Socio-Economic Tour

Last week the workshoppers had a mini-seminar over the course of Monday, Thursday and Friday, where they looked at the Socio-Economic status in Israel today.
The seminar started at looking at Herzl's vision of a utopian society in his book - Altnueland; and examining what the vision for Israel each of the workshoppers had. A number of 'concepts' including - Im Tirzu (if you will it); Private Ownership; Cooperatives; Labour; Education; Care for the elderly and Universalism were looked at from Herzl's vision. This followed with an exhibition on the Histadrut (Trade Labour Federation), which was the organization that eventually helped found and create many of the institutions Herzl wrote about before his death.
The following part of the seminar looked at the dismantling of the Israeli welfare state and how privitisation has progressed in Israel today. This culminated in a siyur (excursion) on Friday to various Tel Aviv neighbourhoods - HaTikva (The Hope); Ha'argazim (The Crates); Neve She'anan (Oasis of Tranquility) and Kikar HaMedina (State Square), each of which are unique its in makeup.
HaTikva is a poor southern Tel Aviv neighbourhood, made up of a mainly elderly, North African population, which has recently become more popular with young trendy Israelis. Just next to HaTikva, is Ha'Argazim which is an unrecognized suburb in Tel Aviv - despite that it has existed since the 1940's. It is remarkable to see this suburb, where the houses literally look like crates (argaz = crates) and much-needed infrastructure such as roads, is missing. Next stop was Neve She'anan, near the Central Bus Station, a 'workers' suburb founded in the 1920's after the Arab riots in Jaffa. Today the suburb is populated almost exclusively with foreign workers from Africa and Eastern Europe. The final stop of the day was at Kikar HaMedina, an upmarket, North Tel Aviv area well known for its expensive shopping. Finally, the seminar conclusion looked at the 'privitization' of Aliya in Israel today, and the workshoppers role through their Kaveret messimot in taking an active part in the Israeli society today.

UPDATE!!

Hi everyone,
I know it has been a while since last updating the blog - since Kaveret has started, it is proving much harder to update as both kvutsot and individual tzvatim often have very different days.
I will try to give a brief overview of activities, and hopefully, some of the workshoppers themselves will begin to 'guest blog' and share some of their experiences with you [hint hint to all workshoppers].
The Carmiel kvutsa are living in a large house together, and are split into a number of messima tzvatim - Carmiel, Tsfat, Tiberias, Kiyum Meshutaf. The Acco kvutsa are living into 2 houses, a short 3 minute walk between them, and are split into the tzvatim -Acco, Hadar (Haifa), Kiyum Meshutaf, and Kabul.
All of the tzvatim work with different schools (of different ages) and different after-school educational frameworks such as youth movement kenim or after-school clubs. They work various sectors of the community - some Arab Israeli, some Israeli, and within that some large immigrant populations. Their days vary, with some workshoppers needing to travel quite far (roughly an hour each way) to get to their messima. Most tzvatim are in the schools between 2-2.5 days a week, with extra time set aside each week for the Yom Tzevet - planning future activities and learning together as a tzevet.
Aside from messima, the workshoppers also are studying 2 courses altogether - Israeli History & Society; and Judaism. These take place alternatively on Thursday mornings. On Sunday evenings, each kvutsa has Hebrew Ulpan, they are split into 3 learning levels, and the focus is more informal - giving them extra tools and skills in order to integrate into their messimot and their lives in Israel.
Mondays and Thursday afternoons are kvutsa days - the madrichim come and run peulot, or sometimes the workshoppers run peulot for themselves too. Some Thursdays have siyurim (excursions) and there also seminars held throughout Kaveret - next week is the first, and the topic is Israeli Society and Economics, which includes a walking tour throughout Tel Aviv.
If you have any questions at anytime - please be in touch via email to either myself or Michael Kanter. Next posting, I hope to bring some more in-depth stories from specific tzvatim.
Shabbat Shalom