Final Reflection: Letter for 66

Dear Wonderful 66ers,

Wow! I can't believe this time has come! The time when my own chanichim have the opportunity to apply to Workshop! And here it is: my Workshop blog! This is the space where I recorded Workshop activities, complete with catchy titles and fun pictures. Workshop 62 will look very different from Workshop 66. If you attend Workshop, you'll have different kvutzamates, madrichim, places you'll live, structures in the program, etc. I'm offering this blog to you as a space to get a taste of one person's Workshop experience, with the knowledge that no other person's has been or will be identical to it. 

My decision to go on Workshop was a challenging one. I knew by the end of Madatz that movement values were the values I held close and wanted to explore more. That kvutza was an intense, meaningful structure I believed in, that communal living seemed both practical and important, that the movement had been a space in my lofe that had positively shaped me into the person I had become. While doing Madatz, being at Galil for six years, and interacting with other movement members at HDNA seminars were important, I felt there was so much more to explore. What would it mean to live in kvutza for nine months instead of a summer? What would it mean to actually share my life, self, and belongings with people, rather than talk about doing this hypothetically during peulot and only engage with it by sharing snacks stored in travel trunks? What did the movement mean beyond Galil, what relevance did it hold in the world?

While this was all important to me, I also really wanted to start college. I felt that college would be my haven from high school. My parents weren't fans of Workshop either. They felt I was spending more money to extend my adolescence. I decided to write a Pro/Cons list to help me decide (which I just found!). Some of the pros included "Habos rock," "challenging myself a lot," "really practicing socialism," and "making/strengthening incredible, unique partnerships."  The cons side included "this is a lot of money," "too much discussion?" "socialism might not work out" and "i really like personal space." 

In the end, I prioritized the pros on my list and decided to work as best as possible to overcome the cons both before Workshop (such as by looking for scholarships) and during Workshop (such as by journaling and taking walks to be by myself). I would be lying if I said the year wasn't hard. This blog doesn't show the hard times--difficult asefor, some tough social dynamics, even homesickness. At many instances, I struggled a lot on Workshop, but to be honest, it would not have been a real, authentic experience if I had not both struggled and had a fantastic time. This is not different from college. This is not different from Madatz. When I think about Workshop, I think of these challenges. 

But I also think about how much I grew and changed. About how Workshop shaped my future involvement in the movement, the ways in which I approach pursuing social justice in the world, and my relationships with everyone around me. It lead to meaningful friendships and partnerships, strong devotion towards all of Jewish society, and a whole lot of fun memories. I can say with confidence that Workshop has shaped many of my decisions in the years following it--including becoming your Madatz madricha--and was an experience that largely contributed to me being the person that i am today. 

I firmly believe that every person who goes on Workshop needs to choose it for themself. This must be active choice, rather than a passive one or a reaction to pressure. I believe any person can be challenged on their decision to go or not, but at the end of the day, only you know what questions you want to explore in life, what inhibitions you have at home, where the weight on your own Pros/Cons list lies. Workshop is not the right experience for everybody, and not going on Workshop does not mean leaving the movement. Movement status is rarely made based on a member's involvement in one experience (just as not doing Madatz doesn't mean a person can't be involved at Galil). I think that Workshop often strengthens members' ties to the movement significantly (there's a reason why its the longest movement program), but a decision to go on Workshop or not isn't all or nothing.

So think about it. If, like me, Madatz made you engage critically with the values we cherish in the movement, then consideration is worth it. Do your research and check out resources--like this blog and others that movement members have written. Reach out to friends and hadracha figures. Maybe shoot a message to me, Lia, or Cooper. We are more than happy to discuss Workshop, senior year, and anything and everything. Although we are no longer your Madatz madrichim (cause you're on tzevet now, crazzzzzzy!), we still care deeply about you and are dedicated to being a part of your lives and movement process if you want us to be. 

I'm so happy to have created beautiful relationships with each of you this summer, and I would love to continue strengthening those relationships and supporting you in your life decisions, regardless of the outcomes that you choose.

With love & passion!

Aleh V' Hagshem,

Rachel

Workshop Just Gets Tastier

With lots of fun activities lately. the weeks have been going by fast! In this post I'll focus on Chava Achot Seminar, Lag Baomer, Achad B'Mai, The Tveria Jam, Visiting the Cousins, and Yamei Kvutzot. I'll also make sure to note the fabulous food consumed during each!

Chava Achot Seminar

The final weekend of seminar concluded with Chavat Achot (sister farms) Seminar, where Kvutzat T'kuma engaged in a seminar with Avtiach, our sister kvutza of Israelis during Shnat Sheirut (Service Year) in Hanoar HaOved V'HaLomed. The word "chava" in the title refers to the term "chavat hachshara," meaning training farm. This, in fact, is another way of saying Workshop, as the title goes back to the years when kvutzot would practice for aliyah on training farms in Europe and in the United States. While we're not currently preparing for aliyah on an agricultural farm, we are still taking the year to prepare for our futures in the movement.

The seminar began with Kvutzat T'kuma visiting  Avtiach on Thursday night at their home in Haifa. It astounded us to see that they had created what appeared to be a tiny kibbutz, right in the middle of the city. Unlike our living situation in Karmiel, Avtiach does not live in a house, rather their bedrooms, bathrooms, cultural room, salon, and mitbach are in separate buildings surrounding an open grass area. It reminded us a lot of our lifestyle on Boneh. In Avtiach's salon, the madrichim of both kvutzot ran trigger games for us to get to know each other before starting peulot the following day.

The next morning, both kvutzot arrived at the BAMA in Karmiel and split into two groups with members of both kvutzot in each group. Throughout Friday and Saturday, we engaged in conversations about a topic very relevant to us labor Zionist Israelis and Americans alike: Zionism. Two important discussions that stood out to me were what do we  believe it means to be a Zionist today, and what are the differences between being a Zionist in Israel and being a Zionist in America. It was fascinating to hear the perspectives of people going through a similar process as me but in Israel, and also wonderful to learn about the differences not only in how we actualize our Zionisms, but in our programs themselves!

The seminar ended on Saturday night with Avtiach walking with us to our house to see how we live, before catching their bus back to Haifa. Personally, I wish that we had begun our relationship with Avtiach at the beginning of Kaveret as opposed to just before its conclusion, but hopefully we might have a mifgash (meeting) with them again at least once more before Sikkum Seminar!

Lag BaOmer

On Lag Baomer (the holiday between Pesach and Shavuot where it's a custom to build bonfires ), Max, Julia, and I ran a "Medurat Shokolad" (Chocolate Bonfire) that we planned for our chanichim. On Sunday night, the three of us met up in Tveria with the madrichot at the BAMA and built a bonfire next to the Snif. We were so excited when lots of chanichim showed-up! We introduced them to S'mores, ran a game that included feeding people apples and bananas dipped in chocolate fondue, played lots of fun trigger games, and enjoyed delicious fire-roasted potatoes. The night ended with Moran (the rakezet of the BAMA) telling a scary story to the chanichim, and I tried my best to understand its entirety in Hebrew. It was a wonderful night, and Max, Julia, and I felt proud that so many chanichim came and had a good time at our big event!

Achad B'Mai

On May 1st, both Kvutzat T'kuma and Kvutzat Rakefet met in Tel-Aviv to discuss our futures upon returning to North America. Afterwards, we joined the Brits, Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, and thousands of members of HaNoar HaOved at the Achad B'Mai (May Day) rally! First, we explored the carnival, which included many open-mic stations for poets and bands, a cake and watermelon eating station provided by students at a movement cooking vocational school, and  a face decorating station, among others. Everyone was dressed from head to toe in red and blue, and it was exciting to not only be surrounded by so many members of the movement, but to see the madrichot and chanichim from Tveria. After the carnival, we began to rally! The thousands of us present marched through the streets of Tel-Aviv, carrying signs advocating for workers' rights, blowing whistles, and singing songs of solidarity. Finally, we arrived at a field where everyone ate dinner and hung out in the grass, and speeches were made at a stage set up at the front. I split my time listening to the speakers up on the stage and conversing with so many of the members of HD Olami (World Habonim Dror) present!

The Tveria Jam

Last Thursday night, Julia, David, Jeremy, and I went to a music jam in Tveria organized by the rakezet of Tveria's BAMA where Julia, Max, and I have messima. It was such an exciting night! Lots of madrichim that Julia and I knew from Messima were there, so it was fun to get to socialize with them outside of simply working with them. There were also drinks, sushi, and best of all, lots of live music! Julia and I joked around about getting up on the stage and singing ourselves, and when we told Orr, our melaveh, he signed us up to sing! The two of us sang "Winter Song," and dedicated it to Orr. It was thrilling to be able to be under the bright lights, singing to a large group of people while on Workshop!

Visiting the Cousins

The following morning after the Tveria Jam, I took a train to Tel-Aviv to meet up with my cousin, Tadeusz (son of the cousins that I visited with in Poland). The two of us had lunch together, and while our meeting was short, it was nice to hear about his life in Tel Aviv and to see him for the first time in two years! Afterwards, I took a bus to Yehud (a town outside Tel Aviv) to spend Shabbat with two other cousins, Benny and Miriam. One of the highlights of my stay with them was going to Herziyla and walking around the marina! Another highlight was the delicious dairy-free burakasim that Miriam made specially for me! It was nice to see these cousins once more before leaving Israel, and I look forward to of course keeping in touch and seeing them again.

Yomei Kvutzot

The past two Yomei Kvutzot have been very note worthy! Two weeks ago, Sarah and Bar had everyone put on blindfolds and brought us to Akko! It was a fantastic surprise! We split into small groups to explore the Old City. Abigail, Danny and I bought fresh-squeezed lemonade, falafel, and baklava before sitting and talking for a long time by the water. Afterwards, the entire kvutzah sat at the top of the Akko wall bordering the Old City to eat snacks and talk about our goals for the rest of Workshop. We ended our trip by watching the sea and the sunset and listening as Sarah read to us from the "Little Prince." Peulot are nice, but an excursion to Akko just to have fun and enjoy each other's company was an excellent alternative for the day.

Last week's Yom Kvutza was a bit more serious. The day was about both the types of relationships we see ourselves having with chanichim when we are madrichim at machaneh this coming summer, as well as about how we see ourselves bringing closure to our kvutza process. This included both talking in small groups and as a kvutza all together, and the end of the final peula resulted in us going around and each saying what we'd like to do as a kvutza in our final weeks of Workshop. 

It's almost inconceivable to think about Workshop coming to a close. The eighteen of us have been living together for the past eight and a half months, sharing what feels like our entire lives. This post will be the last one I write while still on Workshop, so look forward to a post detailing Workshop's conclusion and reflecting on this unique, intense year as a whole.

Eretz Yisrael Sheli Yafa

These past two weeks were ones filled with lots of nation-wide celebrated events! The first of these was Yom HaShoa, a day in remembrance of the Holocaust. On the eve of Yom HaShoa, Max, Julia, and I went with our chanichim in Tveria to represent Hanoar HaOved V'HaOved at a city tekes (ceremony). The following day, all of Workshop participated in a Yom Schichva, where both kvutzot from Karmiel (Kvutzat T'kuma) and from Rishon (Kvutzat Rakefet) engaged in peulot together at the ken in Kiryat Chaim to evaluate our relations with each one another as kvutzot here in Israel, and discuss our presence in the movement post-Workshop.

Later that evening, we all went to Kibbutz Lochemei HaGettatot (The Ghetto Fighters' Kibbutz) for an enormous tekes. Many speakers addressed the crowd, including Chavka, one of the ghetto fighters who was part of the Dror movement. The tekes also included a Hanoar HaOved singing group, representatives from various youth movements expressing their throughts, and an actress performing a dramatic monologue of one of the ghetto fighters--one that happened to be sitting in the audience, in fact.

The following Tuesday was Yom HaZikaron, Israel's memorial day for fallen soldiers and victims of terror. Workshop attended a tekes in Nahariya, and joined Hanoar HaOved in its mission to hand out free flowers to those entering cemeteries. Flower prices rise for Yom HaZikaron, and the purpose of this mission is to ensure that everybody can afford a flower in order to pay respects to fallen loved ones.

Tuesday night marked the beginning of Yom Ha'atzmaut (Independence Day)! Those of us who decided not to travel spent the night celebrating with all of Karmiel! We saw The Idan Raichel Project (for the second time on Workshop!) play outside of the Iriya (City Hall), and then spent the night exploring the crowded street and attending a city-wide silent rave! The next day was a rainy and windy one, and we spent the afternoon barbequing against the wind and enjoying our day off taking pleasure in each other's company. We finished the night by moving the couches aside in our salon (living room) and doing Rikkudei Am (Israeli Folk Dancing)!

These past two weeks also included the Birthdays of Workshoppers Joel and Julia! To celebrate, members of both Kvutzat T'kuma and Kvutzat Rakefet spent last Friday hanging-out at the beach in Akko! It was a very fun, beautiful afternoon, and was a great opportunity for the kvutzot to spend some quality time together!

This past Thursday, Kvutzat T'kuma spent our Yom Kaveret on a siyur (tour) of Haifa with a focus on kiyum mishutaf (shared existence), between Jews and Arabs within Israel's largest mixed city. The siyur was an interesting one, visiting various sections of the city and interviewing random passerby. Some residents we interviewed expressed loving Haifa and elaborated on their satisfaction by saying that Jewish and Arabs live and interact with each other peacefully. Other residents said otherwise, explaining that Jews and Arabs don't really interact much, and keep to their own groups for the most part. After discussing how we envision kiyum mishutaf throughout all of Israel and whether or not Haifa is a commendable example of it, the day ended with a small group of us visiting members of World Hashomer Hatza'ir living in Haifa on their gap year program. It was nice to meet more people taking part in a similar experience, but visiting the commune also made me very happy to be on Workshop.

This past weekend, us North Americans joined the Brits, Australians, New Zealanders, and South Africans at Kibbutz Ravid for May Day Seminar! Similarly to Rabin Seminar, we split into small groups of people from different countries for peulot. Aside from getting to know each other and playing lots of fun games, together we discussed the history of May Day and its purpose as a holiday whose significance changes each year, exploitation of workers in the world today, and capitalism's presence throughout the wide spectrum of exploitation. One particularly heated sicha (discussion) was one following a peula about sweatshop labor and other employees working in almost unbearable conditions, and a movie about the benefits (such as laundry service, free food, and a fully equipped gym) to workers at Google working happily for 12-hour days. The discussion questioned whether employees at google are exploited, as their benefits are given in order for advantage of the company to gain better profit, even though they're happy while working there.

It was fascinating to learn about a day concerning unity and human rights that is rarely recognized in the North American community, and also important to have this seminar before going to the large rally in Tel-Aviv on May Day. Additionally, this seminar was meaningful to me as a compliment to my messima. On one Yom Tzevet, Orr (my tzevet's melaveh) took Julia, Max, and I to a shuk in Tveria to interview youth that we saw working about how long they've been working, how much they're paid, and if they enjoy their jobs. We've also been temporarily running the BAMA inside of Tveria's Snif, a center for working teens. Looking at the posters in the Snif explaining the proper rights and wages of youth workers really resonated with me throughout May Day Seminar, particularly with an article describing Hanoar HaOved's recent mission in creating a union for the youth who work at BurgerRanch within a couple of hours. Indeed, labor rights are human rights, and are rights that I want to encourage others to think about, as well as their role in a society that mistreats it's members through many levels of exploitation. 

THIS Year in Jerusalem!

The week before Chofesh was an eventful one, with tzvatim running Pasechot for their chanichim, and my tzevet in Tveria renovating the new BAMA building. It also included my seeing Jordana and Natalie, two friends of mine from home, who were in Israel for the week! Finally, all of us kvutzamates packed up and were ready to embark on our own separate adventures for Chofesh! The night before separating, Bar and Sarah came to our house and the kvutza had our very own seder! We removed all the couches from our salon (living room), and arranged cousions on the floor so we could truly relax. Our Haggadot (books for the seder), were compiled by all the members of the kvutza! In groups, we each led sections that we had prepared throughout the weekend, sharing texts that we found meaningful and engaging the kvutza in sichot that we found relevant to the themes of Pesach.

The morning after the kvutza seder, I took a direct bus to Jerusalem to meet with Anya and her family, which was visiting her from Philadelphia! Anya and I have been very close friends for some time, and her parents and siblings have always graciously welcomed me as an additional member of the family. The night I arrived, we went to a family that invited all of us into their home for the seder--even though they didn't know any of us! It turns out that they invite guests they've never met before into their home year-round.The seder was a long one--lasting until 1:30am--as the family leading the seder decided to incorporate meaningful discussion, lively singing, and interesting current events into night. All in all, it was a fascinating seder to be a part of, and the food--particularly the salted chocolate matzah--was absolutely delicious!

The next day, Anya's family and 

I spent the day at the Israel 

Museum! We first visited the Herod exhibit, which has been getting a lot of publicity. I personally found myself bored. The exhibit was focused on the long-awaited discovery of Herod's tomb, but I longed to learn more about Herod himself as a leader. After exploring the museum a bit more, we ate dinner and then went to an Ice Festival! The festival included watching an show where the performers danced and did acrobatics entirely while ice-skating! Following the show, we each received coats and entered a large room filled with gigantic, colorful ice sculptures! Some notable ice attractions included a scene filled with ice dinosaurs, an underwater scene with lots of fish and large sea creatures, and a slide! Once we felt that we'd had our fill of the unique festival, we picked-up Zak, a friend in the Rishon kvutza (Kvutzat Rakafet), and then had a second dinner at a restaurant that served Kosher for Passover Pasta! The pasta tasted exactly like regular pasta, and after the meal Zak, Anya, Avram (Anya's brother), and myself went out for sushi--our third meal of the night!

The next day was one filled with lots of traffic across Israel, and my travel time from Jerusalem back to Karmiel tripled that amount of time that it normally would. I spent the night at the house with a few kvutzamates, and then headed to Tel-Aviv the following morning to spend the day with Joel, one of my close friends from Galil in Kvutzat Rakefet. The two of us spent a large portion of our time together at the Eretz Yisrael Museum at Tel-Aviv University. Our favorite exhibit was one about Ethiopia, which described the history of Ethiopia through the presence of different religions in the country, as well as the history of Ethiopian Jews and their presence in Israel. As the sun was beginning to set, Joel and I made our way to Yafo for dinner, where he enjoyed schwarma and I had shakshuka! After eating, we walked along the water, and then explored Yafo's night-life! Together, we admired paintings in an art shop, learned about an ancient method of jewelry-making, and enjoyed festive live music!

The next day, I journeyed down south to stay at the home of Kristina, a friend that I'd made on Muss! As Kristina and her family mostly spoke in Russian I attempted to pick-up a few words. On Friday night, we stayed-up late playing guitar and singing on the porch, and the following day included a fun trip to a Monkey Park (which is exactly what it sounds like--a park filled with monkeys). After saying goodbyes, I stayed in Karmiel for a bit to hang-out with some kvutzamates, and then ventured to Kibbutz Shomrat, a kibbutz next to Akko which is home to family friends that I have visited multiple times throughout Workshop. I joined them for their Mimuna Dinner (a tradition within Israel), which they took as an opportunity to do a mock seder to entertain the grandchildren! 

It was nice to spend the end of Pesach with family friends, but it was even nicer to return to Karmiel. Everyone has been so excited to be with one another and make the most out of the rest of our time together for the rest of Workshop, and I hope that this mentality remains for the next two months!

Chag Purim, Chag Purim

Purim is an extremely festive holiday here in Israel, so we took the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the chag on Workshop! Throughout Karmiel, families paraded around in costume--including the babies--and even employees at our local shops here in town dressed in costume! A few kvutzamates stayed in Rishon during the weekend and joined the other North American kvutza in attending a street festival featuring HaDag Nachash, a popular Israeli band. Here in Karmiel, Meital went to work making delicious hamentaschen, and packaged them as mishloach manot (food presents) to give to our neighbors!

On Saturday night, a group of us went to the local Masorti shul near our house to hear the annual reading of Megillat Esther (the scroll of Esther). Everyone at the shul dressed in costume, and games were run by the Rabbi's wife between Megillah chapters. After the reading, we stayed to shmooze with the members of the shul, and of course to eat lots of hamentaschen! 

Back at the Karmiel house, Jonah and Shahar ran a Purim-themed chevrati for the kvutza. First, everyone dressed in costume and split into pairs. Then, pairs competed against one another to create the most aesthetically pleasing hamentaschen, but each pair had to have one person in back with his eyes closed making the hamentaschen, and one person in front directing his teammate. The chevrati was very silly, and in the end we all just baked hamentaschen together as a kvutza!

At our messima in Tveria, Julia, Max, and I joined the madrichot at the BAMA in running stations at a Purim festival run jointly by Hanoar HaOved and HaTzophim (the scouts). The two youth movements built creative stands to run for chanichim, and lots of kids from throughout Tveria came to be part of the fun! Max helped out at the Lucky Machine Station (a station where chanichim could win candy), and Julia and I got artsy at the Face-Painting Station! A few chanichim from the BAMA came to help the madrichim run their stations, and it was wonderful to see the kids that we work with each week wear the chultzat tnua (movement shirt) and act as madrichim for younger kids. A bit into the festival, Hanoar HaOved madrichim spontaneously began dancing together at the center of the stations!

Now, hamentaschen have left the store shelves and packages of Kosher for Pesach (Passover) food have have taken their place. Messima Tzvatim have been running Pasechot for their chanichim, essentially special days revolving around the theme of Pesach. Instead of running a Pasechet in Tveria, my tzevet is instead helping to renovate the new building for the BAMA. After it's former space was condemned, the BAMA has temporarily been located in a bomb shelter in the Ort School where we run our morning peulot. While the room is nice, it is only one room and the school atmosphere is still present. The new building is large with many rooms including a kitchen, and is located in Shikun Daled (the Daled Neighborhood) where many of our chanichim live. We've spent the week organizing supplies, chipping paint off the walls, caulking and painting the walls, and weeding and cleaning the space around the building. It's been fun getting to know the BAMA madrichot, the chanichim, and other madrichim coming to help out through doing physical labor with them, and I'm looking forward to finally running peulot in the BAMA's new space!

Our house has been becoming more and more beautiful as we continue to live in it. The walls downstairs are now covered in homemade artwork, maps, photographs of the kvutza, a Hanoar HaOved flag, and other miscellaneous creations! This week, we added a new painting to our home, a painting bearing our new name: "Kvutzat T'Kuma." The name means "rebirth" and "rebellion"--words that we feel have been very present in our kvutza process. Knowing T'Kuma's meaning, it's very fitting that our painting includes a phoenix, rising with the sun to meet the sky and spread its light to the rest of the world 

The Poland Journey

Workshop has arrived home from Poland! In my opinion, the week was both an educationally rich experience, as well as a catalyst for refocusing the kvutza on the values that bring us together.

We spent the first part of our week touring Kazimierz (the old Jewish section of Krakow), the Krakow ghetto, and Aryan Krakow, including the Sukiennice, the large town square. Between our excursions in Krakow, we also made a day trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau and Auschwitz I. We then traveled for one day in Lublin, first touring the city and learning about the Nazi presence there, then visiting the Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva, and finally venturing on a somber tour of Majdanek, a former labor camp. 

The last part of our trip was spent primarily in Warsaw, though we spent one day visiting the small town of Tikochin,--where half the population was formerly Jewish--then the Lopachova Forest,--where the Jewish residents of Tikochin were shot and buried in mass graves--and finally Treblinka--an awful death camp that is now the site of a memorial of seventeen thousand stones, each representing a person killed during the day of the camp's largest mass extermination. In Warsaw, we visited the orphanage that was run by Janusz Korczak, the famous Jewish educator and studier of pedagogy that was murdered along with his orphans at Treblinka. We toured important sites that were in the Warsaw ghetto, and finished our time in Warsaw with our madrichim leading us on The Path of Heroism, essentially a tour of important spots related to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

I had a really meaningful time on this trip to Poland. One highlight was meeting-up with Jan, a relative of mine who lives outside Krakow, along with his wife, Maria, and their daughter, Magdelena. The family took me out to a really nice restaurant in the Sukiennice, and I enjoyed a meal of warm bread, grilled vegetables, and mouth-watering chocolate torte. As we sat and talked, I learned that Jan had not been told that he was Jewish until he was forty years old, as his mother had kept it a secret to protect her family. It was fascinating to hear Jan talk about family history and comforting to be with all three relatives so far from my home. I was sad to leave after spending only two short hours with them!

Another highlight of the trip was learning about the history of the Dror movement. Both in Krakow and in Warsaw, we visited buildings that were previously Dror communes. Ohad, our Poland madrich, read us excerpts of accounts written by commune members, and we noted how the commual lifestyles those movement members led sound very similar to our communal lifestyle here on Workshop! We learned about the resistance that movement members did throughout the Holocaust, and discussed as a kvutza how we feel that resistance is necessary in our lives today. All throughout our Poland journey, we found ourselves in constant discussion, which I feel was even more important than seeing the sites that we visited. 

This was my second journey to Poland, and while I saw many of the same places as I did with my grade only a bit more than two years before, this felt like an entirely different trip. The discussions that we had with one another strayed away from focusing on vicitimization, and instead focused on methods that bring people together, enabling them to resist. One discussion topic that stood out to me was capitalism's presence in the Holocaust, how not only did the Nazi's gain a profit in any way manageable at the expense of dehumanizing and murdering Jews, but Jews oppressed other Jews to gain money as well. In Warsaw, we stood outside of the ghetto's former Judenrat (Jewish council) building and discussed how the council had refused to raise taxes on the rich in order to aid the poor and dying within the ghetto, as they themselves were the rich. This topic got me thinking about capitalism's immense presence in our society today, and how I don't think negative aspects of it have been combatted since its horrible factor within the Holocaust. Another discussion that topic that I found interesting was one revolving around why the youth movements were such strong resisters in the Holocaust. As a kvutza, we talked about how movement members had grown up learning about the importance of living and working together, so it was natural for them to feel inclined to collaborate during hard times. This made me think about my life right now, living and working with my kvutzamates, and how important a lifestyle this is to me.

Most importantly throughout the journey, I felt an enormous sense of love for my kvutza, and a sense of gratitude that I'm fortunate enough to have this structure in my life. Communal living can be hard, and we certainly aren't all the best of friends, but at our core, we remain a group of unique individuals that constantly question the world, want to work together to actualize values that we hold dear, and most importantly, truly care about one another's well-being. 

Kaveret in Karmiel

Now that we're over a month into Kaveret, we've now established a pretty stable weekly schedule! I've decided to split this post into four important aspects of Kaveret: Messima, Yom Kvutza and Yom Kaveret, Poland Seminar, and Karmiel Adventures! 

Messima

On Sundays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, I travel to Tveria, a city along the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee), to do messima at a middle school with Max and Julia, two of my kvutzamates. Messima (which literally means "mission") is work that the movement sees as actualizing its values. With the guiding of our melaveh (accompanier), Orr, the three of us do our messima by running peulot for kids to not only teach them English, but to encourage them to question their identities and the way that they relate to their classmates and the world around them. 

Sundays: Our mornings at the school begin at 8:30am, and we proceed to run peulot for five classes until the end of the school day. We then go to Hanoar HaOved run Bayit L'Meida V'Amda (BAMA), which stands for the House of Science and Stance. While the permanent site of the BAMA is under renovation, the BAMA's temporary location is set in a small room within the school. My tzevet plays games with the kids who come, eat lunch with them, and aid the madrichim in running peulot and fun chevratis! 

Tuesdays: On Tuesdays, we again run five morning peulot beginning at 8:30am. In the afternoons, however, we run an hour and a half long English Club for students struggling a bit with English. Our most recent peula was one focused on positive communication. Julia, Max, and I set the classroom where English Club is located up like a theatre, with chairs placed in rows facing a "stage," or empty area. The three of us dressed in silly costumes and performed skits for the chanichim, with each skit displaying either a positive or negative social interaction between characters. The students analyzed each skit, explaining what aspects of the interactions made them either negative or positive. We then created an English Club Communication Declaration, where the chanichim listed types of methods they want to utilize in relating to each other within the English Club. Afterwards, the chanichim each signed their names to the written declaration, all the while marveling at one another's handwriting when writing in English. Once English club finishes, Max, Julia, and I head to the BAMA to once again hang-out with the kids there and help the madrichim.

Wednesdays: Wednesdays are our Yom Tzevet! These days are run by Orr, our melaveh, to help us enhance our skills as madrichim and learn about the lifestyles our chanichim are used to. On the Yom Tzevet which took place on election day in Israel, Orr took Max, Julia, and I to the tayelet (boardwalk) in Tveria, and sat us down along the water. We talked about each candidate running for prime minister (and in Israel, that's a lot of candidates), and the platforms of the parties that they represent. Orr then had the three of us walk along the tayelet and conduct a survey of passerby to gain a sense of who the majority of Tveria residents would vote for. I loved this exercise! It gave me the opportunity to engage in fascinating discussions in Hebrew, and learn more about the motivations for people to vote for various Israeli political parties. Once we'd crossed the tayelet, the three of us sat down and discussed the results, and discovered that it seemed that Tveria would have a high percentage of residents voting for Likud (the major right wing party) and Shas (an ultra-orthodox religious political party primarily representing religious Sephardic and Mizrachi Jews). We talked about the reasons why residents of Tveria, a pretty low socio-economic, religious city would vote for these parties, and related our discussion to how these mentalities shape our chanichim. 

Messima has been very fun and meaningful thus far! The chanichim are usually active participants in our peulot, and are genuinely friendly to and interested in us Americans! Our chanichim are also eager to discuss tensions in their own lives, such as animosity between Moroccan and Russian students, perceptions of Israeli Arabs, and dislike of living in a state of war in some way or another. 

Yom Kvutza and Yom Kaveret

A consistency between Boneh and Kaveret is that Mondays are still Yom Kvutza! Every Monday, Sarah and Bar (our new madrich, as Yo'av needed to leave around a month ago) run peulot for us at our home in Karmiel. Lately, the peulot have been very focused on how we relate to one another as kvutzamates, and what we demand from another in this collective. 

On Thursdays we have a special day called Yom Kaveret! This day is run by our Kaveret rakazim, Dean and Bria. The two rakazim run peulot for us throughout the day, and then optional Hebrew classes are offered in our house in the early evening. Our past few Yomei Kaveret have focused on the affects of capitalism, eventually zooming in on issues revolving around capitalism within Israeli society today. This included "The Game of Life" created by our rakazim, where the kvutza was split into different families of varying economic privilege, and needed to decide how to spend our money and how we would respond to large life decisions. The game gave us an idea of how much necessities cost in Israel, and gave us perspective on how difficult it can be for almost a quarter of the country's population to afford the living basics.

Poland Seminar   

Us Workshoppers and British Shnatties will be leaving for a week-long journey to Poland on the tenth, so us three kvutzot joined together for a three-day seminar two weeks prior to our departure. Our days were spent at the Ghetto Fighters' Museum not far from our home in Karmiel. As a kvutza, we explored the exhibits with Bar and Sarah, as well as with our Poland madrich, Ohad. Ohad led us in discussions about how we relate to the holocaust, and how we relate to revolt and rebellion. After leaving the museum each day, we stayed at the Shlomi Hostel where we had half of our Workshop Orientation in September, and engaged in peulot each night. One particularly controversial peula followed a quick film about the Hitler Youth, and we discussed what we perceive indoctrination to be and whether or not we feel that indoctrination is present within our our own lives and educations.

Following the seminar, our kvutza has had a group-wide check-in about how we're all feeling going into this Poland journey, and about the goals that we have to grow as a kvutza during this process.

Karmiel Adventures

Living in Karmiel has been extremely different from living on Kibbutz Ein Dor. Our house is only a few minutes walk from a mall and a strip with many stores and eateries. Some of my favorite spots in this area are the bakery--where I love to indulge in potato burrekasim and chocolate ruggalach--and the ice-cream parlor, which has the most delicious berry sorbet! Still close by is the Park HaMishpacha (Family Park), where Karmiel residents can bowl, slide, golf, do other fun outside activities for free. Across the street from the park is the home of a lovely family that invites Workshoppers and members of other gap-year programs into their home as often as they want. The family truly is wonderful, offering us home-cooked meals, produce to take home, excursions to the park, and the opportunity to hang-out with their teenage son with cerebral palsy.

Only a five minute walk from our home is a masorti shul, where many of us attend services on Friday nights and a couple go to on Saturday mornings. Two weeks ago, a large group of us attended Friday night services and then joined the shul in a wonderful Tu'Bishvat seder and potluck. The food was delicious, and the experience provided us with the opportunity to make friends with more Karmiel residents!

Three weeks ago, I celebrated my 19th Birthday here in Israel! I had a joint Birthday party with my friend Zak, who lives in Rishon L'Tzion, and a fair amount of members of the Rishon kvutza traveled here to the Karmiel house to celebrate with us! The theme of the party was "Bible Bakery," and everyone was encouraged to dress-up like their favorite Bible character and bring homemade baked goods! Knowing how much I fancy the doughnuts here in Israel and being aware of my disappointment that the bakery here has ended its doughnuts season, Abigail surprised me by making jelly sufganiot! At midnight, everyone sang me Happy Birthday, and lifted me in a chair in a Habonim Dror ritual to chant our traditional Birthday cheers!

The next day, Anya and I went out for my Birthday lunch at a local sushi restaurant, and upon arriving back at our house, Julia brought me soy iced coffee, a delicious drink that I've been craving but have had trouble finding without milk (as I'm lactose intolerant). A bit later, a group of us went to a really fun park only a fifteen minutes walk from our house. The park has one of the largest slides I've ever seen, as well as a large rope jungle gym and a stage where Julia and I danced and sang to some of our favorite country songs.

Late at night, a large amount of us ended my Birthday by going out for sorbet and icecream! Due to my Birthday being in January, I've never before been able to celebrate my Birthday in a Habo context, so I especially enjoyed  being able to this year, and being able to do so with my kvutza!

Tomorrow we'll be flying off to Poland! Kvutzamates are currently packing, cooking, and cleaning in preparation for our journey. I traveled to Poland with my grade during my program in Israel in eleventh grade, so what I'm really looking forward is this time is having a kvutzati experience.