Tuesday June 23

Our morning shiur today focused on the revival of Hebrew as a national language. This was a point of contention among the Zionists. Many people coming to Eretz Yisrael to help defend and build the country were traveling from Europe and brought their foreign languages as part of this ingathering of the exiles. The chanichim discussed language in general – as something that unifies and connects people to their heritage – and then specifically as it relates to this question. Hebrew has religious significance as well, our lashon haKodesh, the language of our Torah. Did you know that the prophet Tzephania tells us that in the end of days, the entire world will speak one language, calling out in G-d’s name?! (see chapter 3 verse 9).

We have officially opened the Village for this session! The peulot in our Village every year expose campers to some of the lost arts such as glassblowing, blacksmithing, baking in a brick oven, calligraphy, carpentry, etc. Every session some of the activities change, but a few are always there. Everyone has a few peulot in the Village over the course of the month, so they can experience all of the hands-on activities. We have named the village “Mikveh Yisrael” for this month’s tochnit, Moshevet Shivat Tzion. Founded in 1870 by Charles Netter, Mikveh Yisrael was the first modern Jewish agricultural settlement and school in Palestine. Mikveh Yisrael (meaning “Hope of Israel”) was established with the goal of teaching modern farming techniques to Jewish youth, proving that Jews could thrive as farmers in their ancestral homeland.  Long before the official Zionist Organization was founded, Mikveh Yisrael’s graduates were already establishing the very first agricultural colonies, such as Rishon LeTzion and Zichron Ya’akov. Mikveh Yisrael’s teachers wrote the first agricultural textbooks and served as field advisors for the early pioneers.

Our campers have a few projects they are working on in the village this year. I will save the project involving glassblowing and blacksmithing as a surprise/secret, but here are some other fun peulot they have:

• Chanichim will learn about the Ayalon Institute underground bullet factory made by Jews to supply bullets in their fight against the British. They will enter through a fake cabinet in the bakery that will lead down to the woodshop, where they will make bracelets with bullets.
• In the bakery, chanichim will bake pita and make jelly, learning about the challenges of storing food in the days of the early Zionists.
• Chanichim will learn about the 1948 operation to capture Eilat, and will use sewing machines to sew pillowcases with the Israeli flag on them. (Look up that story!!)
• Chanichim will learn about the NILI spy ring, the Jewish spy ring that spied for the British in World War One, and will make cipher wheels out of wood to code and decode messages.
• Chanichim will go through an obstacle course/escape room starting in the planetarium in order to “sneak into Israel” like the Ma’apilim did under the British Mandate. Then at the end, the chanichim will put together a map of Israel to “build” the country.

Our chanichim look forward to peulot in the Village. Ask them more about it when you see them in 3 weeks 😊

Tonight, everyone is out at their lina (camp out) site for a dinner over a bonfire, some roasted marshmallows and a good night sleep under the stars. The breakout was a skit at shekem about the idea Herzl proposed – to accept Uganda as the Jewish homeland, as was being offered to them by British Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain. The debate got fierce and they decided to “go see Uganda and check it out” – hence “pack your bags, we are all leaving!” Yes, the chanichim saw it coming 😉

Kaytana had a fun day with peulot such as magnet making, soccer, swim (for the boys) and bracelet-making, swim, making mint lemonade (limonana) and kickball (for the girls) They had a shiur about Matan Torah (more about that tomorrow as they continue that topic) and also left for a lina after shekem, just like all the “big kids” – the “breakout” for them involved a shtick their minyan has…each morning, they say one of the 5 hallelukah chapters of Tehillim and are always asking “what happened to other 4?” so the Roshei Kaytana told them they are heading out in search of the other 4 chapters that they are missing.

Machal hiked The Big Gorge, an approx. 8-mile hike and are camping out tonight, roasting hot dogs and veggies. Their shiur this morning focused on developing the concept of Avodah more (after discussing Torah v’Avodah yesterday). They learned about the obligation we have from G-d to partner with Him in creating, building and safeguarding the world.