Galil Blog
Hey Galil families! Amos here. Today was our first full day of Second Session, and we got right into the swing of things. We started off by heading to the toren (flag pole) and raising the American, Israeli, and Habonim Dror flags before watching a short skit called Ivrit Shimushit (useful Hebrew). Ivrit Shimushit happens every morning on normal days, and this session, the story follows four of our tzevet (counselors) acting as students working at a Jewish board game company and learning Hebrew. After the skit was over, we headed over to the Chadar Ochel (dining hall) for a breakfast of waffles and fruit salad. When everyone was finished eating, we announced the different avoda (work) groups that all of the chanichimot (campers) signed up for last night. We were happy to see people hard at work during this time and made sure that everyone was contributing to the space they will be living in for the next few weeks.
As we moved into the later part of the morning, the Madatz (C.I.T.s) introduced themselves to all of the chanichimot at machaneh (camp) by running a bingo game in which the chanichimot had to find one of the madatz that corresponded to each bingo tile. For example, some of the tiles asked the chanichimot to find someone who plays tennis, someone who likes to sing, or someone who can solve a Rubik’s Cube. It was a nice activity that got all of the new campers more acquainted with this summer’s madatz.
To cap off the morning, the chanichimot split up into their kvutzot (age groups) before beginning their first peula (activity) run by their tzevet of this session. Peulot are arguably the most important part of Galil programming, as they give our chanichimot the chance to not only learn about issues and concepts that they may not have been taught in school, but to make close connections to each other and grow as a kvutzah. In addition, peulot allow our madrichim to run programming about concepts that they are passionate about. The Amelimot (artists)—our youngest age group—began by going to the brecha (pool) for instructional swim, and then they got a tour of machaneh (camp) for the first time. The Shorashimot (roots)—our rising middle schoolers—learned about consent in the first half, before heading down to the pool once the Amelimot got out. The Tzophimot (scouts)—they are b’nei mitzvah age—also had a peula about consent which is a core value at machaneh, as it is important to respect boundaries and people’s spaces. The Bonimot (builders)—rising high schoolers—had a peula on kvutzah and what it means to live in a somewhat collective space. Finally, the Bogrimot (graduates)—our rising 10th graders—had a peula that discussed Desire and Hagshama. Hagshama is one of Habonim Dror North America’s five pillars and means actualization in Hebrew. The Bogrimot discussed the importance of realizing one’s values in life and taking the next step of actualizing them in tangible ways.
For lunch, we had delicious grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup brought to us by our wonderful rosh mitbach (head of the kitchen), Zandra. With out stomaches full, we took a short menucha (rest time) before meeting back up at the toren to hear which chuggim (clubs/interest groups) all of the chanichimot would be in this session. Most of the chuggim groups spent their time with some icebreakers, however, This is Ours (one of the chuggim) just dove right in… literally! They went down to the creek and had a chill time skipping stones and jumping in.
Soon after, the Amelimot made SNL (Snack Light Late/a little snack after our evening activity) for all of machaneh. They put sprinkles and Hershey’s kisses into cookies and left while they let them bake. Then, they met up with the rest of machaneh to play some sports. Today, we offered swimming, basketball, and gaga ball. We decided that this session, we would be offering three different sports every day, and one of them would always be swimming so that chanichimot can escape the heat.
After sports, the chanichimot went down to the pool for schiya chofshit (free swim), and spent some time splashing around. To end the afternoon, the chanichimot went to change before coming to shira (singing) to learn some new Galil songs that they would end up singing tonight after dinner. With shira wrapped up, we headed over to the Chadar Ochel for pasta and meatballs with a side of cauliflower as well as green beans. Finally, to end the night, the chanichimot were sent on a hunt to find out who kidnapped our Rosh Machaneh (head of camp), Kerren. This activity was made into a round robin where the chanichimot were able to meet all of the tzevet members for the first time and question them on Kerren’s whereabouts. The night finally ended with Kerren showing up and declaring that our nurse, Leyli, was the one who betrayed her and not any of the tzevet members, so Leyli ended up getting dropped into our dunk tank.
Signing off until Shabbat, Amos