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Yom Israel

Yom Israel

On Yom Israel, chanichimot followed the Pazobersky family through their daily life and struggles in Tel Aviv.  Each member of the family was involved with a social justice cause in Israel, and so the chanichimot were able to learn about multiple social justice issues such as LGBTQ rights, income inequality, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, racism, as well as about the organizations in Israel that are working to improve and resolve these issues.

The day started off with the family members presenting their causes. Chanichimot read about each issue and participated in relevant activities such as learning to write their names in Arabic script, playing "candy by identity" game to learn about inequality, and reading and drawing cartoon strips about Arab-Jewish relationships. They then had a peula (discussion based activity) in which they learned and talked about America's relationship with Israel and the role that the American Jewish establishment and community plays in Israel.
 




Chanichimot thought about why it's important to be educated about these topics, and the personal responsibility they have in social justice issues in Israel. After thinking about their personal connection to Israel, and the role that they can play in the American Jewish community, they spent time learning more about each issue, and doing fun activities to help out the Pazobersky family members and the causes they're working for.





They made Krembo (just for fun), they learned a dance and talked about Hanoar Haoved v'Halomed (Habonim Dror's sister youth movement) and the work they do in the Israeli society,  created a "My Vision for a Better Israel" poster, and wrote response poems after reading Palestinian and Israeli poetry by Mahmoud Darwish and Yehuda Amichai.







Dinner was Shabbat dinner at the family home, and the Pazobersky grandparents came over for dinner. It was a nice Shabbat dinner until the grandparents expressed their concern that the issues each family member was devoting their life to was straying too far from religion and from what it means to be Jewish. The family proved them wrong and reclaimed their Judaism by playing (with the chanichimot's help) and intense game of Judaism and Israel Jewpardy! The day ended in a party that included dancing to to popular Israeli music, and homemade Krembo eating.












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