Hello Parents and Students,
This week was filled with insightful and enjoyable experiences.
On Sunday evening, the groups spent some quality time with the Madrichim in their apartments. They enjoyed hanging out together and they even baked some amazing cookies and cakes.
On Monday, Oz and Yoav’s groups had a session of Faces of Israel in which they hosted Cafe Dilemma. The students sat down in small groups and discussed a variety of topics. Within those topcis they spoke about Israel and Judaism, love and how every person sees it differently, global issues, and more.
On Tuesday, we traveled to the Gaza Envelope (Otef Gaza). We arrived at Assaf Siboni lookout. Assaf Siboni, from the Nahal Brigade, was one of 73 IDF soldiers who were killed in on February 4th, 1997, when two Yasur helicopters collided on their way to the IDF posts in the security strip in Southern Lebanon. The lookout, west of the Nir Am reservoir, was built in memory of Assaf, who was a member of the Kibbutz.
After a visit to the lookout, we continued to Kibbutz Nir Am, which is located at the northwest corner of the Gaza Strip, to speak with Ofer, who’s in charge of the agriculture in the Kibbutz. He spoke about what it’s like to live right next to Gaza, to live with the attacks and fires created by incendiary balloons coming from Gaza.
After an interesting conversation, we continued to Sderot and had a short tour around the city. Then we continued to Netiv Ha’asara. We participated in the project Netiv Le’Shalom (Path to Peace) which is a joint mosaic creation, by thousands of people, placed upon the border wall that divides the Gaza Strip and Israel, next to the homes of Moshav Netiv HaAsara. We wrote personal wishes on the back of colorful mosaic pieces, which were then attached to the security wall.
Alex Weiss wrote about her experince:
“For this week’s tiyul, we had the opportunity to visit communities in the Gaza Envelope. It was so meaningful to hear Tsameret Zamir’s experiences living in Netiv HaAsara. Instead of letting the fear of violence take over her life, she uses her passion for art to shed light on the possibility for peace and resolution of the ongoing conflict. The Path to Peace project is a mosaic built on the gray security wall that separates the moshav from Gaza, and can be viewed by both communities. We were able to play an active role in this project’s message of mutual hope, and tolerance and kindness for others by writing a personal message on the back of a handmade ceramic tile and gluing it onto the wall alongside thousands of other pieces.”
During this week, we saw the students in action in their various internship places. Some students intern and work with their hands, while others work with computers, but all of them seem to be beneficial to the internships where they are placed.
After a week of meaningful experiences, we are looking forward to next week.
The Madrich on call for this weekend is Oz
Have a great weekend,
Gili
