Pesach Day Camps

Throughout the week prior to Pesach, there is generally no school. This year, all of the workshoppers participated in the "English Pasechot", run together in partnership with Hanoar Haoved V'halomed (our sister youth movement). The English Pasechot are 4-day-long day camps, with an emphasis on learning English, run for children in the 4-6th grade. English is taught through a range of activities such as tiyul (hike), cooking, crafts and acting with an obvious focus on the chag of Pesach.
This project (in previous years this was run in a different format of "english camp" for 3 days) relies heavily on the workshoppers and their English skills. A delegation of workshoppers were based in Beersheva, working in Ofakim, Dimona and Beersheva. They also were able to experience the different surroundings in the southern part of Israel, and participate in tours and hosting by various kvutsot bogrot (adult groups) from Hanoar Haoved V'halomed living in those areas. Other workshoppers travelled to Hadera every day, or joined other towns which needed extra support for the camp (Tiberias, Tsfat) so that for this week, the workshoppers were quite literally spread out all over the country!
The Pasechot gave many workshoppers a chance to either see a different part of the country or work with different chanichim or tzvatim; and other workshoppers a chance to spend more in-depth time with their regular chanichim and build even greater bonds between them. The feedback from all involved (particularly parents of the children participating) was tremendously positive and overall this experience was extremely worthwhile.

Israel or Bust

I hope you all have been enjoying Passover and all its Matzah goodness. The Workshoppers are wrapping up their Pesach break in Israel and getting set to begin the final stretch of the program. While time is short, there is lots of important work and sikkuming(wrapping up) of the year yet to be done. There are also many important holidays, including Israel's 60th birthday, which is a truly special and momentous occasion for the Workshoppers to witness.

I am departing to Israel tomorrow where I will be from April 27th until May 10th. During that time I will doing my best to stay current on any emails and issues that may arise. I can also be reached on my Israeli cell phone whose number is:011-972-52-580-7124. Feel free to contact our offices as they may be able to answer any questions you may have or will make sure to follow up with me to make sure issues are taken care of.

While I am there I will be spending significant time with the Workshoppers to see their impressions first hand and to continue the process of evaluating and improving Workshop.

Chag Sameach and Shabbat Shalom,
Michael

Chag Sameach

Shalom and Chag Sameach to all,
Kaveret has been bustling along at a fast pace, with the intense realization to all that the Workshop end date is creeping closer and closer. Messimot have been in full swing and as Michael mentioned, many of the workshoppers were involved in special Pesach day camps the whole week prior (more of that to follow later).
A few weeks ago, the kvutsa from Acco went on tiyul (hiking) for 2 days in the Golan heights region. On the Thursday they walked from Nimrod's fortress all the way to the Banias waterfall. Nimrod's fortress was built in the crusades period and is 1 of 3 fortresses in the region (one of which is Beaufort, known to many after the contemporary Israeli film) and is the largest in Israel. From the top, you have a view of much of the Eastern Golan heights, together with the Hula Valley and the Naftali mountains. Suffice to say, on a clear day the view is spectacular. The workshoppers basically walked down the mountain to the area of the Banias and then along the Banias (Hermon) River to the stunning waterfall at the end. The hike was relatively comfortable and painless for all! That night, the group slept on Dugit beach, on the eastern shores of the Kinneret, after a sumptuous barbeque feast on the sand. On the Friday, the group walked in Susita - from above Kibbutz Ein Gev, all the way down, practically to the beach. It was also a comfortable hike, except for the end part which involved a very steep decline, requiring many workshoppers to sit down and slide part of the way!
Last week all the workshoppers went on a siyur (excursion) to the old Ein Harod cemetery. Ein Harod is famed as being the "1st big kibbutz" and was central to the development of the Kibbutz movement as a whole. It is crucial to hear some of the stories of those buried in the cemetery, in order to learn from history and important events that occurred. Through those stories we discussed many different aspects of leadership, particularly leadership from within a group; and also the concept of "paying a price" for a deed, as opposed to making a "sacrifice". We also had really excellent views of the Yizrael and Harod Valleys from the top of the Gilboa mountain ridge.
With only a few weeks left of programming, most of the supplementary Thursday classes (Israeli Society & Judaism) have finished. There are many upcoming 'chaggim' in Israel - Yom Hashoa, Yom HaZikaron, Yom Ha'atzamut together with May Day which will prove to be a very busy last few weeks of workshop. The schedule for the last few weeks roughly remains the same (bar the special events for the aforementioned days) with the final concluding seminar of workshop starting on May 15th.
Wishing you all chag sameach

Pesach Break

As we approach the final month of Workshop, it is time to reflect on much of what has taken place this year and what is still to come. Most recently this week the Workshoppers took part in Pesach camps that are run by Hanoar Haoved where they got to take part in leading the chanichim(campers) in various aspects of programming. A more detailed update will come soon, but it is a very special and important opportunity for them to give back and is very much related to their messimot. The camps took place in different parts of the country and as such the Workshoppers were spread out for much of this week.

Pesach has arrived and the break begins tomorrow for the Workshoppers. All the Workshoppers will either be attending Seders with their family or friends or through arrangements we have made available to them. During the break which goes until the 27th, they will have the opportunity to rest, relax, and perhaps have some excursions around the country. As is always our policy during breaks, we have a schedule of where every Workshopper will be staying and at least a rough itinerary of what they will be doing every day. Additionally they will need to check in daily to make sure they are fine and sticking to their pre-arranged plans. We also of course review the safety and security guidelines for their travel during the break.

If you have not already filled out an evaluation of the program I would encourage you to either email me or fill out the online form I have setup. I am trying to gather as many opinions and perspectives as possible to enable myself to better evaluate the strengths and weakness of the program and how to move forward to improve Workshop. Of course the program is not over and perhaps more insight will come to light after the program, but I would like the evaluation process to start before then.

As such I will be traveling to Israel for two weeks starting April 26th. I will be there until May 10th and I will have the opportunity to spend some time first hand meeting with the Workshoppers, speaking with the madrichim/Rakazim(coordinators), and observing the daily running of the program. During that time I will have a cell phone that I can be reached at any time should an urgent or emergency situation arise. I will post that number on the blog before I leave for Israel. I will also be out of the office from Friday until Wednesday for the Pesach holiday. Of course if there are any urgent issues I can be contacted via email or the Habonim Dror cell phone.

I hope you all have a wonderful Passover seder, despite the empty chairs that you will all be thinking about. Rest assured your Workshopper will miss your family traditions and will be excited to return home next year for your seder.

Chag Sameach and Happy Passover to all.
Michael

Weekend Seminar

Last weekend, March 28+29, a World Habonim Dror Seminar was held on Kibbutz Afikim. Participants included workshoppers and shnatties from English-speaking countries such as North America, England, Holland, South Africa, Australia & New Zealand. This was the first formal opportunity the workshoppers had to meet the "new" participants from the southern hemisphere, who arrived early in February.
The seminar was a lot of fun, with programming partially built by different participant groups themselves. The workshoppers were responsible for some chuggim (small interest groups) with creative themes such as : Russian Literature in the 18th century; Rikud (dance); Music; teaching basic Arabic; Health education in Canada; and a supposed Na'aleh favourite - Shoegolf.
There was a lot of games, skits and a wonderful Kabbalat Shabbat involving performances by mixed mishpachot (families) from amongst all the countries participating.
On Saturday we had chuggim on various issues facing children across the world, such as child exploitation; child soldiers; child sex-trafficking; child refugees and more. This was followed by a screening of the movie "Newsies"based on the true story of the Newsboys strike of 1899 in New York City (a youth-led campaign to force change in the compensation given to the child-labour force).
Following the movie we had a wonderful barbeque lunch in the sunshine, and one more peula which looked at the UN Declaration of Human Rights and other examples of how a unification comes through an expression of responsibility for the other and finding a partnership of building the same society.

Workshop 57: 6 weeks to go

I just sent out an email to you the parents. I have been experiencing issues with comcast users receiving emails I have written so please check your spam filter and let me know if you have not received the email I sent out today. The content of the email is below:

Dear Workshop Parents,

I hope this email finds you doing well. I am sure many of you have a countdown until the end of Workshop or at least have May 18th marked in your calendars. With about 6 weeks to go on Workshop 57, there is still a lot to happen on the program from tiyulim, seminars, Pesach in Israel, to experiencing Israel's 60th birthday. I will be heading to Israel at the end of April for two weeks to spend sometime first hand with the Workshoppers and the coordinators of the program.

The running of Workshop and the evaluation of the program is an ongoing process that involves the feedback of coordinators, participants and their families. While there are many aspects of this year's Workshop that I am most proud, there is always room for improvement. Of course Workshop is not over and your opinions on many things can change, but I would like to start getting more focused feedback from you the parents.

One of the strengths of the Workshop program is its ability to grow and adapt to the changing needs of our participants, and as such we are a very flexible and agile program. Every year our program changes based on the experience and feedback of the previous groups. As such your feedback really matters and can have a direct impact on this and future Workshops.

It is my hope that most, if not all, of you will fill out the attached evaluation of the program. You can also fill it out online at the following link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=SRCr8UtNifkmfMkPKjvguw_3d_3d

I hope you will take some time out of your busy schedules to seriously consider the questions contained in the evaluation and answer it in a constructive manner.

Talk to you all soon,
Michael

Lastly as I have pointed out the Workshoppers are coming home soon. They leave on Continental Flight #85 on May 18th from Tel-Aviv at 11:40 am and arrive to Newark at 4:50pm, also on the May 18th. For those of you who have connecting flights you should have already received your e-ticket long ago. If you need another copy please let me know.

Michael