Names: Noah Blumenthal and Marni Falk
Messima: "Kabul"
Kvutsa: Acco
Schedules: On Sundays, the tzevet goes to the high school at Kabul. Kabul is a predominantly Muslim village of about 11,000 residents. It is about 20 minutes out of Acco. The tzevet works with both the 10th and 11th graders, for about an hour each, running a fairly standard peulah, following a set program by "Makom B'Galil" (Makom B'galil -Shorashim Educational Center focuses on Arab-Israel coexistence education and has been running programming in many Arab villages in the Galil for numerous years). At the moment, the tzevet is teaching English and identity. Soon they will move onto Leadership and Israeli Society.
Tuesday: Tuesday morning is Yom Tzevet. Every tzevet has time devoted to planning and learning together as a tzevet. The Yom Tzevet is run by the melavim (guides) of the messima. The Kabul tzevet has 2 HDNA homegrown melavim - Jake Passel and Nadav Barzelai. An important part of Yom tzevet for this messima, is a current events update, particularly with the situation in Gaza. It is likely to be something on the minds of the chanichim, so its important for the tzevet to deal with it.
In the afternoon, the tzevet goes to 2 villages - Dir El-Assad and Majd el-Krum. These 2 villages along with Bi'ina were officially merged a few years ago into one city - Shaghur - although they are still recognized as 3 distinct components. In Dir El-Assad, the tzevet goes to an afterschool high school program; and in Majd el-Krum they go to an Arab community center. This is a time to run informal peulot and spend a lot of one on one time with individual chanichim. The majority of the chanichim are teenagers, primarily 15-16 year olds.
Wednesday: On Wednesdays the tzevet goes to a different Arab village - Sakhnin, which is a short drive from Carmiel; about 25 minutes from Acco. Here the tzevet is involved in an optional afterschool program for mainly high school students. This is for students who have a lot of trouble in English and need a lot of extra help.
Both Noah and Marni have appreciated the opportunity to learn hands on about Arab culture in Israel. It has been a very eye opening and honest experience for them. Most of the students have been really interested in learning about American culture. They both relate to an experience in Majd el-Krum where they had asked Arab students to put themselves on a scale between how Arab vs Palestinian they felt. The students turned the peula onto the workshoppers, and demanded to know how Jewish vs American they felt. The discussion following was fascinating, with everyone relating to how they felt about their mixed identities.
