Tzevet Kabul

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.

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

Carmiel

Below are some pics from the day the Carmiel kvutsa moved into their house...

Acco

The mailing address in Acco is
[Name]
Habonim Dror
PO Box 2954
Acco 24128 ISRAEL
Both groups have settled in nicely to their houses, below are some pictures from the Acco kvutsa:

Seminars Update #2

A lot has happened this past week with both workshop kvutsot having the History of Habonim Dror Hagshama Seminar. Each kvutsa had slightly different itineraries, and between them they visited kibbutzim and kvutsot in Kfar Blum, Kfar Hanassi, Beit Haemek, Tuval, Amiad, Yizrael, Geva, Eshbal, Ravid, Ma'agan, Ein Gev, Migdal Haemek, Hadera, Haifa, Netanya, Rehovot, Beit Shemesh & Jerusalem (phew!). The seminar started at the Kinneret Courtyard, the historic location where the first communal groups started and underwent training approximately 100 years ago. This site is very significant - as a result of cooperatives at the courtyard, many public institutions were born which were vital in the infrastructure of the British mandate Palestine and beyond (Bank Hapoalim, Hamashbir and Kupat Cholim to name a few...).
At each kibbutz or kvutsa, the workshoppers heard personal stories of trials and tribulations faced by the individual when they were in Habonim Dror, or when they made aliya, and how it relates to their current status today in the choices they have made in their lives; and also, how this relates to the story of Habonim Dror Hagshama throughout history.
The workshoppers finished up Friday afternoon and they have no programming over Saturday in order to relax and regroup before the kaveret preparation seminar starts on Sunday. On Wednesday, Lihi & Itamar's kvutsa will be moving to Carmiel, and Ruth & Amir's kvutsa will be moving to Acco. The postal address for the Carmiel kvutsa is:
[Name]
Habonim Dror
PO Box 5154
Carmiel 21662
ISRAEL
I will post the mailing address for the Acco kvutsa in the next few days, if you have anything you wish to send in the meanwhile, please feel free to send it to the address in Carmiel.
Shabbat Shalom
Vered & the workshop madrichim

Seminars Update

Hi everyone!
Today the workshoppers regrouped after their winter break period, the majority of whom spent at least some time in warm and sunny Eilat.
Both of the kvutsot are spending the weekend on Kibbutz, although Itamar and Lihi's are in the north today, watching (or participating)! in an ice-hockey match in Metula. Ruth and Amir's kvutsa are going through an intense kvutsa relationships seminar [which Itamar and Lihi's kvutsa have scheduled in a few weeks]. On Sunday both kvutsot set off on Habo History Seminar, spending a few days based near the Kinneret, and then a few days based near Netanya. This seminar looks at the history of Habonim Dror, by visiting kibbutzim Habonim Dror has established throughout history and speaking with many vatikim (former movement members), hearing about the HD in their day. There is also the opportunity to learn about the crisis in the kibbutz movement, and examine how this has affected HD today. This seminar allows the workshoppers to have a new perspective and see new elements of the movement.
On Sunday 13th, the workshoppers will begin their Kaveret preparation seminar, and on the 16th they will move into Acco and Karmiel, for the Kaveret portion of workshop. The first few days in their Kaveret locations are dedicated to unpacking, setting up their houses, and getting to know their cities. As the tzevet (staff) are all on seminars with the workshoppers for the next few weeks, updates to this blog might be a little less frequent. Please feel free to email Michael Kanter if you have any questions.