Sof Shnat!

Shnat 2009 ended on Tuesday morning, after a great sikkum (concluding) seminar. The first shnatties have already started returning back to Australia or New Zealand, but most still have a few good weeks of travel around Europe/India/Thailand ahead...
Its been a great year, and best of luck to everyone!! We hope to see you all soon!!

Approaching the End..

Shnat 2009 is in its last week, with a whirlwind of different activities taking place in this past month. Since returning from Yam L'Yam tiyul there has been 5 straight weeks of Kaveret scheduling, with a range of different messimot (volunteering) and peilut (activities) taking place.
The range of volunteer placements expanded on Wednesdays to include food packaging, old-age homes, and special needs schools. This is addition to the Sunday and Tuesdays spent in a range of educational frameworks in over 15 locations across the north of Israel. The shnatties also had a number of seminars. The first was Socioeconomics in Israel, which featured a walking day tour in Tel Aviv across a number of different neighbourhoods -from the unrecognized Argazim in the south, to the overflowing refugees in Neve Sha'anan, to the bourgeoisie north of Kikar Hamedina - the shnatties got a first hand feel of the extreme differences in just one city in Israel, where the gap between rich and poor is one of the highest in the Western world; together with a number of sessions in order to understand the wider picture and Socioeconomics as a whole.
The next seminar was Rabin Seminar which involved all the shnatties from around the world - over 200 in total! The seminar started with a special tour of the "remembrance tent" set up in Carmiel where the shnatties learnt about Rabin's life and some of the dilemma's he faced. The actual seminar included more learning about Rabin's legacy and also looking at issues in Zionism and Democracy today. It was a fitting seminar to take place towards the end of the year, as it both challenged previously held opinions, and yet also allowed for reflection of the past year in a dynamic and interesting way. A highlight was the meeting between shnatties from all around the world, especially for those who took part in the Hebrew speaking discussion group. Unfortunately the rain persisted and the annual commemoration Rally was postponed for a week. This took place last night, with almost all the shnatties electing to attend on their last free weekend.





There was also an AZYC sikkum (concluding) seminar with participants from the youth movements and other Israel programs in attendance. This provided the shnatties with a good opportunity to see their friends and catch up before leaving Israel.
Last week the shnatties had a day excursion up to Tel Hai and Kiryat Shmona, where the story of Trumpeldor was intertwined with the topics of Zionism, Defence and the Second Lebanon War; proving to bring up some challenging and fascinating questions. Tomorrow the shnatties have another day excursion to Ein Harod, near Afula to hear about the chalutzim (pioneers) and the historical ideological divide in the Kibbutz movement. They finish up their volunteering this week and have cleaning and packing before spending next Sunday - Tuesday on the sikkum seminar (final concluding seminar) which will take place at Kibbutz Shfayim.

Tiyul Yam L'Yam

Hi all! The chaggim (holiday) season in Israel has finally come to an end and life is returning to a somewhat normal routine. During chol Hamoed Succot, the shnatties participated in our annual Yam L’Yam tiyul (sea to sea hike)!

They started tiyul early last Tuesday in Achziv, with a short tekes (ceremony) of filling a water bottle from the Meditteranean, which symbolised the journey we were about the set off on, together with all the other Habonim Dror participants from around the world - Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, England, North America and Holland. Altogether, there were approximately 140 people participating in this years’ tiyul.



On Tuesday we hiked part of the Cziv trail, which is near Montfort and Goren Park. The hike ended with a very short but very steep incline which was certainly to be remembered! The shnatties returned to Goren just in time for sunset and to set up the campsite. Unfortunately the weather proved less than friendly and some intermittent showers meant a challenging night! The whole group were real troopers, not minding a bit of rain and mud in the slightest! And thankfully it didn’t rain throughout the night, and everyone got a good night’s sleep.
On Wednesday we got up at the refreshing hour of 5.45am (!), packed up camp and set off with a short bus ride to Elkosh bridge, and walked along Niria river bed, to Hirbet Homema (near the base of Mt Meron) and then proceeded to climb up to the top of the Meron. Mt Meron is the 2nd highest mountain in Israel, and has stunning views of the entire region. That night we camped at Nachal Amud, which is situated on the Cross Israel Trail, a very busy hiking track which goes from the north of the country, all the way to the south.



On Thursday the shnatties started back at the top of Mt Meron and descended the mountain they had climbed the previous day, and then continued on the Upper Nachal Amud trail, through the Schia pools (small pools of water along the track) and then continued all the way to Tsfat, which once again had a very steep incline (anyone familiar with Tsfat will know that it is in a very mountainous area!). A short bus ride took the shnatties back to the Camping Ground. Upon arrival back, the shnatties were met with the famous sight of the spinning roasting chickens, which provided a sumptuous feast for dinner (With vegetarian options of veggie skewers and delicious burgul salad with freshly picked figs and pomegranates provided of course!)

On Friday, we got up again at 5.45am, in order to pack up the campsite, and after a short bus ride near to Kibbutz Hukuk, we started the final leg of the hike, primarily through banana fields, and all the way to the beach at Kibbutz Ginosar. Everyone rejoiced in some swimming time and the chance to have a shower finally! We finished with a short tekes, involving the bottle of water which we had filled up and carried from the Meditteranean to the Kinneret, and the distribution of Yam L Yam shirts!!
A great time was had by all, and some shnatties made great friends with various other Habonim Dror participants from around the world. The next worldwide Habonim Dror event, the Rabin Memorial Seminar weekend, will be next weekend, at the end of October.

Shana Tova !

Hi all,
Things on Kaveret have been progressing along at a lighting pace as both groups start to get used to a routine of lots of traveling, planning peulot (activities), discussing, cleaning and cooking! The chaggim provide a bit of a break to the routine, for both good and bad, but most of the shnatties have utilised the chofesh (break) days as a time to see family or friends around the country, and relax.
This week is a short week due to Yom Kippur, with Tuesday a messima day, and on Wednesday and Thursday the shnatties have a seminar in their houses. Next week during Chol Hamoed Succot, we depart of the famous Yam L'Yam tiyul where we will hike most of the way from Nahariya to Tiberias, together with the Northern hemisphere shnatties.
On another note, Israel switched to winter time this morning, and all clocks went back an hour so be sure to check the time difference when you want to call.
Wishing you all a gmar hatima tova and a meaningful fast.

September!

As you all know, the shnatties returned from Poland early on Friday morning. Overall it was a very special, meaningful and unique journey.
The first day was spent in Cracow, walking around the old Jewish quarter - Kazimisch - exploring the syngagogues and Jewish culture that existed for hundreds of years. After some free time at the central Sukinize square, we walked to the Wawel castle and heard stories of rich Polish history from the past few hundred years.



The second day we traveled to Auschwitz and Birkenau, which was a long and intense day. At the close of the day, the first tekes (ceremony) of many that were planned by some of the shnatties was held. It included many personal testimonies and was a very inspiring and fitting way to end a difficult day.



The third day was spent mainly in Cracow, in the Jewish ghetto area and a hospital were Jewish fighters had hidden and got caught. We also went to Schindlers factory which is about to open as a museum for the first time.
In the morning of the forth day, we walked around what used to be Nazi headquarters in Lublin, and focused on some of the different groups involved in the Nazi party and Hitler’s regime. In the afternoon we went to the concentration and death camp, Majdanek, situated only a few kilometers from downtown Lublin.
The fifth day was spent in the city of Lodz, whose ghetto has a very different story when compared with others across Europe. We visited a few sites and the Umshlagplatz (deportation square). That afternoon, back in Warsaw, we went to the Gensia cemetery and “met” a few of the characters, further deepening our exploration of the rich Jewish life that once existed in Poland.


The Braitberg twins giving testimony outside their grandmother's house in Lodz

The sixth day we visited what once was the shtetl of Tykochin, where Jews had lived peacefully for many hundreds of years before traveling to Lopochowa, the site of their eventual demise. The afternoon we were in another death camp, Treblinka.



The last day in Poland was spent in Warsaw, where it unfortunately rained very heavily all morning. We walked a bit around the old ghetto area and visited the site of a “chava” (literally – farm, but equivalent to “Shnat”) and Dzielna, the site of the Dror commune in the ghetto. The afternoon was spent walking through the path of remembrance and heroism, learning and discussing the uprisings and other various acts that took place in the ghetto. We finished with a final tekes at the Rapaport monument.


The shnatties at Dzielna - the site of the Dror commune

We left Warsaw very late on Thursday night arriving in Israel early Friday. The shnatties had time to rest and relax through to Sunday evening.

The final stretch of Shnat has started, with the Kaveret portion. The shnatties are now based in their 2 towns, and this week are undergoing a general orientation seminar looking at topics such as the Israeli School System, Responsibility of a Youth Movement in Society, Informal Education Codes, as well as thinking about how to consciously create their environment and relationships with each other. As you can imagine, living in a communal house has its challenges, and the shnatties are also spending some time decorating and thinking about routines they want to implement. Another focus of the seminar is splitting into their smaller messima tzvatim (the smaller groups that work in different schools around the north together). More details on these will be given next week.

Post-Poland

After a long and intense week, the shnatties returned back to Israel safely early this morning. A thorough update will be posted next week! Shabbat Shalom !

pre-Poland

This week the shnatties began settling into their homes for the next 3 months, in both Acco and Carmiel. They arrived on Sunday afternoon around 4-5pm and by 7pm there were many eager chefs already in the kitchen chopping vegetables and boiling water (no small feat when you are cooking pasta for 20+ people!).
On Monday and Tuesday the shnatties had their final Poland preparation seminar, which was held at the Lochamei Hagetaot (ghetto fighters) Museum which is conveniently just north of Acco. The Kibbutz of the same name was established by many youth movement members who after making aliya post-Shoah have dedicated their lives to Shoah research and rememberance. You might remember that on Yom Hashoa the group went to the closing ceremony which was held at the museum.
Some of the exhibits explored were - Janusz Korchak, Resistance, Righteous Gentiles, Warsaw, and Ghetto & Deportations. A highlight of the seminar was the testimony/meeting with Chavka Folman -Raban a member of "Dror" in Warsaw who acted as a courier until she was caught and sent to Auschwitz.



This past 2 days, Wednesday and Thursday have been an opportunity for the shnatties to relax, finish unpacking and settling into their houses, do some washing, explore their towns and even visit family or friends.
While in Poland there is no phone or email access for anyone, however if you need to contact us urgently, please be in touch with Gabe or Jo. You can also fax us at the hotels, just be sure to write "attention:Habonim Dror Group"