Shalom Galil Parents,
We just finished a very busy week here at Galil. On Wednesday the entire Bogrim schikva went to an Ultimate Frisbee tournament for Philadelphia area Jewish camps at JRF, a Reconstructionist machaneh. We had a fun time meeting other Jewish youth and playing them at frisbee. Although we didn’t win the tournament, we were given the award for best ruach (spirit).
That night the entire machaneh played Zap. Zap is a great game where the kids have to run and crawl their way across the camp. The madrichim patrol the grounds with flashlights and if they “zap” a kid, he or she has to go back to the beginning. Even though it’s a very simple game, everyone gets very excited. The kids dress in black and try their best to find hiding spots as they come across the fields. In the end, everyone gets to the other side.
The following day was Revo, when the madatz (CITs) run all the activities. This session’s revo theme was Life in a Day. Starting at birth and ending at old age, the Madatz ran activities themed around the major events in one’s life. For example, there was a Mock Bar Mitzvah, complete with a torah portion and a DJ, and some raucous games of Coke and Pepsi.
On Friday the Bogrim (10th grade) left Galil to meet their counterparts from Habonim Dror Camps Moshava and Na’aleh for Mifgash. We took a coach bus (very nice!) down to Moshava Friday morning, and played a number of icebreakers and name-games with their Bogrim. We joined their whole Machaneh for the traditional Shabbat activities, shira (singing Shabbat songs), rikud (Israeli dancing), and an oneg (play). We got to see the ways those activities were similar and different at Moshava. The following day we did more activities as a regional Bogrim, learning about each-other and the Habonim Dror movement. Next year is MBI and kids from all the HDNA machanot (camps) will come together to visit and learn about Israel. The kids got to meet friends that they will be joining for the journey next year.
Sunday we joined the Jewish Relief Agency to help provide food to elderly Jewish people in the Philadelphia area. First we went down to their warehouse to load kosher food into boxes. Then we brought the boxes onto our buses and went door to door delivering the food. Many of the kids got to meet and talk with the people that were receiving the food. It was a very educational experience, as well as a great Mitzvah.
Shalom lekulam,
Dusty and Nora
