Sunday, fast of 17 Tammuz
Shavua Tov!
We had a meaningful fast day here with a later wake up and a nice tefilah with some special additions. The chanichim had a shiur about Rabb Yochanan ben Zakkai’s request for the Romans to save the Sages of that time so Torah learning could continue after the destruction of the Beit haMikdash. They also learned a lot from a 4-part round robin group of skits about in-fighting among the Jewish people during this era we are studying, the end of the second Beit haMikdash, and in modern times. Tzevet members put on a skit about:
1) the Zealots vs. the Sages during the siege that romans lay on Jerusalem
2) the wealthy not helping the poor
3) the religious Jews having sinat chinam – baseless hatred (the famous Kamtza and Bar Kamtza story)
4) and then a fourth skit about today’s intolerance and inconsiderate rhetoric on social media
We had mincha at 1:30 and then had the afternoon for rest, a movie, time to buy “stonewear” and a discussion, by bunk, led by madrichim.
We gathered at 7:00 for singing, a story and maariv before we broke our fast at 8:26 pm camp time
Machal spent some time today at the old Corry, PA Jewish cemetery. They cleaned up a little, learned about some of the people buried there and then discussed the values a Jewish community must have to function and uphold Judaism (a shul, a school, a mikvah, a cemetery etc)
We have tomorrow for last favorite activities, finishing projects in the village or at ceramics and then…packing. So sad!! The crying already started at Seudah Shlishit, during our beloved slow shira : (
p.s. Annual Motzei Shabbat Machal vs. Daled basketball games ended with machal wins this year, both for the boys and for the girls. Congrats Machal!!!
(last blog for this session will be tomorrow night)
