"Only Peace Will Bring Peace"

Two weeks ago when Eyal Yifrach, Gilad Shaar, and Naftali Frenkel's bodies were discovered, we held a memorial ceremony as a machaneh, and explained to the chanichim what had happened. Today we took further steps to educate the chanichim about what is happening in Israel, including talking about Mohammad Abu Khdeir, the Palestinian teenager who was killed after the discovery of the three teenager's bodies.

Instead of having our normally scheduled programing, today after lunch we broke up by shichvah and went to talk about current events in Israel. I decided to go with the Bogrim because I wanted to hear the thoughts of chanichim who will be confronted with the issue  on MBI next summer and in college in a few years. 

We sat in a circle as sheets of paper with events and dates from the past month were read aloud. The Bogrim all more or less sat up in the same position, with their eyes down, and their hands fidgeting in their laps. It may have looked like they were not paying attention from afar, but I knew they were engaged because I was doing the same. I realized that they were upset by what they were hearing about Israel. I could see a span of different reactions, from anger, to sadness, to bewilderment. When we were done reading about the events, hands filled the air with questions and comments. I could see that the madrichim were also affected by what their chanichim had to say.

The Bogrim's discussion finished with a few minutes to spare, so I went over to the Bonim who were still talking. As I arrived, one boy was speaking in a solemn voice as he talked about his family who live in Israel, how he is concerned about them and how he is angry that they live in a country about which he has to be worried about their safety.

After the discussion, the madrichim operated different stations while the chanichim walked around. The stations including writing letters to the families of the four teenagers who were killed, reading news articles and learning the Hebrew song "Shir La'Shalom" (Song for Peace). 

One of the stations had two large pieces of paper that said "We at Galil think..." The sheets are now full of writing in different colors and writing styles from the chanichim. In purple, an anonymous note says, "the domino effect of hatred will never end. Human nature will not allow every single one of us to like each other, but it is in our power to choose how we deal with it. As humans, our biggest obstacle is learning to deal with our hatred in a way that will not hurt others. If this can be achieved, then we are a big step closer to making peace."

My station was talking pictures of chanichim holding signs that said, "only peace will bring peace" in English, Hebrew and Arabic. Our sister camps, Moshava in Maryland and Gilboa in California, have done the same with their chanichim, and the other Habonim Dror North America machanot have plans to do the same. I didn't force anyone to take a picture. I told them what I was doing and I let them walk away if they wanted to. Most were very interested and many had a preference about the language that they held. The older kids were especially interested in holding signs, with most of them choosing to use all three languages. I told them to act how they felt was appropriate, some smiled, some had blank faces, and some chose to cover their faces with the signs. Many chanichim found it difficult, but also came up to me with questions wanting to know more. I answered their questions and many of them then decided to take a picture with the signs, while others just needed a hug. 

At Galil, we try to educate about Israel from all perspectives, and teach our chanichim how to be an advocate for peace. Programming like today's is one of the many ways we try to be partners in change. 

All of Galil standing in solidarity for peace