Dear Parents, Snifim and Shnatties. Shalom Rav,
This week we were surprised by a very special guest, a special guest that we hope comes to stay for quite a while since Israel is in need of it, this week it started raining and it was a blessing.
on a less happy note, Israel said goodbye to a legend, Abraham Eden past away, Abraham was the commander that during the Independence War when he got to what today is Eilat and did not have an Israeli flag took a sheet and ink and drew the flag.
Israel is on vacation this week celebrating Sukkot and it is so nice to see so many balconies with sukkot in them, i took my family to the beach where my son took it upon himself to throw back all the sand into the ocean, two small fistfuls at a time, we did not have the heart to tell him that we were only going to be there for an hour and he will not get the job done, but it was fun seeing him enjoy himself.
our shantties helped build the sukka in kibbutz Lotan and some even volunteered after hours to help move the chairs and tables from dinning room to the sukka.
they had an activity with Hanna where Kitty did a maamad for them that led to start thinking and planning what they want to do before Shnat finishes, and i do hope and wish that our shnatties take advantage of the time left until the end of Shnat.
next week not only will we be receiving the Shnat group but we have a new madricha, Reut, that will join our staff and i want to take this opportunity to welcome her and to wish her luck.
I want to wish you all a great week and chag sameach
Michael,
Weekly report by Kathryn H.
What a week its been for us here on kibbutz, what with eating in the sukkah and all the goat milking shifts weve been picking up to help out as much as we can around the kibbutz.
For those of you who dont know, Goat Milking is quite the expirience, although Liz gets to do it everyday, the rest of us are all too happy to try out a different work branch every so often and really get our hands dirty. Milking can take up to about three hours but with good music and a whole bunch of friends it takes no time at all and is actually quite enjoyable! There are these scary milking machines with buttons to start the suction and this really complicated process of hearding the goats and screaming "Yalla!" at them until they get up on the milking platform, its all rather stressful and difficult to try not to hurt the really pregnant goats.
A few friends from Machon came down to the kibbutz to celebrate the Chag with us at the beginning of the week, we had a load of fun having ideological debates and dancing at the pub.
Josh participated in an inter-kibbutz soccer match over the chag, but alas we lost. But had a great time playing. He's still working in the garden with another volunteer. He says its hard work but he seems to really enjoy it, and that what counts!
Jade has been hard at work with Lily and myself planning the sikkum seminar for the southerners, she. Keeps us all on out toes and has amazing ideas. Shes playing guitar again and is generally smiling and happy, keeping the rest of the group smiling and happy too.
Liz has been helping out more and more in the goats and knows exactly what shes doing! She certainly helped me out the last time i went there. She really enjoys her work.
Shoshanna has been absent from our lives for far too long. Last i heard she was off galavanting israel with her family enjoying the high life of the watsu and the well awaited time with her Mom. (COME HOME SHOSH!)
Lily spent the chag with her family in Yavne, but came home briefly to say hello, get a few things and make her way with a friend to the Zorba festival. She also spent time with one of our friends from South Africa who is visiting on her gap year. It was so nice to have some more of that Saffa Spirit around the house. Holding the fort all by myself with these Aussies is not an easy task!
Sophie has been writing songs all over the place! You should really hear the one about the dishwasher she has been writing at work! Her friend is visiting us for a few days on his chofesh, so the house is gull of all sorts of interesting people!
Jordy just got back from her trip with her family, full of stories and pictures of all the fun she had with her parents and grandparents. (it seems everyones families are here)
And now me, Kathryn. This week in tourism we have been snowed under what with the chag and all. The office people had to recruit some of the shin shinim and volunteers to help us out! The laundry room has never looked as crazy as it did this past week. Mountains of laundry! I had to say goodbye to one of the girls i work with yesterday, shes off back home to holland and ill surely miss her.
Yom Chinuch this week was really interesting. We had a class with Daniel the Rabbi about the calendar of the jewish year. All the holidays make so much more sense now and having lived them in Israel and not in the diaspora has made all the more clear as to why we have them. Not only are they all connected to the seasons but to the moon cycle as well. Who woulda thought? Jade drew us an amazingly colorful diagram that were going to stick in our house. We also helped out with the clothes swap that the kibbutz ran buy sorting out all the clothes.
Channa ran a really fun peulah for us where we acted silly and ate chocolate and played pass the parcel for a good few hours, and then fell asleep on the grass in the sukah.
A you can see, its been quite a hectic week here on Shnat, but were all going strong and being cool. Thats it until next time!
Much love from all of your kids. (Is that a pun about baby Goats?)