Hi again

My apologies for the delay in updating the blog, we were experiencing some technical difficulties which hopefully will not happen again!!

To give a short recap of the past few weeks… On Thursday (18^th) the excursion was to the Museum on the Seam in Jerusalem. Museum on the Seam is a unique museum in Israel, displaying contemporary art that deals with different aspects of the socio-political reality. It is also called the Coexistence Museum as most of the material it deals with, calls for listening and discussion, for accepting the other and those different from us and respect. After the museum, the shnatties had processing time with their madrichim, before departing for a free weekend.

Also last week was the first chavura session, which is the peer-led sessions where the shnatties together with the North American participants, are split into smaller groups with themes. Each group presents their peula on Tuesday nights, and last weeks was on the Story of Job.

This past week the seminar theme was "Sovereignty" and covered the period of time between the Egyptian exodus and the Roman exile (the Temple Periods up until the destruction of the 2^nd temple in Jerusalem). This was a chance to explore a period of time where the Israelites were primarily living “at home” in (ancient) Israel.

The seminars explored the differences between Priests and Prophets, Leadership, Kings and Civil Society (with a focus on King Solomon’s reign), Hellenism vs Judaism (To what extent did the Jews (both their leaders and the masses) embrace the surrounding values and culture and assimilate, and to what extent did they rebel and attempt to keep their own values intact?) and also different examples of Jews revolting (the Macabees & the story of Chanuka, Masada & the revolt against the Romans, Bar-Kochva)

The Excursion on Thursday was to Horbat Midras, which are also called the Bar Kochba caves. These caves were considered an ideological strongpoint, but were also considered very impoverished (as comparable to the nearby Tel Maresha caves which were considered to be very wealthy, but lacking in Jewish symbols), and were a vital link in Jewish defence and rebellion. Some of the walking involved squeezing through small cave openings, which proved a bit too claustrophobic for some of the shnatties! Afterwards, the siyur continued to the Tower of David Museum in Jerusalem. The museum covers the history of the city of Jerusalem across the past 4000 years, focusing on the main events of each period. Afterwards, the shnatties had processing with their madrichim in Jerusalem.

Also this past week the shnatties looked at Communication, Delegation and Motivation in the weekly Hadracha class. The peula involved each kvutsa making a newspaper within a certain time limit, and various problem solving ideas.

The chavura group for this week led a program surrounding the birth of Christianity, using a very unique method of TV and commercial slots in the moadon.

The upcoming week is jam packed, with a Solidarity Event on Sunday night for the Kidnapped Soldiers; and seminars on the theme of Survival and Preservation, looking at the time period of the Exile until Emancipation, with an excursion to the Diaspora Museum and Yavne; together with all the usual Boneh activities.

Shabbat Shalom