Kvutza Creations
(as seen throughout our kita)
To the right is is our bulletin board for kvutza Warm & Fuzzies and the projects, skills, gan (garden) ideas, and movie lists. The Warm & Fuzzies section was created by Maia and Anya, who have designated themselves to be on the "Warm & Fuzzies Va'ad" that they created. Each kvutza member has a beautifully decorated pocket attached to the wall, and other kvutzamates are encouraged to put notes and pictures (aka the Warm & Fuzzies) into one another's pockets. The projects list is a growing list of projects that we as a kvutza would like to do (examples: build a fort, create a zine, make homemade pita pizzas). The skill lists is a spot where kvutzamates can list various skills they have that others might find useful or might want to learn, and the gan ideas list is a place where kvutzamates can write suggestions for what we can grow in our garden (for which a va'ad was formed). Finally, the movie list serves as a guide for what movies we should watch as a kvutza, and the paper helps us to see our ongoing list of preferences.
Here, we have our Weekend Chart which I designed, along with the Birthday and Zman Nikayon Calendars which I'll describe next. The Weekend Chart is a space where kvutzamates can list weekend plans that are happening on the kibbutz and also fun events occurring across Israel. The chart also serves as a space for kvutzamates to write that they are traveling and need a place to stay.
The Zman Nikayon Calendar is a calendar provided by my va'ad, the Cleaning and Health Va'ad. The calendar lists when each kvutza member has toranut boker (rotation for washing the dishes and clearing the kitchen in the morning) and toranut laila (the same rotation at night). It also lists what each room will be cleaning everyday. Each room is named after a different Israeli political party (my room is Meretz, a social democratic party), and cleans together from 7pm to 7:30pm. The cleaning tasks include cleaning outside, the bathrooms, the kitchen, and the floors and kita. Once a cycle, one lucky room gets to clean their own bedroom! I really enjoy Zman Nikayon each day--I love the sense of communal responsibility as the entire kvutza cleans the house together, as well as the look of the clean house come seven thirty!
Rabin Seminar
On Friday morning, all of us Workshoppers and Brits traveled to a seminar center in Modi'in (a town near Tel-Aviv) to gather with the Habonim Dror Australians, South Africans, and New Zealanders to engage in a seminar about Yitzhak Rabin, a former prime minister of Israel who was assassinated seventeen years ago in Tel-Aviv. I found the seminar to be phenomenal. The peulot we had were fascinating, and dealt with not only learning about the history of Yitzhak Rabin and the political and social direction of the state of the Israel before the time of his death, but also about the legacy of his assassination and the effect that it has had on the democracy of Israel's government and mentality of the Israeli people today.
After the seminar on Saturday afternoon, all of the Habonim Dor Olami (worldwide Habonim Dror) members at the seminar journeyed to Rabin Square (the site of Rabin's assassination) in Tel-Aviv to attend a rally organized by Hanoar Haoved, Habonim Dror's sister movement in Israel. 20,000 people attended the rally, and notably not only including members of leftist youth movements, but members of the more religious not so left-leaning youth movement, Bnai Akiba. Other organizations represented at the rally were Avodah (Israel's labor political party), Meretz (Israel's social democratic party), and Peace Now (an Israeli activist organization that promotes a two-state solution). The rally held a lot of energy, with cheering and enthusiasm erupting from all across the square.
With the theme of the night focusing on democracy, speakers spoke about the issue, as well as calling for peace and activism of the youth. In addition to the excitement of being surrounded by thousands of people and of listening to the speakers and musicians on the stage, it was also fun running into old friends! Us Galilniks ran into our Madatz (junior counselor) madricha who made aliyah earlier in the month, our Bogrim (oldest age group at Galil) madrich, and a madricha that worked on Galil tzevet with us this past summer.
The rally was very empowering, and I left feeling satisfyingly inspired and further motivated for the rest of Workshop.
Idan Raichel
On Monday night, all of Workshop and the Brits left Yom Kvutza early and took a long bus ride into Jerusalem for the year's first Masa event. Masa is an organization that supports many groups going to Israel, and has provided many of us with scholarships. I was not so excited to listen to speeches about the importance loving Israel and having fun throughout the year as I was to see Idan Raichel, one of Israel's most prominent musicians. The first half of the event was quite absurd--with dancing to backdrops of Israel, blasting hava nagila in the background, and strangely filmed videos of Masa participants explaining to everyone just how amazing Masa is. The speeches also were not received favorably by the Habonim Dror group, with speakers simply saying how wonderful Israel is without saying anything all that substantial.
Once the Idan Raichel Project came onto the stage, the event became instantly more enjoyable. The music was incredible, and lots of event attendees pushed their way as close to the stage as possible!
This past week is a perfect example of just how busy Workshop can be! The days feel chock full of activity, yet it all seems to be happening so fast. I'm looking forward to the activities in the coming week!
