I've just finished packing, now. Today, I will leave my Midwestern home town of Normal, IL and head off to the Middle East, to Israel, for nine months!
The program in which I am partaking is called Workshop. It is run by the Labor Zionist Youth Movement, Habonim Dror. Habonim Dror has seven summer camps throughout North America. Since I was ten, I have been attending Habonim Dror's Camp Tavor in Three Rivers, MI. Although I had gone to Sunday Religious School since I was four, it was at Machaneh (definition: Camp) Tavor that I truly began to form my own sense of a Jewish identity. In other words, Tavor and Habonim Dror have had a huge impact on my life. One major aspect of Tavor, and the movement as a whole, is the emphasis on kvutza (definition: a group of kids who are the same age). In Israel I will be living with my kvutza which consists of 29 kids from all seven machanot (plural of machaneh).
Over the next nine months we will be residing on a kibbutz (definition: a communal farm or settlement in Israel), interacting with Israeli society, learning Hebrew, and much, much more.
When we arrive in Israel on Wednesday, Sept. 3, we will have an orientation seminar for a couple of days. Following the seminar we will begin the portion of Workshop known as Boneh (definition: building), which will be from Sept. to mid Dec. During Boneh my kvutza and I will be living on Kibbutz Ein Dor located in northern Israel. This portion of the program focuses specifically on educational, social, and leadership development. We will be exploring Jewish history, Zionism, Israel, Hebrew, and everything in between. On the kibbutz, I will also be assigned avodah (definition: work) which I will engage for a couple of hours every other day.
In January, we will begin the second portion of Workshop known as Kavaret. The main emphasis on Kavaret is messima (definition: volunteer work) mainly through education. This education is not just the stereotypical math, science, language, etc, we will also be educating on values, particularly equality of human worth and kinship.
"Israel has the highest poverty rate in the developed world, Haaretz concludes based on a new study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
The newspaper notes that with a poverty rate of 20.9 percent, Israel scores lowest out of 34 economically developed countries. The country also has one of the biggest gaps between its rich and poor in the developed world." ~ Huffington Post
Between the poverty and the conflict, something needs to be done. I hope that within these next nine months, I can contribute (even if it's a little bit) to this desperately needed change.
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