NIR'S SHNAT BLOG: February 2012

Dear families and friends,

Zac, Georgia and Mark here for the first official update of Nir's Shnat 2012. After an intense week of AZYC Opening Seminar in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and then another intense week of Hineni Opening Seminar in the Golan Heights and the Old City of J-Town, we come to you from the base of Kiryat Moriah, the HQ of the Jewish Agency, but more importantly our home for the next four months on Machon.

We started with the long awaited moment of not living out of a suitcase, and were straight away thrust back into it with a 2 day hike in the Judean Desert. This was an official opening of Machon where we got to know our Chavura (family) groups as well as the broader Machon community. Despite the fact that it was a bit of a strain, we enjoyed getting down and dirty on the dusty trail. At night, we settled in for some luxury camping, making dinner (spaghetti and burgers for those who are really interested) in our Chavurot, had a program by the Machon madrichim and sat around the campfire.

The next day we woke up to the cold of the desert which progressively warmed up enough to pray Shacharit overlooking valleys and ridges in one direction, and the Dead Sea in the other. We drove to the Ein Gedi hike which was beautiful, and it ended off with a swim in a Maayan (watering hole) with a waterfall flowing into it. The day ended off with some team-building exercises next to the Dead Sea, and some people braved the freezing cold water and went for a swim & float in it.

We travelled back to Machon after that, and in the morning got to know the area through an amazing race around the campus and the surrounding suburb, Talpiyot. We walked down to Emek Rafaim, a strip with plenty of cafes and shops, but most importantly ice cream at Aldo’s, a chain which uses Max Brenner chocolate.

The afternoon took more of a touristy turn as we visited the Kotel Tunnels, walking underground and seeing historical stones and the original streets used in Temple times. We got an opportunity to go the closest point to the Holy of Holies, did a virtual tour of the Temple looking at all the different ages of the Temple Mount and did a program on the importance of Jerusalem to the Jewish people as part of Machon, which fostered a broad range of viewpoints from the various youth movements.

Thursday was a day of horrible, rainy weather, but it didn’t stop us visiting Har Herzl, the cemetery of important Zionist figures including Herzl and Jabotinsky. Most of Machon stayed inside at the Herzl museum and did a program on the major figures in Zionist history, but a few of us braved the weather and visited some important sites. The program allowed us to evaluate the decisions of Golda Meir in the Yom Kippur War, Menachem Begin campaigning to reject German reparation money and Ben-Gurion encouraging mass immigration despite severe lack of resources.

After a week of touring, meeting people, learning, hiking and whatever other draining activities you can think of, it was time for our first free weekend and chilled Shabbat where we could get away from everything and recharge.

Mark: I went to the Friedgut family with Ari, spending the weekend at his great aunt (Dianne) and uncle (Jac) who made aliyah around 20 years ago. As soon as we were given our own room and a comfortable bed, we crashed and had a nap for a good 2 hours before Shabbat came in. Shabbat dinner was with Ari’s cousins, two of whom are around our age and another two who are a bit younger. I got an offer from them to come and play drums at their house whenever I want, which is a 5 minute walk from Machon, so obviously Shabbat dinner was great. After shul and a giant lunch, Jac told us about how he met Kennedy in the White House and saved New York City from economic turmoil. It was a really great weekend, going to a few different shul services and recharging my batteries for the week to come.

Everyone again: After Shabbat, we started classes. Machon classes consist of Tchumim (core subjects)- Hebrew, Zionism, Story of the Jewish People and Judaism, as well as a few different components that make up our day, such as electives and Yom Yisrael (a day trip to experience Israeli life). For the most recent Yom Yisrael, which acted as an intro to the rest of them, we visited Tel Gezer, an archaeological site which is referred to in the Tanach, and we read the corresponding biblical passages. We moved on to the close by Kibbutz Gezer where there is a mass grave for 28 soldiers that died defending the now-defunct Kibbutz in the Independence War. The day ended off reading poetry by famous Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai who writes about living in modern day Jerusalem. We highly recommend reading his award-winning poetry, which can be found here:

http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/yehuda_amichai/poems/52.html

So that’s been a brief overview of our week. It’s hard to summarise all of it in an email, but it’s all obviously been great. We’re heading into Shabbat as we write this, which will be a perfect time to chill out and get back into another hectic week on Sunday. There's not enough time before Shabbat to add photos, but after it goes out, we'll send a link to literally show you what we've been doing.

Love and miss you all,

Zac, Georgia & Mark