November on Workshop

Last Thursday we had a siyur in Haifa, where we learned about the history of the city. We visited a lookout point where we could see across the sea to Akko! We also learned about the different neighborhoods in the city.  Wadi Nisnas, an Arab neighborhood, is situated right next to Hadar HaCarmel, a Jewish neighborhood. We got to walk around Wadi Nisnas for a bit, so a few of us walked to a nearby bakery where we bought cookies! Hadar HaCarmel (more widely known as just Hadar), is a lot bigger and is located on higher land elevation. It's home to the Technion, which used to be the Israel Institute of Technology, but is now a museum of technology, science, and space. We ended the day downtown right next to an old Turkish shuk.

 After the siyur, Jess, Toviah, and I met up with one of our madrichim, Anna, who just recently made Aliyah to Israel. We went out for falafel and then went to a German section of the city where we had froyo/ ice cream!

It was really nice seeing Anna and talking to her about workshop and her new life in Israel. 

Another interesting part of workshop was  the module that we just finished. For the past two weeks we have learned about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict through peulot, discussions, guest speakers, and day trips. It was definitely a different kind of topic than the rest of the modules we've had. I think that it's a lot more relevant in our lives right now, not only because we are living in Israel, but also because we are 18 and 19 year olds living in an ever changing global society. This is a conflict that obviously includes the Israelis, Palestinians, and Arabs, however our home countries like the United States and Canada are also very involved in the issue as well. On Tuesday night, we listened to a guest speaker from Breaking the Silence, an organization against the occupation of the territories. Having grown up in the West Bank himself, the speaker posed many interesting viewpoints on the topic. He showed us a video of a border checkpoint where IDF soldiers were treating some of the Palestinians unfairly by threatening and physically assaulting them. 

Since Boneh is coming to a close, we finished many of our last courses this past week. My power course, masculinity, ended with a very interesting discussion on gender stereotypes and norms. Judaism course and Israeli society also ended. Workshop 63 is the first workshop to have experienced a course dedicated solely to Judaism and learning about our Jewish identities. While at times it was boring and very dry, I think that it sparked several discussions and questions that are very important to our growth as young Jewish individuals. I don't think I have ever thought that deeply about my Judaism as much as I did in this course, so it was very eye opening to be a part of it. For the last Israeli society, all of workshop joined together to watch Waltz with Bashir, an animated film on the first Lebanon war. The main character has a terrible vision from the Sabra and Shatila Massacre, so he seeks help from his friends, a psychologist, and other soldiers who served in the war to try to recall his involvement in it.  He eventually realizes that he helped shoot flares into the sky to aid the Christian Phalange militia commit the massacre inside the camps.The movie ends with real footage from the aftermath of the massacre.  Coming from someone who usually falls asleep when watching movies, I was definitely the opposite of falling asleep. It was incredibly interesting, and just goes to show the  psychological consequences that war can have on people, along with the extreme destruction that it can have on the villages and towns where people live.  We also had an incredibly deep and involved discussion about it afterwards. I loved hearing everyone's thoughts about the movie. An important question that we asked ourselves was "What is our responsibility towards the Arab-Israeli conflict? Both as Jews and individuals living in a complex society. What can we do to make sure that something like this doesn't happen again?

Our avodah also ended this past week. Micah and I said goodbye to Hovav, Ariel, and Baruch, and they wished us a good luck for the rest of our year.

Matan's birthday was this past Tuesday, the same day that we watched Waltz with Bashir.  It's definitely not the kind if movie you'd want to watch on your birthday. However, our kvutza had cake later that night, and then we joined with the other kvutza to have a silent rave. For those who don't know what a silent rave is, it's when you bring your ipod/ other music playing device and listen to your own music while dancing. It might sound weird, but it's actually hilarious. It's just a bunch of individuals dancing in a room to different music. Eventually, we played music in the speakers and all had a dance party. 

A major addition to workshop culture (specifically my kvutza) has been... knitting!! Personally, knitting helps me concentrate during peulot, so that's part of the reason why I knit, but it also is fun! I've already made 2 scarves and I'm beginning to make hats now too! There's a knitting store in Afula, so I've made a few trips to stock up on yarn.

On Thursday, November 18th, we had a siyur in the Golan Heights. We stayed in Israel for the entire duration of it, but we could see Jordan and Syria at many points.

Funny story: I uploaded a picture to Facebook from my phone. When you are on a mobile device and have your Location services turned on, Facebook will put the location of where you are with whatever you uploaded. Since I was literally on the Israel-Syrian border, Facebook said I was in Merom Golan, Syria!

It was so cool learning about the conflict over the land throughout the years. But let's be real, I think it was even cooler being so close to Syria and seeing tanks and soldiers alongside the road. What's sort of scary, but also in a way pretty neat, is the fact that there are still land mines in the ground from the wars. Luckily, the IDF has located the mines, and has put clear warnings and barbed wired fences to block off the areas of land where the mines are located. We also talked about how the Golan Heights was such an important/controversial area because of 3 things: the land, water, and military advantage. The land is important because it's near the Sea of Galilee (Kinneret), where water is much easier to obtain than in other parts of Israel. Geographically, it's situated on higher land than other parts of Israel so those who own the land have a clear military advantage. 

Jasper, the one member of workshop who is from Habonim Dror BeHolland, talked with some UN officers in Dutch since they were also from Holland! These officers were filming each other for a tv show explaining what they do at the Syrian-Israeli border.

Micah hanging out on one of the turrets.

The other kvutza all lined up for some artsy photos!

Hannah and Micah, two workshoppers from the Washington DC area in front of sign with many cities and their distances from where we were!

Aliyah looking out over the Kinneret.

Liat exploring some of the underground tunnels!

Chief taking some pictures.

Amit educating us on the history of the Golan.

Although yesterday was Thanksgiving, Workshop 63 is celebrating Thanksgiving on Friday, November 29th. Aliyah, Sara Banai, Hannah Blass-Martens, and I all helped make the dessert for our Thanksgiving/Shabbat dinner, while Jacob Henderson, Sam, Rachel Fishman, Asher, and a few others helped make the actual dinner. Stay tuned for a post soon with more information about our Workshop Thanksgiving!

Speaking of holidays, it's also Chanukkah! We are celebrating this holiday by meeting in the Stones moadon and lighting the candles and reciting the blessings every night with one another.  On Thursday night after our siyur to the Golan Heights, many of us went to the Chadar Ochel on kibbutz for a Chanukkah tekes (ceremony). This kibbutz-wide event included many songs, a few speeches, and some dancing. At the end we all got sufganiot (jelly-filled doughnuts!).

More about food. Lately workshoppers have taken on the role of master chefs. 

Dan and Micah both made homemade potato chips!

We also had French toast sticks for breakfast one morning!

Last Saturday, November 23rd, Toviah, Sara Banai, Aliyah, and I decided to go on a hike! We woke up pretty early and then walked to a nearby kibbutz where we were able to access some of the national trails of Israel. Toviah brought a frying pan, some eggs to make scrambled eggs, and oil. Aliyah brought a jar of peanut butter, cheese, bread, and pretzels. I brought fruit and vegetables! After walking for a few miles, we all sat down, built ourselves a fire and made scrambled eggs!

Toviah also brought his speakers and iPod, and decided to play funny music to go along with adventuring in the "wilderness." We ended up walking downhill a lot, which we hardly noticed until we had to walk all the way back up at the end. We walked past signs that said "wadi" the Arabic word for river. We thought there would be a river so we looked out for the sound of running water. Much to our surprise (but actually not really), the once called river was dried up. Along our hike, we climbed this pretty  steep hill. It was very tiny so it didn't take long to climb at all.

After walking for a few more miles, we decided to have lunch. With the oil, bread, cheese, frying pan, and another fire, Toviah made grilled cheeses for all of us! After lunch we had to start heading back. We thought we would be back around 4, but we didn't end up getting back until 5:30, and by that time it was already super dark. We walked through many orchards and hilly dirt fields to get back to kibbutz. We also saw some wild donkeys on the way back! 

Once we finally got back I could hardly feel my legs! We ended up hiking about 12-15 miles that day!

There have also been many members of workshop who have begun filming music videos. Matan Reshef decided to create a video to Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball, which stars many members of workshop lip syncing and doing other silly things.

You can  check out his video here!

Next week we will be doing a seminar on hagshama and the history of Habonim Dror. Each day we will be leaving kibbutz and travelling to a new location to learn. I've heard it's a very long and tiring week, but I'm very excited to get off kibbutz everyday.