbat BYachad. . 

Despite the really intense nature of Machon we still encourage Machonikim to make the very most of these four months by doing even more in their limited free time. We are always willing to encourage and support the initiatives they come up with and this machzor has been one of the best for some time in this regard.

Some of the youth movements meet regularly on their free evening to spend time building a stronger sense of their group's youth movement identity while a group of them have organised an inter-movement, mixed football World Cup which has involved a high percentage of the machzor in playing as well as drawing a large crowd and a great ruach (atmosphere) for all of the lunchtime games. The organisers have really gone to some lengths to make this special including such things as making sure there are referees and linesmen, doing a live commentary during some of the games and producing a video of the “story of the World Cup”.  

In addition they have organised some extra classes even in the limited free time they have in their lunchtimes. One group of 15 people are doing an extra Judaism class that they asked for which is happening with one of their teachers, Marc, and another group lobbied us for a :”introduction to philosophy class”. We managed to find a teacher for this and some 25 or so of them wanted to join but we had to restrict it to 15 people because of the needs of the teacher. I must say that for us it is really wonderful to see such a great level of commitment to learning that many of them in this year’s machzor are showing.

Finally in terms of their initiatives, the machzor mazkirut (a committee of representatives from each youth movement) are organising an afternoon fundraising English speaking carnival for local kids in order to raise money for a charity of their choice to take place in their last week of Machon. They are really putting a lot of work into it and hopefully it will be the success it deserves to be.

That's about it for this update. Our next and final parents’ letter will be at the very end of the Machon in a month’s time. If any of you are around in Israel visiting your children in mid-June when the Machon programme ends then you are more than welcome to join us at the final graduating tekes (ceremony) which will be on the morning of Thursday June 13^th, probably at about 11.00 am.

Haggai Kimmelman and all the Machon staff 

Boneh Learning Topics (continued)

After tiyul, we went straight into a four-day long seminar in Jerusalem. During Jerusalem seminar we spent the week looking at the different issues, topics and conflicts that arise in Jerusalem.   The two main ideas that we focused on was the “Conflict” and the relationship between Jews and Arabs in Jerusalem, and the religious secular divide in the city. We spent the first day of the seminar on kibbutz  preparing for the week ahead, watching different movies which created a basis for the conversations that we were about to have.  The first day in Jerusalem we visited the Knesset and had a walking tour of the Old City, looking at the historical background of Jerusalem.  The next day was focused on the conflict between Jewish Israelis and Arabs in the Jerusalem area.  We went on a tour of East Jerusalem with an organization called Ir Amim, and then returned to the hostel to hear a speaker who attempts to move Jewish families into East Jerusalem.  The third day of the seminar was focused on the role religion plays in politics in the country.  We hear from someone who works at the Israel Religious Action Center, he spoke about the hot topics that his organization deals with, like de-segregation on buses and the recent allowance for women to pray freely at the Kotel.  We spent the afternoon walking around a strictly observant neighbourhood and saw how these beliefs come into practice.  The last day of the seminar we visted Har Herzl and went to the graves of early Zionist leaders that we have learned about throughout Boneh. The seminar ended with visiting the Israel museum were we saw historical artifacts that are culturally important to the state.

In the youth movements module, our last module on boneh, we talked about the emergence of the idea of “youth” after the industrial revolution and how youth movements were created as a revolutionary way to address the questions and struggles of that age. The speaker was the Mazkir of the world Bnei Akiva movement who spoke to us about their ideology and how they movement addresses issues that are also central to Habonim.

We are just about to start our Boneh sikkum seminar where we will use the week to go over the many large questions and dilemmas that we have faced on Boneh.  We are sure it will be a bitter sweet week filled with a lot of reflection and hopefully some pool time on Kibbutz Revivim!

Revivim Sunset

Boneh Northern Tiyul

On the northern tiyul the chanichim hiked through the beautiful mountains of the Golan Heights.  Every day the chanichim walked up challenging hills, and cooled down in streams and waterfalls!  The tiyul was filled with great food (we even had pizza one night!) and a lot of wonderful activities that the chanichim prepared and ran for each other!

Boneh Learning topics

The two weeks after pesach chofesh we continued speaking about the early history of the Jewish people.  We started exploring what life was like for Jews in the modern era.  We looked at questions of how it was to be a Jew during the Enlightenment and how Jews responded to living amongst secular and Christian societies.  We went on to discuss the complex history of the anti-Semitism Jews have faced.  We looked at different types of anti-Semitism and when life for the Jews was the hardest.

The Boneh programming continued by taking a look at early Zionist history. We explored the roots of Zionism and its earliest thinkers and then further explored this history in Zichron Yaakov during the northern siyur. In Zichron Yaacov we did a walking tour to learn about the history of the first aliyah, the development of moshavim and the influences of Baron Rothschild on the development of Israel. Afterwards we went to the Second Aliyah museum, where we met a very funny tour guide and had a great time learning all about the Second Aliyah. Another part of the northern siyur was a trip to Nazareth. There we talked about at the intersections of  different beliefs and histories in the city.

Second Aliyah Museum

The next module was chalutziut, which was a wonderful historical preparation for the May Day rally. We learned about the development of the idea of Socialist Zionism as something different from either socialism or Zionism and learned how those ideas helped to found and shape the state of Israel.  We went on to discuss the dilemmas of nation building.  Here, the chanichim looked at questions of defense, the religious secular divide and political coalitions at the very beginning of the state.

During the Arab Israeli conflict module, we learned about the complex and difficult history, and we explored the current incarnations of the struggle. We also met with speakers, one from Breaking the Silence, which is an organization that leads tours of Hebron, and two from the Parents’ Circle, which is an organization of friends and families of people who have lost their lives during the conflict. All of the speakers brought really eye-opening ideas and were really engaging. 

Pesach Seder on Boneh

Before their pesach chofesh we decided to set aside a weekend to create our own Pesach seder and talk about our Jewish identities.  The chanichim were asked questions about the role history and memory play in their Jewish communities and the importance that the historic connection of the land of Israel has for them.  Throughout this seminar the chanichim spent a great deal of time writing sections for their own seder.  They ran the seder on the last night of the seminar, before they went to spend Pesach with family and friends. Their seder was a lot of fun and very meaningful.  It was great to see their creativity shine through and to really see them interpret Jewish traditions that are important to them.

ANZAC Day for Boneh

For ANZAC day the chanichim arranged their own dawn service on Revivim at a war memorial on the kibbutz. Afterwards they went to Jerusalem for a ceremony on Mt. Scopus with the AZYC and other Australian organizations operating in Israel.