This past week has been extremely exciting here on Shnat! The Shnatties reunited after their nine-day chofesh period, which was spent by some travelling, by some with family or friends, and by some hanging out in the Kaveret houses and even doing a little volunteer work with local youth. Sunday morning they all met up together at Hukok Beach on the shores of the Kinneret, and greeted each other with excitement, hugs, and storytelling. After lunch it was time to get to work on Rafsodia - a unique Israeli youth movement activity in which a group builds a raft together out of poles and barrels, and sails on this raft across Lake Kinneret. The building work involves lots of measurement, coordination and hard-work, and the Machon and Boneh groups did a beautiful and speedy job of building their rafts, painting the sail, raising the mast and ensuring their vessels were sea-worthy:
Check out the Machon group carrying their partially-built raft down to the shore:
The next day after making sure all the knots were tight, having final safety briefings and getting the ok from the water engineer, the groups set sail! There were fantastic winds and they made extremely good time across the Kinneret, both groups clocking in at under an hour and forty minutes. On the sail they feasted on watermelon, sang songs and enjoyed the breeze and the scenery:
After landing they took apart their rafts and still had time for a swim; then it was dinner and camping out on the beach. The next day before heading over to Kaveret there was a bit more fun and bonding to be had on the water; this time it was swimming, kayaking, paddle-boating and banana-boating at the Golan Beach. It was great seeing the Shnatties use these water activities as a way to spend time with their group members; they took the floating water mattresses and had small discussion about different issues going on with their group, as well as just spending time together and splashing around for the pure joy of it.
After lunch that day the group packed up and set off for their Kaveret houses; many Shnatties had not yet seen their homes for the next five months and were seen bursting with excitement and dancing around their new living rooms. They spent the rest of the day unpacking and enjoying a healthy meal cooked for them by their Shnat madrichim and Kaveret rakazim. The next four days were spent on the Kaveret Prep Seminar, including group discussions about dealing with shared questions like shopping, cooking, cleaning and cultural activities; general orientation to the cities they are living in; and preparations for the mesimot (volunteer projects) they are starting this Sunday morning.
On a final note, last night Israel's social protest movement held a rally in Tel Aviv and the Shnatties were offered the option of attending. Some two-thirds of the group chose to take part and marched to the central rally, which made a peaceful call for social justice and was attended by many Israeli youth movement members.
