Shalom
Workshop Parents, Families and Friends,
My name is
Gil Browdy. I am one of the coordinators
of Workshop 61 here on the ground in Israel.
I will updating this blog now and again to keep you all in the loop of
the exciting happenings during this amazing year (ideally more often than I
have until this point!).
So, where
are we now? The chanichim have moved in
and are comfortably settled on Kibbutz Ein Dor.
Boneh began a bit over two weeks ago, and things have been going well
from the get-go.
To be a be
a bit more informative:
Boneh is a
four month long program within Workshop that takes place on Kibbutz Ein
Dor. Boneh is a process whose goals are
to deepen the chanichim’s understanding of their Jewish identity through
understanding Jewish history, Israeli history and the roots of Zionism, as well
as grappling with today’s complex questions here in Israel and for Jews
worldwide.
The weekly
schedule includes class time, where weekly topics are addressed (last week’s
topic was “My Jewish Community”, where chanichim explored the history and character
of their home communities), guest speakers, and trips to places throughout
Israel to connect the learning to the real world (last week they went to Tel
Aviv to learn about the first modern Jewish city as well as to visit the
Diaspora Museum). The schedule also
includes Avoda, a small amount of work time on the Kibbutz to connect the
chanichim to their immediate surrounding community, and Ivrit, informal Hebrew
learning to give the chanichim the basic tools to interact with their
environs.
Today, of
course, marks the beginning of Rosh Hashana.
This is a fitting first holiday experience for the chanichim, who
themselves have just started off their year experience here in Israel.
On that
note, I would like to wish all of you a happy and sweet new year. May this year bring us all health, joy and
peace. And may you all have the strength
and wisdom to handle the hardships that come along with sending your children
on a long-term trip abroad. I know it
can be difficult, but we can all work together to make it an incredible
experience for the chanichim.
Shana Tova!
- Gil
