Kaveret Continues

Hello Workshop Blog,

This update is simply to report, as the title suggests, that Kaveret continues.  In the past couple weeks, the chanichim had their first Poland journey preparation seminar.  The topics they delved into covered how the Holocaust is educated and often misrepresented, envisioning a society that is based on the opposite values of the ones in Nazi Germany, and the idea of a journey and what it entails.  The seminar all in all went very well in both Akko and Karmiel. 

In other news, winter is in full swing in Israel.  It may seem silly to think about winter in this mostly desert-like landscape, but winter we have.  It mostly consists of cold rainy days every few weeks.  From one point of view, this is a miracle from the heavens and we should be thankful – after all, the Kinneret is still dangerously low.  But, on the other hand, most buildings in Israel were not built for the couple months of wintry weather this country gets, and as a result it is cold and miserable many times.  This is certainly true of the Kaveret houses, which can be cold and damp at times.  This has led to a noticeable upswing in colds and light sicknesses experienced by the chanichim as a whole.  In addition, as you all probably know, there have been other technical issues in the Kaveret houses which are being dealt with hastily to ensure a safe environment. 

Next week, the chanichim have a special 4 daylong seminar jointly organized by MASA and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  It is a seminar about advocacy and they will be mostly in Jerusalem, with a trip to Sderot as well.  They will be learning about different aspects of Israel and its place in the world and how it is - and should be - represented.  This is a new element in the Workshop program and we are excited for the opportunity.

In the future, I hope to get chanichim to write about their Messima experiences on Kaveret to give you a better understanding of the day-to-day reality they are in. 

Until then, keep warm and dry wherever you find yourselves this winter.

Today's Mission

Hello!

Well Kaveret has officially begun!  The chanichim are all moved into their houses in Akko and Karmiel and messima has begun.  The general weekly schedule these days for the chanichim involves three days of messima in their respective volunteering places (Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday), one day of Yom Kvusta as always (Monday), and one day called Yom Kaveret (Thursday), where the chanichim have peulot run for them about the society they are living in and how they interact with it.  These days’ topics include learning about the history and present of the city they live in, learning about the socio-economic stratification of Israeli society and how that affects the people in it and learning about the conflict and its complex intricacies that are woven into the fabric of society.  There is also the occasional time to just learn how to function in this new environment of living in a house together in a city, such as cooking competitions and the like.

Since we last checked in, the chanichim had their Winter Chofesh!  It was relatively uneventful (blog-wise, at least…), but since getting back they are slowly acclimating to their new environments.  The most exciting aspect of Kaveret is, of course, their messimot – the volunteering work they do which makes up the bulk of their week’s events.  Messimot – which literally means “missions” – are the chanichim’s chance to put into action the values and ideas they developed during Boneh.  The chanichim are actively participating in Israeli society and through the framework of teaching English and running after-school programming, they have the opportunity to really get to know Israeli youth and educate them towards a better future for all of Israel.  Messimot have a Melave, or “chaperone”, who helps them enter into the places they are in, helps them develop educational materials, and educates the chanichim themselves on what it means to be working hands-on in Israeli society.  The Melave is from Hanoar HaOved veHaLomed, our sister movement, and they have experience in the places that the chanichim are working in. 

The Messimot range from working in local schools in Akko and Karmiel, to working in boarding schools for at-risk youth, to working in Arab villages in the local Galil region.  Often we have developed partnerships in the volunteering places over the course of many years and the students look forward to when the Habonim people come to work with them.   

The other news to report about is that the chanichim have begun the process to prepare for their journey to Poland.  The process is over the course of a couple months, learning about the Holocaust, about the youth movements in Eastern Europe, and about the nature of the trip in general.  Last week the chanichim had their first activity inviting them to be a part of the process and this weekend they have their first seminar to prepare for the journey.

The dates of the journey are March 12-19.