Dear Parents, Sniffim and Shnattim. Shalom Rav,
The Spanish announcement will be followed by an English one J
"Todo pasa y todo queda, pero lo nuestro es pasar, pasar haciendo caminos, caminos sobre la mar" "Caminante no hay camino se hace camino al andar", Joan Manuel Serrat (basado en el poema de Antonio Machado)
"All comings and goings are transient but ours are ephemeral, making our paths passable, paths over the sea" "Traveler there is no road, you make your path as you wander", Joan Manuel Serrat (based on the poem by Antonio Machado)
This week we are surrounded by endings, our southern group after being in Israel for nearly 10 months, their Shnat has come to an end. Some will continue to travel and prolong their journey, some will already be going back home, back to the snif.
This has been a journey that you have done as individuals and as a group. This has been a personal journey as it has been a collective one. You have shown us how much you have grown and matured during this year, we are very proud of you.
We want to wish you guys the best of luck, we our very proud of the journey you did and hope that we have left our mark on you as you have left your mark on us.
Our northern group has just finished their first period of Shnat, they have finished the Kibbutz group experience and will be embarking on a new journey, some will stay on kibbutz working in the different fields the kibbutz has to offer, and becoming part of the kibbutz community. While others will be traveling up north to the city of Karmiel where they will take part in different volunteer projects and interacting with the reform community in Karmiel.
This weekend they will have a sikkum weekend, the aim of it will be to give closure to the month they have spent as a group in Lotan and how to still reaming a group even though they are splitting into two groups.
We wish all a good weekend and Shabbat shalom,
Michael Vainberg
For the southern group weekly report please open this link:
Saturday, 24 November 2012
The Weekly Report: 08/11/12
Dear Parents, Snifim and Shnatties. Shalom Rav,
This has been a week full of commotions, a statue was dedicated to Winston Churchill here in Israel, and Shimon Peres is in Russia inaugurating a Jewish Museum. It also seems that our British shnatties have not come alone form Great Britain to Israel, we are being visited by Robins (UK national bird, although I think it is not officially the national bird) and every November 4th a Robin appears in the back yard of an Israeli citizen to begin his own Shnat while it waits for better weather in Europe.
Estatua de Winston churchil.
Lately our relations with Turkey have not been great (to say the least), this week the commanding Israeli officers that were on duty when the event with the Marmara "Humanitarian" ship took place have been put on trial, even though they are not even present. The Turks are calling for 18000 years imprisonment for each of the officers. I wonder how much of a fair trial they are actually going to get.
9 people died on the Marmara and that is a tragedy, however it was not a humanitarian ship but a provocation ship, they were armed on board waiting for the Israeli Soldiers and there was no trace of anything humanitarian on the ship, but putting this aside, because we definitely could have a long discussion if it was a humanitarian ship or not, it is not in my intention to come up with any sort of political statement but I would like us to take a moment and remember the Struma ship, which left Rumania in 1942 with over 700 Jews fleeing for their life, it hardly arrive to Turkey because of motor problems, the Turks did not allow the Jews to disembark and after many negotiations they towed the ship towards the Black Sea where they abandon it with the Jews on board and the ship was torpedo by a Russian and 768 Jews died.
And please let's not forget who gets offended each time the Armenian Holocaust is even slightly mentioned.
As for our shnatties, the southern group had their last week on Lotan, the had their last day of work and Hanna took them to Naot Smadar for a sikkum session, even though it was their last week they were kept quite busy, they had a farewell dinner with the kibbutz youth, a farewell activity for the kibbutz and our northern group invited them to a farewell dinner and activity night. This Saturday our southerners will arrive to Jerusalem to begin their Sikkum Seminar, their last week of Shnat.
Our northerners will be starting their last week on Kibbutz as a group, next week they will have a sikkum weekend and then they will divide themselves into two groups, one group will be staying on kibbutz Lotan and one group will be travelling to Karmiel, and with this they will be beginning their second period of Shnat.
I want to wish you all a great weekend and Shabbat Shalom,
Michael
Weekly report by Jordy K (Southerners)
So here it is my friends. The SECOND last delicious weekly report for you to fixture you eyes upon. This week has probably been the most confusing, heart wrenching, exiting, depressing week for the old' Southern Shnat Teva. We had our last host family dinners, last work days, and last time seeing some of the most beautiful kibbutzniks you've ever met that sadly, are leaving even before we are.
Friday night Sophie had her last pub night which ended in her refusing to leave until the place turned off the lights and closed the doors. We said a sad yet temporary goodbye to her on Wednesday as she headed off to New York for some bar mitzvahs with the family, with a return on Monday to sikkum her Shnat with the rest of us - HOPE YOU'RE HAVING FUN SOPHIE YOU SLY MINX! SEE YA LADYFACE ON MONDAY!!!
Anyway, the night before, Tuesday, we all gathered our bodies and wallets and went down to Eilat to have a 'see you soon' dinner for Sophie. We ate at her favorite - Burgers Bar, where everyone devoured their outragously scrumtious burgers, chips and drinks, to then bus home all in food comas.
Saturday brought everyone's last host family dinners, lots more incredibly good home cooked food and new family photos.
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday we slowly said goodbye to our work branches with some of us lucky shnatties receiving farewell cake and goods! Some of us also receiving nothing but a hard day of work - but whatever?!?! We still love our jobs?!?!
Wednesday morning we all bought some Lotan tshirts (OMG) and then proceeded to go to a close kibbutz called Naot Smadar where we were given a tour by a volunteer and all went through a ideological crisis where we discussed whether the members of this kibbutz were absolutely incredible or completely insane. To be honest. The answer was both.
That afternoon we rushed home to quickly make a buck load of cakes, cookies and pancakes to share with the whole of Kibbutz Lotan! We were scared no one would come - turns out people effing love us and it was a massive tea and cake party with families and volunteers and shin shins and shnatties from South and North. Ah. What a night.
Today was the day we sikkumed with our Hebrew teacher and gave a load of feedback to Hanna about our time on Lotan. and were invited to the bustan by the northern group for a farewell diner and activity
So mums and dads, husbands and wives, men and women in relationships and anyone else who reads our weekly reports (weirdos) we'll speak to you next week when we send our LAST weekly reply :O
Love DJ Korn.
This has been a week full of commotions, a statue was dedicated to Winston Churchill here in Israel, and Shimon Peres is in Russia inaugurating a Jewish Museum. It also seems that our British shnatties have not come alone form Great Britain to Israel, we are being visited by Robins (UK national bird, although I think it is not officially the national bird) and every November 4th a Robin appears in the back yard of an Israeli citizen to begin his own Shnat while it waits for better weather in Europe.
Estatua de Winston churchil.
Lately our relations with Turkey have not been great (to say the least), this week the commanding Israeli officers that were on duty when the event with the Marmara "Humanitarian" ship took place have been put on trial, even though they are not even present. The Turks are calling for 18000 years imprisonment for each of the officers. I wonder how much of a fair trial they are actually going to get.
9 people died on the Marmara and that is a tragedy, however it was not a humanitarian ship but a provocation ship, they were armed on board waiting for the Israeli Soldiers and there was no trace of anything humanitarian on the ship, but putting this aside, because we definitely could have a long discussion if it was a humanitarian ship or not, it is not in my intention to come up with any sort of political statement but I would like us to take a moment and remember the Struma ship, which left Rumania in 1942 with over 700 Jews fleeing for their life, it hardly arrive to Turkey because of motor problems, the Turks did not allow the Jews to disembark and after many negotiations they towed the ship towards the Black Sea where they abandon it with the Jews on board and the ship was torpedo by a Russian and 768 Jews died.
And please let's not forget who gets offended each time the Armenian Holocaust is even slightly mentioned.
As for our shnatties, the southern group had their last week on Lotan, the had their last day of work and Hanna took them to Naot Smadar for a sikkum session, even though it was their last week they were kept quite busy, they had a farewell dinner with the kibbutz youth, a farewell activity for the kibbutz and our northern group invited them to a farewell dinner and activity night. This Saturday our southerners will arrive to Jerusalem to begin their Sikkum Seminar, their last week of Shnat.
Our northerners will be starting their last week on Kibbutz as a group, next week they will have a sikkum weekend and then they will divide themselves into two groups, one group will be staying on kibbutz Lotan and one group will be travelling to Karmiel, and with this they will be beginning their second period of Shnat.
I want to wish you all a great weekend and Shabbat Shalom,
Michael
Weekly report by Jordy K (Southerners)
So here it is my friends. The SECOND last delicious weekly report for you to fixture you eyes upon. This week has probably been the most confusing, heart wrenching, exiting, depressing week for the old' Southern Shnat Teva. We had our last host family dinners, last work days, and last time seeing some of the most beautiful kibbutzniks you've ever met that sadly, are leaving even before we are.
Friday night Sophie had her last pub night which ended in her refusing to leave until the place turned off the lights and closed the doors. We said a sad yet temporary goodbye to her on Wednesday as she headed off to New York for some bar mitzvahs with the family, with a return on Monday to sikkum her Shnat with the rest of us - HOPE YOU'RE HAVING FUN SOPHIE YOU SLY MINX! SEE YA LADYFACE ON MONDAY!!!
Anyway, the night before, Tuesday, we all gathered our bodies and wallets and went down to Eilat to have a 'see you soon' dinner for Sophie. We ate at her favorite - Burgers Bar, where everyone devoured their outragously scrumtious burgers, chips and drinks, to then bus home all in food comas.
Saturday brought everyone's last host family dinners, lots more incredibly good home cooked food and new family photos.
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday we slowly said goodbye to our work branches with some of us lucky shnatties receiving farewell cake and goods! Some of us also receiving nothing but a hard day of work - but whatever?!?! We still love our jobs?!?!
Wednesday morning we all bought some Lotan tshirts (OMG) and then proceeded to go to a close kibbutz called Naot Smadar where we were given a tour by a volunteer and all went through a ideological crisis where we discussed whether the members of this kibbutz were absolutely incredible or completely insane. To be honest. The answer was both.
That afternoon we rushed home to quickly make a buck load of cakes, cookies and pancakes to share with the whole of Kibbutz Lotan! We were scared no one would come - turns out people effing love us and it was a massive tea and cake party with families and volunteers and shin shins and shnatties from South and North. Ah. What a night.
Today was the day we sikkumed with our Hebrew teacher and gave a load of feedback to Hanna about our time on Lotan. and were invited to the bustan by the northern group for a farewell diner and activity
So mums and dads, husbands and wives, men and women in relationships and anyone else who reads our weekly reports (weirdos) we'll speak to you next week when we send our LAST weekly reply :O
Love DJ Korn.
Sunday, 18 November 2012
Kathryn and Mitchel Do Israel
Day One:
The Dead Sea
I examined my burnt shoulders in the mirror that evening before getting into a decidedly cold shower. They were redder than ever. I have to admit, it has been ages since I've been out in the sun let alone when its at least 42 degrees out.
The rocks beneath my feet we scorching hot and stuck together because of all the salt from teh water. I waded into the water that was rapidly rising, turned to face my back to the wide expanse of ocean before falling backwards only to be caught by the buoyancy that the salty water provides. The water was boiling, hotter than a bath. I floated between a lounging position and being upright, trying tot touch the cold water below with the tips of my toes. Not an easy feat I might add.
We washed our stinging skin off under the cool, fresh water showers and lay our towels out on the stones. We sat and talked for a few hours before heading for the change rooms and treating ourselves to ice creams at the canteen.
The bus was cool and the air conditioning soothing on my hot face, drying the sweat that had begun to form while we waited, rather impatiently for the bus to arrive. Not long after we got on the bus we both fell asleep watching as the desert whizzed past us and the sea turned into mountains.
Day Two
Jerusalem: The Old City
The bustling shuk of the Arab Quarter never seemed to end, and we found ourselves getting lost in the winding alleyways, walking past the same shops over and over again. every so often we would find ourselves down a different street. F
irst we explored the Jewish Quarter and all the old buildings towering above us, the ruins that lay below in their natural state. The Kortel was full of people celebrating, praying and tourists being tourists. I always walk up to the wall and look up at its vast expanse. I see women dovening, tourists putting notes in the wall and families rejoicing from the "wrong" side of the machitza (separation).
There is a tradition of walking without facing your back to the wall after dovening. I always feel uncomfortable doing it, and I see the look in some women's eyes that I must have in mine as I perform this ancient ritual without the true understanding.
Today I walked away normally.
We carried on wondering through the shuk filled streets and found our way to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. We entered the church along with many more Christian People making their pilgrmage to the place where Jesus was prepared for the cross, we watched as they bent down and rubbed oil on that very spot and prayed. Walking around the church this time was different than before. As well as lookign at all the historical and religious places we looked at all the artwork and how it changed form different time periods and spoke about the meanings behind all the paintings, Mitchel even throwing in some tidbits about ancient historians that thought the mural on the roof of the Sistine Chapel was a representation of Christianity being a dark religion, when in fact, it was jsut a bit dirty.
We sat down for lunch at "The Best Falafel" place and for ten sheckle it was pretty good.
Day Three: Tel Aviv/Yafo
We left mid morning on a Shirut to Tel Aviv and managed to find our way to the pier. We sat on the rocks talking for a while before deciding that it was about time for lunch. We walked for a while along the ocean, the air filled with the smell of people having family a Mangal (Barbeque/Braai) on the beach. Children were loudly playing around on the grass as we walked. I kept a rhythmic pattern of foot steps trying to keep up with Mitchels long legs. Four steps on each square of paving. Sometimes three. We walked for what seemed like forever in the heat of the day, almost dehydrating because we were sweating so much.
We stopped in yaffo for a well deserved, steaming hot pan of freshly made Shakahuka. We ate in silence, not taking breaks between each mouthful. The sweet and salty mingled taste of the tomato sauce was an unbelievbly good sensation to have in ones mouth. The bread was soft and we used every last crumb to soak up the sauce on the pan. The water dropplettes rolled down the side of the jug as we sat in a food coma.
Seeking salvation and an escape from the heat we sought a shop to sit in for a while, pretend to browse as it were. Thankfully there were quite a few Home Ware stoes and we spent about two hours sitting on all the different couches and beds and chairs, even stopping, removing our shoes and feeling the softness of the carpet.
We found our way back to Yafo and walked through the old city looking at the mall artist galleries before having an afternoon shloof in a nearby park.
We boarded a bus to Haifa that night, both of us attempting to get comfortable squeesed in to the small, familiar bus seats of an egged bus.
Day Four: Haifa Stairways
The next morning we woke up freezing in the too low air conditioning of the Hashy Apartment. We showered, brushed our teeth ad pulled on our worn shoes ready to climb some stairs. We took the Carmalit, wich is an underground subway cart all the way uptown. The view was beautiful. You could see almost the entirety of Haifa. There were small cafes and resturants all opening for the day and as we walked we talked about how it reminded us of Cape Town. The air was fresh, almost too fresh to breath properly. We walked down what felf like 1000 stairs untill we found ourselves back where we started, a little sun burnt and a little sore in the leg area, but happy and excited about what a fantastic day we had. We saw so many different kinds of houses and parts of society.
Day Five: Haifa Bahai Gardens
I woke up bright and early to the uncomfortable smell that encompassed the entirety of the Hashy Apartments. The smell got into every part of ones being and lingered for a few days. Mitch and I had decided that today was the day for the exploring of, what we affectionately called, Uptown. We hopped on the Carmel, conveniently located just outside the apartment. We arrived uptown quite early. The city was just waking up and people were hurriedly getting to work before their bosses fired them.
We quickly found the Bahai Gardens and joined the queue eagerly waiting to be let in. I had been to the Gardens before, when I was sixteen, we spent a lot of time taking selfies trying to get the gardens in the background, but this time I could actually appreciate the effort put into the building and just how beautiful the city of Haifa was. We joined the organised tour, to get a little bit more information on what we were doing. Remember kids! It leaves at 12 sharp.
The Bahai People built the Gardens as a tribute to their leader. Everything is built symmetrically and so that one can really appreciate the beauty and splendour of the gardens. There are fountains and water streams that go all the way to the bottom of the gardens, as well as hundreds of round lights, that illuminate the gardens at night.
We walked down 9 tears of the Gardens and once we had reached the bottom found ourselves some ice-y, cold, frozen yogurt the cool us off.
It was back to the Apartment for us to fetch our things and catch our bus back to Jerusalem. The bus ride was quick and comfortable, we spoke about Netzer and all the big ideas we had and about our friends and how we would handle life when we got back home after being away for so long. Neither of us had any idea.
Day Six: Jerusalem at Night
We stepped off the tram just up the road from where we were living at around 7pm. Tired, with dragging feet we walked down the hill longing for bed and the return of Lily who had spent the last two months in either South AFrica, Israel or England. Spotting the Hustle and Bustle of the Mamilla strip we took a quick peek inside and found what was almost a carnivalle. Along with the usual mass of shoppers and art adorers there were now hundreds of people watching the street performers and the clowns that seemed to be around every corner.
One woman that caught our eye was the one blowing GIGANTIC bubbles for all the kids to jump up and pop, shrieking with excitement.
She was my favourite.
Lily and Josh were home and our Group was on the way to being completely reunited. We all threw on some clean clothes and headed out to Hamarkia, the best soup place in town, for a well deserved dinner.
Day Seven: Bethlehem
It was hot waiting for the Arab bus on the side of the road. The ground was hot, the people were hot and there was a load of construction going on in the background.
We caught the bus when it came.
The fences were high, the designated pathways were long and redundant, the doors were large and there was a beeping sound whenever you went through. Soldiers stood guard waiting to search people whom they deemed 'suspicious'. We walked through without any trouble. The man behind us, who was clearly in a hurry to get where he was going, was made to walk through metal detectors and be subjected to being searched and asked to show his ID. He was not pleased.
Inside Bethlehem we walked along the separation wall, admiring the graffiti and even witnessing a bunch of what looked like 15 or 16 yearolds all working together to create a new piece of political artwork.
We spoke to a woman whose house is completely cut off from the rest of the neighbourhood by the wall. She told us of the time when they were first building the wall and how her and her family were locked inside their house. She told us of another time when there was quite a bit of conflict in the area and there were soldiers that would use her house as their base. She was distraught.
We walked around for a good few hours getting increasingly lost, but not all that bothered by it. We stopped for a delicious lunch of Hummus and Falafel before heading back passed the wall and out through the check point, onto another bus and into our apartment.
There we found an assortment of Shnatties, both from Hashy and Netzer, all back from their trips in Europe. Our group was complete again. We sat in a circle on the ground swapping stories of the past week.
I'd like to leave you with one of the best quotes of our Shnat:
Jordy: "Why dont we go to Humus Ben Sira?"
Shosh: "Im okay with anything!"
Jade: "Why dont we just go to Japanica! Thats something that no one wants to do."
The Dead Sea
I examined my burnt shoulders in the mirror that evening before getting into a decidedly cold shower. They were redder than ever. I have to admit, it has been ages since I've been out in the sun let alone when its at least 42 degrees out.
The rocks beneath my feet we scorching hot and stuck together because of all the salt from teh water. I waded into the water that was rapidly rising, turned to face my back to the wide expanse of ocean before falling backwards only to be caught by the buoyancy that the salty water provides. The water was boiling, hotter than a bath. I floated between a lounging position and being upright, trying tot touch the cold water below with the tips of my toes. Not an easy feat I might add.
We washed our stinging skin off under the cool, fresh water showers and lay our towels out on the stones. We sat and talked for a few hours before heading for the change rooms and treating ourselves to ice creams at the canteen.
The bus was cool and the air conditioning soothing on my hot face, drying the sweat that had begun to form while we waited, rather impatiently for the bus to arrive. Not long after we got on the bus we both fell asleep watching as the desert whizzed past us and the sea turned into mountains.
Jerusalem: The Old City
The bustling shuk of the Arab Quarter never seemed to end, and we found ourselves getting lost in the winding alleyways, walking past the same shops over and over again. every so often we would find ourselves down a different street. F
irst we explored the Jewish Quarter and all the old buildings towering above us, the ruins that lay below in their natural state. The Kortel was full of people celebrating, praying and tourists being tourists. I always walk up to the wall and look up at its vast expanse. I see women dovening, tourists putting notes in the wall and families rejoicing from the "wrong" side of the machitza (separation).
There is a tradition of walking without facing your back to the wall after dovening. I always feel uncomfortable doing it, and I see the look in some women's eyes that I must have in mine as I perform this ancient ritual without the true understanding.
Today I walked away normally.
We carried on wondering through the shuk filled streets and found our way to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. We entered the church along with many more Christian People making their pilgrmage to the place where Jesus was prepared for the cross, we watched as they bent down and rubbed oil on that very spot and prayed. Walking around the church this time was different than before. As well as lookign at all the historical and religious places we looked at all the artwork and how it changed form different time periods and spoke about the meanings behind all the paintings, Mitchel even throwing in some tidbits about ancient historians that thought the mural on the roof of the Sistine Chapel was a representation of Christianity being a dark religion, when in fact, it was jsut a bit dirty.
We sat down for lunch at "The Best Falafel" place and for ten sheckle it was pretty good.
Day Three: Tel Aviv/Yafo
We left mid morning on a Shirut to Tel Aviv and managed to find our way to the pier. We sat on the rocks talking for a while before deciding that it was about time for lunch. We walked for a while along the ocean, the air filled with the smell of people having family a Mangal (Barbeque/Braai) on the beach. Children were loudly playing around on the grass as we walked. I kept a rhythmic pattern of foot steps trying to keep up with Mitchels long legs. Four steps on each square of paving. Sometimes three. We walked for what seemed like forever in the heat of the day, almost dehydrating because we were sweating so much.
We stopped in yaffo for a well deserved, steaming hot pan of freshly made Shakahuka. We ate in silence, not taking breaks between each mouthful. The sweet and salty mingled taste of the tomato sauce was an unbelievbly good sensation to have in ones mouth. The bread was soft and we used every last crumb to soak up the sauce on the pan. The water dropplettes rolled down the side of the jug as we sat in a food coma.
Seeking salvation and an escape from the heat we sought a shop to sit in for a while, pretend to browse as it were. Thankfully there were quite a few Home Ware stoes and we spent about two hours sitting on all the different couches and beds and chairs, even stopping, removing our shoes and feeling the softness of the carpet.
We found our way back to Yafo and walked through the old city looking at the mall artist galleries before having an afternoon shloof in a nearby park.
We boarded a bus to Haifa that night, both of us attempting to get comfortable squeesed in to the small, familiar bus seats of an egged bus.
Day Four: Haifa Stairways
The next morning we woke up freezing in the too low air conditioning of the Hashy Apartment. We showered, brushed our teeth ad pulled on our worn shoes ready to climb some stairs. We took the Carmalit, wich is an underground subway cart all the way uptown. The view was beautiful. You could see almost the entirety of Haifa. There were small cafes and resturants all opening for the day and as we walked we talked about how it reminded us of Cape Town. The air was fresh, almost too fresh to breath properly. We walked down what felf like 1000 stairs untill we found ourselves back where we started, a little sun burnt and a little sore in the leg area, but happy and excited about what a fantastic day we had. We saw so many different kinds of houses and parts of society.
Day Five: Haifa Bahai Gardens
I woke up bright and early to the uncomfortable smell that encompassed the entirety of the Hashy Apartments. The smell got into every part of ones being and lingered for a few days. Mitch and I had decided that today was the day for the exploring of, what we affectionately called, Uptown. We hopped on the Carmel, conveniently located just outside the apartment. We arrived uptown quite early. The city was just waking up and people were hurriedly getting to work before their bosses fired them.
We quickly found the Bahai Gardens and joined the queue eagerly waiting to be let in. I had been to the Gardens before, when I was sixteen, we spent a lot of time taking selfies trying to get the gardens in the background, but this time I could actually appreciate the effort put into the building and just how beautiful the city of Haifa was. We joined the organised tour, to get a little bit more information on what we were doing. Remember kids! It leaves at 12 sharp.
The Bahai People built the Gardens as a tribute to their leader. Everything is built symmetrically and so that one can really appreciate the beauty and splendour of the gardens. There are fountains and water streams that go all the way to the bottom of the gardens, as well as hundreds of round lights, that illuminate the gardens at night.
We walked down 9 tears of the Gardens and once we had reached the bottom found ourselves some ice-y, cold, frozen yogurt the cool us off.
It was back to the Apartment for us to fetch our things and catch our bus back to Jerusalem. The bus ride was quick and comfortable, we spoke about Netzer and all the big ideas we had and about our friends and how we would handle life when we got back home after being away for so long. Neither of us had any idea.
Day Six: Jerusalem at Night
We stepped off the tram just up the road from where we were living at around 7pm. Tired, with dragging feet we walked down the hill longing for bed and the return of Lily who had spent the last two months in either South AFrica, Israel or England. Spotting the Hustle and Bustle of the Mamilla strip we took a quick peek inside and found what was almost a carnivalle. Along with the usual mass of shoppers and art adorers there were now hundreds of people watching the street performers and the clowns that seemed to be around every corner.
One woman that caught our eye was the one blowing GIGANTIC bubbles for all the kids to jump up and pop, shrieking with excitement.
She was my favourite.
Lily and Josh were home and our Group was on the way to being completely reunited. We all threw on some clean clothes and headed out to Hamarkia, the best soup place in town, for a well deserved dinner.
Day Seven: Bethlehem
It was hot waiting for the Arab bus on the side of the road. The ground was hot, the people were hot and there was a load of construction going on in the background.
We caught the bus when it came.
The fences were high, the designated pathways were long and redundant, the doors were large and there was a beeping sound whenever you went through. Soldiers stood guard waiting to search people whom they deemed 'suspicious'. We walked through without any trouble. The man behind us, who was clearly in a hurry to get where he was going, was made to walk through metal detectors and be subjected to being searched and asked to show his ID. He was not pleased.
Inside Bethlehem we walked along the separation wall, admiring the graffiti and even witnessing a bunch of what looked like 15 or 16 yearolds all working together to create a new piece of political artwork.
We spoke to a woman whose house is completely cut off from the rest of the neighbourhood by the wall. She told us of the time when they were first building the wall and how her and her family were locked inside their house. She told us of another time when there was quite a bit of conflict in the area and there were soldiers that would use her house as their base. She was distraught.
We walked around for a good few hours getting increasingly lost, but not all that bothered by it. We stopped for a delicious lunch of Hummus and Falafel before heading back passed the wall and out through the check point, onto another bus and into our apartment.
There we found an assortment of Shnatties, both from Hashy and Netzer, all back from their trips in Europe. Our group was complete again. We sat in a circle on the ground swapping stories of the past week.
Jordy: "Why dont we go to Humus Ben Sira?"
Shosh: "Im okay with anything!"
Jade: "Why dont we just go to Japanica! Thats something that no one wants to do."
Sunday, 28 October 2012
The Weekly Report: 25/10/2012
Dear Parents, Snifim and Shnatties. Shalom Rav,
Our northern group arrived well to kibbutz Lotan, a beautiful kibbutz in the Arava area of Israel, just 40 minutes north of the city of Eilat. They were well received by our southern group that organized a welcome party for them and who are also in charge of the Shabbat beyachad that will take place this weekend.
Both groups were well received by rain, it stormed in the Eilat area as it has not stormed in a while, if the average amount of rain is 1.4mm for the whole winter period in Eilat, it rained during the last week 6mm and its not even winter yet.
Both groups helped out to take the Sukka down and both groups have been working hard and studying hard. Our northern group is living in an ecological neighborhood in the kibbutz, living in mud huts and learning how to take care of our Mother Earth.
On a sadder side of news, this week the oldest survivor from Auschwitz passed away at the age of 108. Although it is not Holocaust Remembrance Day, I feel that it is necessary to mention this news and to acknowledge that brave generation.
This next piece of news I don’t know if some you will see it also as a sadder side or not of the political circus in Israel, Netanyahu and Liberman have decided to join forces and will be running as one political party during these next elections that will take place in January 2013.
Back to our shnatties, I will be seeing them this weekend during our Shabbat beyachad; I will be sending pictures with our next weekly report.
I wish you a great weekend and a Shabbat Shalom,
Michael
Weekly report by Liz H (southern shnat)
This week to celebrate the end of the harvest the date girls went to Eilat on a group date and the next day had a party on a boat with the surrounding kibbutzim in the area. Fortunately for e girls the rain (yes actual rain not just slight rain) wasn't during the party although it was when I had to milk the goats and let me tell you that wasn't the most pleasant of experiences. Together as a group we took down half the sukkah on Tuesday with josh on the sidelines due to a toe injury. Kitty entertained us during the day with songs that substituted the words with...That afternoon instead of sleeping like a normal person Jordy decided to milk goats with Sandra (ex-shnattie and her host mother) which makes jade the only one of us not to. Shoshana has started to feel better and rejoined the kibbutz workforce. Sophie continues to be the best in the kitchen at making eggs and Lily is loving work as much as ever. Tomorrow the Shabbat beyachad begins and we promise to let you know how it went next week. Goodbye and goodnight
Our northern group arrived well to kibbutz Lotan, a beautiful kibbutz in the Arava area of Israel, just 40 minutes north of the city of Eilat. They were well received by our southern group that organized a welcome party for them and who are also in charge of the Shabbat beyachad that will take place this weekend.
Both groups were well received by rain, it stormed in the Eilat area as it has not stormed in a while, if the average amount of rain is 1.4mm for the whole winter period in Eilat, it rained during the last week 6mm and its not even winter yet.
Both groups helped out to take the Sukka down and both groups have been working hard and studying hard. Our northern group is living in an ecological neighborhood in the kibbutz, living in mud huts and learning how to take care of our Mother Earth.
On a sadder side of news, this week the oldest survivor from Auschwitz passed away at the age of 108. Although it is not Holocaust Remembrance Day, I feel that it is necessary to mention this news and to acknowledge that brave generation.
This next piece of news I don’t know if some you will see it also as a sadder side or not of the political circus in Israel, Netanyahu and Liberman have decided to join forces and will be running as one political party during these next elections that will take place in January 2013.
Back to our shnatties, I will be seeing them this weekend during our Shabbat beyachad; I will be sending pictures with our next weekly report.
I wish you a great weekend and a Shabbat Shalom,
Michael
Weekly report by Liz H (southern shnat)
This week to celebrate the end of the harvest the date girls went to Eilat on a group date and the next day had a party on a boat with the surrounding kibbutzim in the area. Fortunately for e girls the rain (yes actual rain not just slight rain) wasn't during the party although it was when I had to milk the goats and let me tell you that wasn't the most pleasant of experiences. Together as a group we took down half the sukkah on Tuesday with josh on the sidelines due to a toe injury. Kitty entertained us during the day with songs that substituted the words with...That afternoon instead of sleeping like a normal person Jordy decided to milk goats with Sandra (ex-shnattie and her host mother) which makes jade the only one of us not to. Shoshana has started to feel better and rejoined the kibbutz workforce. Sophie continues to be the best in the kitchen at making eggs and Lily is loving work as much as ever. Tomorrow the Shabbat beyachad begins and we promise to let you know how it went next week. Goodbye and goodnight
Ther Weekly Report: 18/10/2012
Dear Parents, Snifim and Shanties Shalom Rav,
What a way to finish the week, our northerners finished their orientation seminar which was very successful, there a few events that happened that I want to comment on, last Saturday we took our shnatties on a tour of the Old City, some of our shnatties have never been to Israel before and it was amazing to see their faces while they took the view in. During the tour we incorporated a Seudat Shlishi prepared by Louis P. and Gabriel P, here is a song they wrote for the group that I want to share with you:
" Sweet as Louis, sweet as Danny, sweet as Gabie on our tongues. Sweet as Sulia, sweet as Vicky, sweet as Ruby on our tongues. Sweet as Emily, sweet as BP, sweet as Horne on our tongues. Sweet as Rhiannon-e, sweet as Joe-e, sweet as Jake-e on our tongues. Sweet as Danielle-e, sweet as Liana-e, sweet as Lou-e on our tongues. Sweet as Natan-e, sweet as Laura-e, sweet as Asher-e on our tongues. Sweet as Gabriel-e, sweet as Shnatties, sweet as honey on our tongues!"
And after the song they gave everyone milk and honey.
After visiting the Kotel we went back to the Jewish Quarter to do an Havdala service led by Joe G. and Rhiannon H., the vibe was so intense that it even got the Charedi people around us swinging to the melody and a Charedy couple were so inspired by the group that they actually stopped what they were doing and felt the need to join us.
At the moment both groups are in Kibbutz Lotan, our southern group hard at work while our northern group is starting their Ecological kibbutz group bonding experience. This next weekend I will see both groups as we are having a Shabbat Beyachad prepared and led by our Southern group (Jordy K. and Sophie G.), once I come back with pictures I will post the on our facebook group.
I want to wish you all a great weekend and Shabbat Shalom
Michael
Weekly report by Asher F. (northern group)
So here we are after the first amazing week on Shnat Netzer 5773!
We’ve experienced lots of amazingly fun, exciting, and helpful peulot sessions, including ones about where in Israel we can visit, Israeli politics and its conflicts with the world, and playing with bazooka bubble gum. We bonded over talks, song sessions, services, and most of all, banter.
We’re sitting here at Kibbutz Lotan being bitten by flies and 250 metres away from the Jordanian border. We were given a tour of our bustan, the part of the Kibbutz with domes that house 3 of us each. Lotan is the ecofriendly kibbutz of Israel, using solar power to heat water, waste to make fertilized soil, and mud and straw to build
the ‘igloos.’ Tonight was just a chill hangout night, as we had a long bus ride and intense heat in the day. Tonight will be very exciting because we get to meet the southern Shnatties for the first time!
With oodles of love
Mr A Fingerhut x
Weekly report by Jade K (southern group)
19 Northerners arrived this morning to share our home for the next 3 weeks
235 tonnes of dates were picked in this years harvest (of which Jade, Jordy and Shoshana were responsible for about 20%, they are very proud)
26km were travelled to an Ashram near Mitzpe Ramon on Friday for a music festival, we danced all night and ate potatoes cooked on an open fire
25 000 date sacks were folded by Jade and Jordy at work today
11 New paintings were put up by Kitty when she decorated the house today
1.5 hours was spent having a sing-along in the cheder ochel on Tuesday night
10 kitchen staff ate burgers for lunch as a special treat
700 eggs were cooked by Sophie over the past 7 days
1 guitar from Shnat Zahav was retrieved from the clutches of the infamous
Habo Australia and New Zealand Kvutzah (also knowonn as the fake shnat Teva) on a secret mission to Karmiel
4 Habo South Africans came to visit us all the way from Haifa
111 goats now live in one group thanks to Liz's special goat herding skills
8 shnatties
28 days to go
We'll be home before you know it...
What a way to finish the week, our northerners finished their orientation seminar which was very successful, there a few events that happened that I want to comment on, last Saturday we took our shnatties on a tour of the Old City, some of our shnatties have never been to Israel before and it was amazing to see their faces while they took the view in. During the tour we incorporated a Seudat Shlishi prepared by Louis P. and Gabriel P, here is a song they wrote for the group that I want to share with you:
" Sweet as Louis, sweet as Danny, sweet as Gabie on our tongues. Sweet as Sulia, sweet as Vicky, sweet as Ruby on our tongues. Sweet as Emily, sweet as BP, sweet as Horne on our tongues. Sweet as Rhiannon-e, sweet as Joe-e, sweet as Jake-e on our tongues. Sweet as Danielle-e, sweet as Liana-e, sweet as Lou-e on our tongues. Sweet as Natan-e, sweet as Laura-e, sweet as Asher-e on our tongues. Sweet as Gabriel-e, sweet as Shnatties, sweet as honey on our tongues!"
And after the song they gave everyone milk and honey.
After visiting the Kotel we went back to the Jewish Quarter to do an Havdala service led by Joe G. and Rhiannon H., the vibe was so intense that it even got the Charedi people around us swinging to the melody and a Charedy couple were so inspired by the group that they actually stopped what they were doing and felt the need to join us.
At the moment both groups are in Kibbutz Lotan, our southern group hard at work while our northern group is starting their Ecological kibbutz group bonding experience. This next weekend I will see both groups as we are having a Shabbat Beyachad prepared and led by our Southern group (Jordy K. and Sophie G.), once I come back with pictures I will post the on our facebook group.
I want to wish you all a great weekend and Shabbat Shalom
Michael
Weekly report by Asher F. (northern group)
So here we are after the first amazing week on Shnat Netzer 5773!
We’ve experienced lots of amazingly fun, exciting, and helpful peulot sessions, including ones about where in Israel we can visit, Israeli politics and its conflicts with the world, and playing with bazooka bubble gum. We bonded over talks, song sessions, services, and most of all, banter.
We’re sitting here at Kibbutz Lotan being bitten by flies and 250 metres away from the Jordanian border. We were given a tour of our bustan, the part of the Kibbutz with domes that house 3 of us each. Lotan is the ecofriendly kibbutz of Israel, using solar power to heat water, waste to make fertilized soil, and mud and straw to build
the ‘igloos.’ Tonight was just a chill hangout night, as we had a long bus ride and intense heat in the day. Tonight will be very exciting because we get to meet the southern Shnatties for the first time!
With oodles of love
Mr A Fingerhut x
Weekly report by Jade K (southern group)
19 Northerners arrived this morning to share our home for the next 3 weeks
235 tonnes of dates were picked in this years harvest (of which Jade, Jordy and Shoshana were responsible for about 20%, they are very proud)
26km were travelled to an Ashram near Mitzpe Ramon on Friday for a music festival, we danced all night and ate potatoes cooked on an open fire
25 000 date sacks were folded by Jade and Jordy at work today
11 New paintings were put up by Kitty when she decorated the house today
1.5 hours was spent having a sing-along in the cheder ochel on Tuesday night
10 kitchen staff ate burgers for lunch as a special treat
700 eggs were cooked by Sophie over the past 7 days
1 guitar from Shnat Zahav was retrieved from the clutches of the infamous
Habo Australia and New Zealand Kvutzah (also knowonn as the fake shnat Teva) on a secret mission to Karmiel
4 Habo South Africans came to visit us all the way from Haifa
111 goats now live in one group thanks to Liz's special goat herding skills
8 shnatties
28 days to go
We'll be home before you know it...
The Weekly Report: 11/10/2012
Dear Parents, Snifim, Shnatties. Shalom Rav,
This week shnat got bigger; this week we received the new northern Shnat - Shnat Yam 2012-13
WELCOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SHNATTIES
we received 19 new shnatties that began their individual and group journey, 4 representatives from NFTY, 2 from LJY and 13 form RSY, at the moment they are in Jerusalem where they have their orientation seminar, next week they will traveling to kibbutz Lotan to start their group experience and will meet our southern shnatties that are about to finish Shnat and could give our new shnatties good tips on how to make the most out of Shnat.
I have attached some pictures of our Orientation Seminar and next week I will be posting more pictures on our facebook group which we invite you to join: https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/netzer.olami/
Our southerners helped to pack away the sukka and dance with the torah on simchat Torah, it was a rather short week because of the holydays, they prepared a welcome video for our new shnatties and will be welcoming them next week in Lotan, our southern shanties are also in charge of preparing a Shabbat beyachad which will take place towards the end of October.
As for Israel news, last night for the first time since being liberated, Gilad Shalit was interviewed and he spoke about his time in captivity, it was very emotional hearing him say the things he did to keep his mind sane. How he played chess with his captives, how he would roll his socks or shirt into a ball and throw it into the garbage (basketball), how he would invent weird games to keep his mind going, how he would draw the map of Israel, of his neighbourhood, of his house so that he wouldn't forget what it looked like, to keep his imagination flowing. He still captivates us, even today a year after being liberated he is still Israel's son.
I want to wish you all a great weekend and Shabbat Shalom,
Michael
Weekly report by Natan J. (Shnat North)
Friends, family and everyone else in my life that i am having to live without. I woke up on thursday having had 45 minutes of sleep after an evening of flights, travel sickness, stress and mass american shnattee appreciation. We had arrived at the flat at 3 am, to a mini american pajama party to welcome us into Beit Shmuel. We watched the glorious sunrise over Jerusalem together from Beit Shmuel and by the morning we felt we had been there for weeks, so exhausted yet comfortable we were.
Opening Tekkes took us up to the roof of the hostel, and subsequently took our breath away. The old city lay there in front of us, sun kissed in the morning light, calling out to us. I felt so far from home, and yet simultaneously at home.
We are all well prepped after our rules and regs and are equipped with basic hebrew and cannot wait for the challenge that awaits us. A challenge we shall all rise to, and in the timeless words of Joe Grabiner, we are so so joyful.
Weekly report by Sophie G (Shnat South)
Ah! What a week! And now comes that time in the week where one must write the weekly report, preferably in a witty and comical way. Recollecting a week of shnat is increasingly difficult with all the chuggim, work days, yomai chinuch and such. But this week did hold some highlights, including kathryn's joyous 19th birthday, shoshana and jordana's return from their families, simchat torah and my making up a witty and soulful song about the dishwasher during my two and a half hours in the dishwashing room at work (lyrics to come).
Sunday was a chofesh day for erev simchat torah. A day of catchup, preparation and cleaning for simchat torah. The house was emptied of furniture and filled with soap and water, transforming our living room into a slip'n'slide. There was so much room for activities! But as the day grew on we showered and got into our finest clothing for the chag. The shule service was like any other, expect that it was followed by 2 hours of dancing with the torah around our beautiful sukkah. Just as those festivities died down, the shnatties were preparing for a little celebration of their own. The day after (monday) was to be kathryn's birthday, so we had planned a little surprise party, animal themed, in her honour. Starting in our house, we eventually moved to the bustan to join her in bringing in her birthday.
Monday came as a shock with 7 am toronut in the cheder ochel, actually mildly enjoyable. Being the day of the chag, no one had work. We spoiled kathryn on her birthday with little surprises and a roof top game of pass the parcel at 11 pm. And a few hours later, in the early morning, shoshana arrived home from her chofesh with her mum.
Tuesday: yom chinuch; always a blast! The day started with a 'hike' through the desert to lotan's pepper and melon fields, where yuri managed to successfully convince lily that the army used the nearby shed to produce tanks. They don't. Following out early morning sand dune climb, us shnatzim learnt all about the details of jewish weddings, and how these become issues in modern israel. Turns out some religious communities still do the shoe throwing thing. The day concluded with and round of "hypothetical kibbutz dilemma" solving, helping us to understand the day to day obstacles kibbutz lotan has to overcome.
Which now brings me to today, wednesday. Today we were all back at work, and what a work day it was! Liz for the first time was a second milker, with a bit of hesitance, but persisted with the goats and their new kids. Kitty has dealt with the many visitors that are at kibbutz for the wedding of the first kibbutz baby tomorrow. Shoshana, jordy and jade have been picking away at the date fields. Lily has been preparing to say goodbye to her beloved GA's in the ecokef. Josh has continued his garden adventures and has just left to go up north for the weekend. And what have i done? I hear you ask. I have fried and scrambled many a egg in the kitchen and have come up with quite the ditty, if i do say so myself, about my dishwashing experiences. And it goes a little something like this:
There's a spoon in the trolley, for you to eat your brocolli
There's a knife for the eggs, to get some energy to move your legs
And you know about them plates, so you can eat while your with your mates
And when you're done with all this crockery, you can laugh but i wont take mockery
When you bring them, to the dish washer
And i'll be dishin' while i'm whishin' for a permanent position you know
I think it's great when i'm scrubbing on those plates
And you can watch while i wait
For my dishwasher
I'll spray on the tray all the day all through the way
of the dishwashing cycle
I'll rinse all the mince like a prince i won't wince
when i get sprayed in the face
'cause in the dishwasher, you get sprayed in the face
So that is a little song to leave you with, feel free to make up a tune as you read it. Until next week! Shnatzim out.
This week shnat got bigger; this week we received the new northern Shnat - Shnat Yam 2012-13
WELCOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SHNATTIES
we received 19 new shnatties that began their individual and group journey, 4 representatives from NFTY, 2 from LJY and 13 form RSY, at the moment they are in Jerusalem where they have their orientation seminar, next week they will traveling to kibbutz Lotan to start their group experience and will meet our southern shnatties that are about to finish Shnat and could give our new shnatties good tips on how to make the most out of Shnat.
I have attached some pictures of our Orientation Seminar and next week I will be posting more pictures on our facebook group which we invite you to join: https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/netzer.olami/
Our southerners helped to pack away the sukka and dance with the torah on simchat Torah, it was a rather short week because of the holydays, they prepared a welcome video for our new shnatties and will be welcoming them next week in Lotan, our southern shanties are also in charge of preparing a Shabbat beyachad which will take place towards the end of October.
As for Israel news, last night for the first time since being liberated, Gilad Shalit was interviewed and he spoke about his time in captivity, it was very emotional hearing him say the things he did to keep his mind sane. How he played chess with his captives, how he would roll his socks or shirt into a ball and throw it into the garbage (basketball), how he would invent weird games to keep his mind going, how he would draw the map of Israel, of his neighbourhood, of his house so that he wouldn't forget what it looked like, to keep his imagination flowing. He still captivates us, even today a year after being liberated he is still Israel's son.
I want to wish you all a great weekend and Shabbat Shalom,
Michael
Weekly report by Natan J. (Shnat North)
Friends, family and everyone else in my life that i am having to live without. I woke up on thursday having had 45 minutes of sleep after an evening of flights, travel sickness, stress and mass american shnattee appreciation. We had arrived at the flat at 3 am, to a mini american pajama party to welcome us into Beit Shmuel. We watched the glorious sunrise over Jerusalem together from Beit Shmuel and by the morning we felt we had been there for weeks, so exhausted yet comfortable we were.
Opening Tekkes took us up to the roof of the hostel, and subsequently took our breath away. The old city lay there in front of us, sun kissed in the morning light, calling out to us. I felt so far from home, and yet simultaneously at home.
We are all well prepped after our rules and regs and are equipped with basic hebrew and cannot wait for the challenge that awaits us. A challenge we shall all rise to, and in the timeless words of Joe Grabiner, we are so so joyful.
Weekly report by Sophie G (Shnat South)
Ah! What a week! And now comes that time in the week where one must write the weekly report, preferably in a witty and comical way. Recollecting a week of shnat is increasingly difficult with all the chuggim, work days, yomai chinuch and such. But this week did hold some highlights, including kathryn's joyous 19th birthday, shoshana and jordana's return from their families, simchat torah and my making up a witty and soulful song about the dishwasher during my two and a half hours in the dishwashing room at work (lyrics to come).
Sunday was a chofesh day for erev simchat torah. A day of catchup, preparation and cleaning for simchat torah. The house was emptied of furniture and filled with soap and water, transforming our living room into a slip'n'slide. There was so much room for activities! But as the day grew on we showered and got into our finest clothing for the chag. The shule service was like any other, expect that it was followed by 2 hours of dancing with the torah around our beautiful sukkah. Just as those festivities died down, the shnatties were preparing for a little celebration of their own. The day after (monday) was to be kathryn's birthday, so we had planned a little surprise party, animal themed, in her honour. Starting in our house, we eventually moved to the bustan to join her in bringing in her birthday.
Monday came as a shock with 7 am toronut in the cheder ochel, actually mildly enjoyable. Being the day of the chag, no one had work. We spoiled kathryn on her birthday with little surprises and a roof top game of pass the parcel at 11 pm. And a few hours later, in the early morning, shoshana arrived home from her chofesh with her mum.
Tuesday: yom chinuch; always a blast! The day started with a 'hike' through the desert to lotan's pepper and melon fields, where yuri managed to successfully convince lily that the army used the nearby shed to produce tanks. They don't. Following out early morning sand dune climb, us shnatzim learnt all about the details of jewish weddings, and how these become issues in modern israel. Turns out some religious communities still do the shoe throwing thing. The day concluded with and round of "hypothetical kibbutz dilemma" solving, helping us to understand the day to day obstacles kibbutz lotan has to overcome.
Which now brings me to today, wednesday. Today we were all back at work, and what a work day it was! Liz for the first time was a second milker, with a bit of hesitance, but persisted with the goats and their new kids. Kitty has dealt with the many visitors that are at kibbutz for the wedding of the first kibbutz baby tomorrow. Shoshana, jordy and jade have been picking away at the date fields. Lily has been preparing to say goodbye to her beloved GA's in the ecokef. Josh has continued his garden adventures and has just left to go up north for the weekend. And what have i done? I hear you ask. I have fried and scrambled many a egg in the kitchen and have come up with quite the ditty, if i do say so myself, about my dishwashing experiences. And it goes a little something like this:
There's a spoon in the trolley, for you to eat your brocolli
There's a knife for the eggs, to get some energy to move your legs
And you know about them plates, so you can eat while your with your mates
And when you're done with all this crockery, you can laugh but i wont take mockery
When you bring them, to the dish washer
And i'll be dishin' while i'm whishin' for a permanent position you know
I think it's great when i'm scrubbing on those plates
And you can watch while i wait
For my dishwasher
I'll spray on the tray all the day all through the way
of the dishwashing cycle
I'll rinse all the mince like a prince i won't wince
when i get sprayed in the face
'cause in the dishwasher, you get sprayed in the face
So that is a little song to leave you with, feel free to make up a tune as you read it. Until next week! Shnatzim out.
The Weekly Report: 04/10/2012
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?)
The Weekly Report: 27/09/2012
Dear Parents, Snifim and Shnatties. Shalom Rav,
Another week has passed, this was a special week for this week we celebrated Yom Kippur, on this day Israel just stops everything it's doing and the whole day is dedicated to Yom Kippur, I would say that it is a very silent day since no one works, there is no public transportation however it is not a silent day, I find it interesting that this is the day that the kids in Israel go out to ride their bikes, it is the day they can ride in the middle of street because there is no transportation of any sort that day, no motorcycles, cars. Buses etc. it is not a silent day because you hear a lot of children laughing in the street and this is a very alternative way to spend Yom Kippur, of course you can find the more traditional ways to celebrate, but I think that it is interesting that kids wait all year for this day.
Also this week past week the time changed in Israel and now even though it is still hot like summer we are on winter time, to be honest I don’t understand the need to change the time in Israel (it is not like we have heavy winters) and neither do many Israelis and it has become a political thing, not only the changing of the time but the fact that the time is changed around Yom Kippur a month and half before Europe changes their time, it seems that there is a lot of pressure from religious parties to change the time before Yom Kippur and thus fasting an hour less.
At the moment our shnatties are helping kibbutz Lotan build the Sukkah, help that is very much appreciated.
In a week the Shnat group is going to get bigger we will be receiving the new northern group, 19 shnatties will be arriving to start their journey, they will ne heading down to Lotan and meeting our lovely southern shnatties.
I want to wish you all a great weekend and Shabbat Shalom.
Michael
Weekly report by Shoshana B
A week in the life the shnat Teva eight
It began with a workday after the chag finished late
Sunday or yom rishon as we say
Was a regular, hectic, hardworking day
Lily fostered some plants and re-invented Eco living
Kitty folded and cleaned a cosy bed tourists giving
Jordy and Shosh picked date after dates
And josh gardened and then troped a tractate
For Wednesday was the day to repent
But we are not there yet! Let us backtrack, to a weekend well spent
Young jade and Elizabeth attended a seminar
To learn how to argue about Israel from here and afar
The social aspect provided a great deal of pleasure,
However the focus on advocacy was more bias than leisure
Meanwhile on the kibbutz a storm was a brewing
As people begun their preparations for yom hakippurim
Tuesday was yom chinuch and we learnt to say sorry
And as the hours clocked over some began to worry
Because in the desert it turns out it is not simple to fast
And those with less fortitude were concerned how they would last
Then yom kippur arrived and Liz and jade returned
And so on the somber day of repentance we learned
Services purely in Hebrew are hard,
And being away from home throws you off guard
And when the day ended we were all a bit relieved
For the yomim noraim can be quite aggrieved.
And from the eve of yom kips the succah was erected
And to construct the rest the shnattim were elected
And so Thursday passed and Friday will too
Lugging palm fronds and clicking frames as succah are wont to do
And that my dear readers brings you up to date
With your brightest and tightest shnat Teva eight
As we look to sukkot and only six weeks left of our year
Our skin starts to tremble as our ending is near
And the talk of new shnatties begins to stir
Feelings of nostalgia and panic and excitement all blur.
But that is the nature of Shnat netzer
Something you can never really describe until you too get there.
Love your shnatties
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