Summer 2014 On Its Way

Dear Gilboa Community,

Strong Hands, Young Hearts. This is the educational theme of Gilboa summer 2014. Here’s where it comes from. I was going through old song posters during work weekend at camp this year. I was feeling a little reminiscent and kept finding myself reliving the memories of machaneh (camp) that each song reminded me of. I saw the poster for “The Corn Song,” one of my all-time favorites, and started reading through the words of the song. I knew it was more than the catchy tune that kept it in my repertoire all these years.

The lyrics of the chorus are as follows:

Because our hands are strong and our hearts are young,

And a dreamer keeps a dreamin’ ages on,

Keeps a dreamin’, keeps a dreamin along...

These lyrics really speak to what I think is at the core of the education at Habonim Dror, our youth movement, and what makes us so special. Our young hearts inspire us, give us direction and remind us what is our purpose, and with our strong hands (both literally and metaphorically), we can put in the work that needs to be done. We know that our idealistic hearts are not up in the clouds, but are right here with us on this Earth, in this reality.

This means really seeing the reality that exists around us. We discuss the world we live in with our chanichim (campers) and whether it is injustice in their communities or bullying in their schools, we need to keep asking if what they see today is how it should be.

Let’s bring it back to the song to see how we work towards this ideal world. Each verse of the song presents a problem to be solved or a need to be fulfilled, and the work done to fix the situation. “What did we do when we needed a town? We hammered and we nailed ‘til the sun went down.” We need to keep our hearts young by maintaining the vision we have for the world, while thinking about the path to get there from where we are now.

This summer, together, we will look at the world today and see how far it is from what it should be. We will look for ways to move toward a better world rooted in reality, and will commit to the work required.

Aleh v’hagshem,

Elana, Rosh Chinuch 2014