Sukkot literally means "booths." So, on that Wednesday, we gathered the fixings to build our own sukkah (definition: singular of sukkot). There are three requirements for building a sukkah: It must have at least three walls, be constructed of durable materials that can withstand wind, and the roof must be covered with s’chach (definition: product of the earth that is no longer attached to the earth). We had been provided poles to construct our sukkah frame and we took our bed sheets to hang up on three sides acting as walls. We were able to borrow a machete from a kibbutznik and used it to cut the dead leaves off our palm tree in our yard which we used as our roof covering.
It was really amazing to walk around Ein Dor and see all the different types of sukkot the families had constructed.
In the spirit of Sukkot, we had our first tiyul (definition: trip/hike). We traveled to the Golan Heights, located in the very north of Israel and bordered directly by Syria and Lebanon. Our tiyul lasted four days and three nights, and it was the first time we met the Australian, New Zealand, and South African shnat (definition: year of/gap year) groups in the Habonim Dror movement. I believe I have failed to mention earlier that we have been living next door on Ein Dor to the British (and one German) shnat group for the past four weeks. So, although they were also hiking with us on our tiyul, the eight of them were all familiar company to us. There were eighty 18/19 year old movement members in total. It was an amazing opportunity to hike alongside them and learn about how their kvutza process has been. The shnat groups from south of the equator began their year here in Israel when summer was just finishing for them, meaning they arrived towards the end of January.
Two of our hikes were half-day hikes lasting only about four hours, but our other two hikes were double that. On the two longer days we had the opportunity to go swimming in pools that had formed under waterfalls. The first time I jumped in I felt my entire body clench together from the coldness of the water, and it was pretty hard to breathe. But it was so much fun anyway. Our two shorter hikes were through different streams and at some points the streams got so deep that we had to swim because our feet couldn't touch the ground.
During the hikes we would stop and talk a little bit. Once we spoke of the people who originally lived in the Golan region (Syrians, Arabs, Druze, and Jews); another time we read two quotes by Rabbi Eleazar Ha-Kappar about Chavruta (definition: a pair of people studying Jewish texts together) on the sage of blessed memory. We discussed the two quotes in (you guessed it) pairs. The first quote focused on four things that Jews should always do: avoid sexual misconduct, not speak lashon hara (definition: evil tongue), speak in Hebrew, and keep their Hebrew names. The second quote focused on the needed unity of the Jewish people. I personally found this quote more interesting and provocative to discuss with my New Zealander partner. We talked about whether or not we think it is important for the Jewish people to be unified. We felt strongly that we should be, but knew that it seems like an impossible desire. Then we talked about how being on tiyul with Jews from around the world emphasized the unity of the Jewish people, as our discussions from days earlier made us aware of our overlap in opinions about Judaism and Israel.
When we returned to the campgrounds each night we had a hearty bowl of vegetable soup waiting for us, a delicious dinner, and a night of relaxing activities planned for us. It was very neat meeting other English speakers in our movement from around the world, and, in about three weeks, we will have the Rabin seminar with them, too!
It's been a long and exhausting week. I am definitely looking forward to going back to our regular Boneh schedule. I'm excited to learn about this week's module and get back to my avodah (definition: work) of collecting ashpah (definition:trash) and general landscaping!
Hope you enjoy these pictures from my tiyul!
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