Monday June 24

Although everyone was a little tired today, after the late night fun of a lina (with a bonfire, singing and hanging out together), we maximized the day! We learned about what it means to be satisfied with a little, histapkut, since many of the immigrants coming into Israel lived with very little in terms of clothing and shelter and money. We talked about the famous mishna in Pirkei Avot “Who is rich? Someone who is satisfied with his/her lot”

We had a full day of Peulot, since the rain stayed away until dinner: cermaics, high ropes, horseback riding, activities in the lake (trampoline and the new “iceberg”), melechet yad (art), swim, volleyball, basketball, dance, zumba and improv to name a few 🙂

This evening, before dinner, we had sichot, not chugim (electives) which means each bunk sits (a few times a week) and has a meaningful discussion as a bunk with all the counselors. Today’s sicha was about “Who/what is a Jew?” The chanichim have been learning about The Law of Return and the many aliyot, and so they understand that many people could argue about what determines one’s Jewishness. Is it just a Jewish mom? is there a cultural element that some use to define themselves as Jews? Could there be other elements? They looked at pictures of many many different kinds of Jews and talked about “how do we define a Jew”

Kaytana learned about Yosef in Egypt (going out to their lina site was their “going down to Egypt”) and tonight watched Prince of Egypt for a fun night tochnit, after a full day of active peulot.

Machal had a long water hike today and then enjoyed a campfire for dinner, a kumzits (singing and instruments) and a discussion about leadership -all at their special Machal Chutz site, right outside camp. Tonight they have the special treat of sleeping in camp!