Hi everyone,
This is the final week of the boneh segment of workshop. Currently, the workshoppers are on their way back to Netiv HaLamed Hey from their final pre-Poland seminar. The seminar was held both at the Shlomi youth hostel and the Ghetto Fighters Museum on Kibbutz Lochamei HaGetaot. It was a very intense seminar which covered a lot of historical background to the Shoah, and introduced a lot of the dilemmas faced including our relationship and duty as youth movement members, to the atrocities that took place. The museum was fairly empty for most of our time there, so we were able to go through exhibitions in depth, and also sit and have discussions throughout the museum. We also watched a fascinating documentary "Confessions of a Hitler Youth."
Last week, the subject of the seminars was modern Israeli society, from roughly the time of Independence (1948) to the Camp David Summit in 1977. A whole slew of information was covered - the Declaration of Independence and the Law of Return, and the basic situation in Israel during the 50's and 60's (mass immigration and subsequent absorption; beginnings of tensions between Sepharadim and Ashkenazim; etc) and the main wars fought in Israel - Independence; Sinai Campaign; 6 day war and the Yom Kippur War. While there is still a lot of more modern Israeli history to come, this will be mainly covered in classes during the Kaveret portion of the program.
One of the kvutsot had avoda (work) on Netiv Halamed Hey, while the other kvutsa picked clementines with Table to Table. The Hadracha classes looked at Games and Peulah (program) planning (1 kvutsa) and Counselling and Duty of Care (the other kvutsa).
The siyur (excursion) last week was to Mt Herzl and Givat Hatachmoshet (Ammunition Hill) in Jerusalem. Mt Herzl is the military cemetery in Jerusalem, and largest in Israel. It is the burial site of many great Israeli leaders, as well as thousands of soldiers and policemen. Ammunition Hill is a site near Mt Scopus, where one of the bloodiest and most difficult battles of the 6-Day war took place. Today, the site serves as a memorial to all those who fell in battle in the 6-Day War.
This week ahead is looking very hectic with Boneh sikkumim (concluding peulot) and a few chavura groups, together with the final hebrew classes, a siyur to the Palmach museum, the general cleanup and the Poland preparations. If for some reason you did not receive the Poland information via email, please contact Michael Kanter. I will post at least one more blog update this week before we depart for Poland. Until then...