It Rained In Israel!

Shalom from Camp (machaneh) Galil in Israel! Today at machaneh is Yom Israel, or, Israel Day! We have this day once each summer at machaneh, so that we can teach the kids (chanichim) more about Israel. The theme of this Yom Israel is "Jewish holidays in Israel." We will "travel" from the north of Israel (the Galil!!) all the way down to the south by the end of the day, all the while learning about the may Jewish holidays that are celebrated in Israel, as well as some minority holidays in Israel.

An Amelah holding up the "afikomen" after finding it.

This morning, the chanichim were woken up by staff (tzevet) members in a truck, driving around camp singing and honking the horn. Some of the chanichim even ran outside to join the tzevet members that were waking them up, because they made it into a very fun job. Initially, we were supposed to all eat breakfast together outside, around a bonfire (medura), but because of the rain we had to eat in the dining hall (chadar ochel). We set up the chadar ochel differently though, to create a different atmosphere. The tables were arranged in clumps of two tables next to each other, which created a square for people to sit around, as if it was a family dinner table. After breakfast, all of the chanichim moved through different stations to learn about hiking in Israel. Some of the stations included learning to read typography, learning hiking cheers, finding out about different birds in Israel, and creating a travel journal. Then, everybody had a short break before moving on to Zmon Tzrif, or, time with your cabin mates. In this activity, the chanichim painted a sign with the name of their tzrif that will be put on one of our trails in the woods later today. Each tzrif is named after a place in Israel, such as Gezer, Urim, Akko, and a few more. While the chanichim made their signs, they also learned a little bit about the places that their tzrifim were named after. After that, we watched a movie about a youth movement similar to ours, on a kibbutz in Israel.

A few chanichim on the way to get kibbud.

If it hadn't rained, we would have played a game of capture the flag while learning about different youth movements in Israel, but I'm sure that everyone was happier watching the movie than they would have been running around in the mud! After the movie, everyone will dress up fancily and meet in their family (mishpacha) groups (the ones that they are in on Shabbat) for lunch. In order to enter the chadar ochel for lunch, the mishpachot must first find the afikomen that the "parents" of the mishpacha will hide. Then, the mishpachot will sit together at lunch, which will be Shabbat themed. After lunch, there was a bit of rest time (menucha) before electives (chugim) begin. The chugim today were not like the chugim on normal days, though. Why are the chugim on this day different than on any other day, you may ask? Well, today in chugim, we will be talking about different issues in Israeli society, such as the Jewish Ethiopian protest or religious pluralism. After chugim, we had a special time called "Israella." During this time, a skit about the history of Israel was presented to all of machaneh. Each age group (shichva) presented a different piece of Israeli history to machaneh. Then, Israella transitioned into rikud (Israeli dancing)/ free swim.

Bonot smiling in the rain!

The chanichim chose to either do rikud in the clubhouse (moadon) or go to free swim down at the pool, where Israeli music was played. After that, there was time to wash off and then eat a snack (kibbud). Once kibbud was over, an activity was run for machaneh, teaching about different minorities in Israel. Afterwards, everyone went to a trail on the outskirts of machaneh to "create the Israel trail." In this activity, the signs that each tzrif had made earlier in the day were placed on the path, as a retribution to the real Israel Trail, that runs from the north of the country to the south. Dinner was next, and its holiday theme is Shavuot. After celebrating Shavuot, we had some free time (chofesh), and then we had a Purim party (messiba)! That was all for our Yom Israel, so until tomorrow, toda raba!