As part of our Shabbat Rotations - preparation for Shabbat - each week one of the kvutzot reflects on the week and shares their thoughts on Gilboa's blog. Here's what the Bogrim (10th graders) had to share.
The First Day of 2nd
Session
The thrill
of seeing the buses pull up to machaneh is one that can’t really be described.
With everyone cheering for the new chanichim, you can’t help but be excited for
the coming two weeks of machaneh. Hugging old friends is always a gift, but so
is introducing yourself to new ones.
As we
pulled up into the parking lot, we could see people preparing to welcome us to
the 2nd session of 2013. Many emotions were circling through our heads,
both exciting and anxious, but as we got off the bus and walked through the
tunnel of fellow chanichim’s hands, we all felt happy and welcomed. We found
the kvutsa that we were going to be with for the next weeks, and met so many
new people; it gave us such a thrill. We dropped off our suitcases and settled
down for a bit, right before heading out to learn about camp.
During the
rules, regulations, lice, etc… rotations, which may not sound very interesting
or fun, we had plenty of time to bond with the kvutsa. By the end of the day we
were very excited for the time we’d all be spending together at Machaneh
Gilboa.
-Shira,
Maya, and Danielle
Intersession
On the 21st, 1st
session ended and many people left camp and went home. There was a lot of
crying and sad songs being sung. The weather was stormy and gloomy, but
everything changed when the madatz took charge. This was the first time that
the madatz got to fully take leadership of machaneh, and we were all excited to
see what they would do. The chadar was decorated for an underwater birthday
party in the “Octopus’ Garden”. Throughout the three days of intersession we
watched movies, did fun crafts, and caught up on some sleep for second session.
We Tie-dyed and spray painted shirts, and made lots of candles, among other things.
It was a great time for everyone to relax, and the madatz did an excellent job
in making intersession a fun and calm time.
-Bella and
Carly
Avodah
It’s not often that you see
masses of children cheering about cleaning bathrooms and showers being used by 120 people, but at
Gilboa it’s the norm. Avodah is an experience very unique to Gilboa. At the beginning of the session, we
worked together with our kvutsot to choose avodot. Instead of randomly
assigning chanichim to avodot, we got to discuss and compromise in order to
make decisions.
Each
morning, we stand together with our avodot, showing our pride through various
cheers and chants. Some avodot get very competitive about proving that their
avodah is the best one. It’s all in good fun of course. Avodah is a great way
for chanichim to feel like they are contributing to making machaneh the great
place that it is.
-Sophie, Orli, Claire, and
Nathan
Yesterday
the Bogrim had a very interesting PISH about love and modern society. We started
off by playing a trigger game where we all had a different personality taped on
our foreheads and we had to act like we were at a party, and had to interact
with “personalities” that we would be
friends with. We then read the first chapter of The Art of Loving, which
discussed how love has become a physical object, and people are more concerned
with making themselves loveable rather than loving someone. We then watched a
video which connected this idea to modern society, and we talked about how
modern society alienates people and makes it harder to love. We brought up that if everyone changed
their mindset, it would be easier to make connections with people. We ended by
comparing our experiences of different types of love to the conventional
notions of love. We talked about self-love, romantic love, familial love, love
of an idea and friendship love. We all loved the Pish, and thought it was both
eye-opening and educational.
-Bella and
Carly
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