Phantom Tollbooth Tochnit Erev
On Monday evening after chofesh (free time), chanichim
arrived to the Chadar (dining hall), to find that its doors are a tollbooth and
an entrance into the Kingdom of Wisdom. Everyone was sent off on an adventure
to help Milo – the book’s main character - bring back Princess Rhyme and
Princess Reason. The two princesses had left the kingdom as they were tired of
all the bickering over which intelligence was superior. They had once kept the
kingdom in balance, and in their absence, discord and disharmony took over the
land.
Chanichim went on an adventure through different stations,
each representing a different type of intelligence, following Howard Gardner’s
theory of multiple intelligences.
In the Auditory Intelligence Station chanichim focused on
listening to the sounds of the forest, and then sharpened their auditory
capacity by locating moving objects using only their sense of sound.
Then, in the Symphony of Color Station – the Musical
Intelligence Station - chanichim listened to music and expressed their reactions
to it through painting and colors. Metal and classical music yielded wild
combinations of colorful expression.
In the Emotional Intelligence Station chanichim played “telephone
of emotions”, talked about the importance of expressing themselves verbally,
via art and dance. Then they danced some…
Later on, in the Bodily Intelligence Station, awareness
was gained as chanichim played a challenge obstacle course where they had to find
the best way to move through a tangled web of rope and string. They had to work
as a group, assisting friends to find their own unique way through the web.
At these and other stations, campers came to realize that
all of these intelligences, in different combinations, play a part in our
understanding of the world around us and our interactions within it. With this
new balance in mind, the groups came back with Milo to Rhyme and Reason, and
persuaded them (in an improvised poetry session) to come back to the kingdom.
Comments
When and where did those impulses show up during the obstacle course, and how did each camper use reason to temper the yetzer harah?
Stephen Macht (Papa of Ruby, Isaiah, Jasper and Otto)
Papa Macht