MBI marches on

Shabbat as I mentioned before, was a relaxing peaceful day at Ohalo. The MBIers got to sleep-in to the late of hour 9am and after breakfast started the day with a peuloa(activity) about Kupa(communal fund). In their bus groups they discussed what Kupa meant to them, how they hope to see it work and ultimately what it's place is in their lives and in Habonim.

In the afternoon they had Shabbat Chugim(Special-Interest activities) which ranged from drawing, music appreciation, reading, to discussions on Israeli slang, Judaism and even the '60s. This was followed up by a rousing musicale(open-mic), dinner and Havdallah which was framed by the Kinneret, Golan Heights, and twinkling lights of Tiberias off in the distance. Then MBI went to Hamat Gader which is a wonderful hot springs and capped off their peaceful day with a dip in some pools that are filled with water from hot springs. It was very quiet and relaxing there and a great way ultimately to finish off Shabbat and get ready for a full week of MBI coming up.

Today(Sunday) the MBIers headed off in the morning some exciting challenges ahead of them. Buses 1&4 started the day off by doing Snappling/Rappelling near Kibbutz Metsuba where many of the MBIers learned about the excitement and thrill of this challenge. They then met up with buses 2&3 for a fun lunch of pizza where they got to swap stories and hear about buses 2&3 morning in Akko. Buses 2&3 had morning trip walking through much of the old city of Akko which is a fascinating, diverse city and many of the streets they walked through were the same ones that Napoleon Bonaparte walked through! In the afternoon Buses 2&3 got their chance to go rapelling fresh off hearing the stories of the other 2 buses. Buses 1&4 went to Lochamei Hagetaot(Ghetto Fighters) which is a museum on a Kibbutz by that same name, where they got to learn about the Holocaust and the role of youth in ghetto uprising, specifically the links of Dror(as in Habonim Dror) to the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.

It was a packed day that was capped off in the evening with meeting with the coordinators and counselors from the Kibbutzim they will be spending machatz. Tonight they will get to learn more about the different Kibbutzim they will be spending 5 days on during the Machatz time period which starts on Tuesday. They will get to know the Kibbutz and people from MBI that they will be spending time with as well as meeting some of the contacts from their Kibbutz.

Tomorrow MBI will finally be saying goodbye to Ohalo as they pack up and head off for one of the most exciting days of MBI, Yom Habonim Dror(Habonim Dror day). The big event which is comprised of everyone from Habonim Dror either on a summer tour program like MBI or on a year program like our Workshop will take place at Sdot Yam. It will be huge gathering of hundreds of Habonim Dror members and the trading of ideas and paraphernalia from all the countries that will be there including the UK, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, France, Uruguay, and Mexico among others, will make it a day to remember.

In the evening they will head to Chof Dugit on the banks of the Kinneret where they will have a big dinner and medurah(campfire). They will get a chance to enjoy the outdoors and even sleep under the big sky and stars above. They also will be having a big ceremony where they will finally be receiving their chultzah tnua(movement shirts) which are our blue shirts with red strings. For us and many of the MBIers this is a very special and momentous occasion in their Habonim Dror lives as they continue to grow and hopefully will be the future leaders of the movement, Israel and greater Jewish community of North America.

Well that was quite an update if I do say so myself. On Tuesday the MBIers will be having their laundry done and they will get it back by Friday. Also I have noticed that some people have been posting comments to their MBIer on the comments section of the blog. That is fine by me but they will not be printed out and distributed and will only be viewed if your child reads the blog. The Guestbook still remains the best way to get messages across in a quicker method.