Tuesday, August 3
Shalom from day two of the Machane Chutz!
The chanichim woke this morning for tefillah in our chutz beit knesset — right in the middle of the main migrash of our chutz site. On a chutz, we divide the camp into 20 groups called plugot (groups). Each plugah has a group of mixed ages and genders and is led by some eidah daled chanichim (aka the Roshei Plugah). They gather around their fire pit for all meals, and work together to gather wood and to cook. For the Roshei Plugah, this is their first experience with leadership in Machane, and they take it very seriously. Some of these rising ninth graders have aspirations to be Roshei Eidah and Roshei Moshava and know that this is their time to grow in the skills needed for those leadership positions. They have to lead by example and take care of their group.
When it was time for shiur, several shiur teachers did round robins of delivering spoken word poetry “raps” from the perspective of several women of the Talmud, such as Bruriah. Each plugah heard each rap, and was asked to discuss the perspective of the narrators, and what each told us about the nature of Torah she-ba’al Peh (the oral tradition).
Following shiur, each plugah was given ingredients for their lunch — bread, cheese, eggs, vegetables, cinnamon, sugar, salt, etc. They have so much fun for hours! They make a fire, prep it for cooking, prepare their ingredients, eat, and try to cook all sorts of yummy versions of eggs, french toast, grilled cheese, etc. It is the highlight of the chutz!
The day is all about playing catch, building things from wood, working on art projects, catching up with siblings and friends in different eidot, and maybe napping. Some chanichim elected to go to a “drawing from life in the forest” peulah, where they learned how to draw forest landscapes by looking and noticing.
It is another beautiful night tonight, and some campers went stargazing, while others gathered around a campfire for singing, before going to sleep.
