Program Updates

Shalom Parents Netivot 2008,

It is hard to believe that we are now just past the half-way point in our programme.  How the time is flying!
 
Overall, I must tell you, most happily, that your youngsters are behaving in an exemplary way, with enthusiasm and commitment – and, as I am sure you hear from them, enjoying themselves thoroughly.
 
My previous update took us to the end of the chagim, following which our youngsters arrived at Week 7, and continued with their Winter routine of studies, with the boys and the girls going to their separate schools.  I meet with the kids very often and they tell me they are happy with the weekly schedule.  Both the boys and the girls are fully integrated with their Israeli counterparts, and I am all the time receiving very positive feedback about them from the administration and the teachers of the two schools.  I am told that our kids have become just like the local Israeli youngsters and all mix together most happily.  When I see our kids and the Israeli pupils playing football together and participating in other activities, it is strongly brought home to me that our youngsters have most certainly become a truly integral part of the schools, which was indeed one of the goals of our programme.
 
On Shabbat, 31st October/Nov. 1, when the boys stayed at their school with their Israeli friends and the girls were guests of their room-mates, it all seemed most natural and pleasurable.
 
Week 8, for the girls, was, no doubt, one of the highlights of the programme, when, together with their Israeli fellow pupils, they spent the week in a volunteering programme.  The mornings were devoted to volunteering activities, whilst in the afternoons and evenings, they went on tiyulim and engaged in various education and fun activities.  At the end of the week, our girls had the unique opportunity to meet with the family of our captured soldier, Gilad Shalit, at their home in the Galilee .  This was indeed a most memorable, albeit very sad, occasion.On the Shabbat (7/8 November), our girls with their Israel fellow-pupils went altogether to Tzfat, and had an inspiring and enjoyable Shabbat.
 
The boys on the Thursday of Week 8 spent the day at an archeological dig in the area of Bet Shemesh, which gave them yet another outstanding opportunity to become attached to their roots.  Thanks are due to our English teacher, Nadav, who organized this activity.  That weekend, the boys had a free Shabbat, as you know.
 
The boys spent Week 9 at Yeshivat Har Etzion (Gush), where they came into contact with the MTA youngsters, and it can certainly be said that these fine MTA youth were very good role models for our kids and a source of inspiration for them.  As I think you know, the MTA is a year-long official B'nei Akiva programme spent in Israel , which our children take after their completion of High School.  During their week at the Gush, the kids heard shiurim from the different Rabbonim at the Yeshiva and were also given lessons by the two heads of  the Yeshiva,Rav Amital and Rav Lichtenstein.  The boys studied in pairs, on a one to one basis, and I think that overall they felt strongly the spiritual nature of their week's stay at the Gush.  In addition to their studies, they also went on tiyulim, including a hike in the footsteps of Avraham Avinu. Spending Shabbat at the Gush with 400 yeshiva students couldn't fail to make a very strong impression on our youngsters, (Nov. 14/15).
 
On Thursday of Week 9, after a busy week of studies, the girls had a tiyul, tracing the footsteps of two of Israel 's brave and wonderful heroines, Sarah Aronson in Zichron Ya'acov: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Aaronsohn and Hannah Senesh in Sdot Yam: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Szenes . Sarah Aronson was one of the leaders of the Nili spy ring, which was founded during the First World War when the Ottoman Empire ruled Israel .  The group helped the British to fight the Turks and transmitted information about the Turks to them.  Sarah was captured by the Turks and tortured, but committed suicide to avoid giving information on Nili's activities.  What a heroine!  No less of a heroine was Hannah Senesh, who volunteered to be parachuted from Israel (then Palestine) into Europe during the Second World War, in order to try and save the Jews of Hungary, who were about to be deported to Auschwitz.  She was arrested and tortured but refused to reveal details of her mission, and was executed.  We in Netivot feel strongly the importance of providing role models for our kids, either of a spiritual or a Zionist nature.  Nov. 14/15 was a free Shabbat for the girls.
 
This present week, on Thursday, Nov. 20, the boys and girls are getting together for a day's tiyul in the Judean Desert .  They are planning to climb Masada and go to the Dead Sea .  As I am sure you know, Masada: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masada is the mountain in the Judean Desert overlooking the Dead Sea, to which a number of Jews and their families fled, in the year 70 A .D., following the destruction of the Temple by the Romans. They remained on the mountain top, and held out there against the Romans for three years.  When the Romans finally managed to breach the walls of their fortress, they found that the Jews, who numbered almost 1,000, had committed mass suicide rather than surrender, and be faced with execution or slavery.
 
This tiyul will be followed by a Shabbat spent at their schools.
 
I am attaching an updated overall schedule of the programme, on which you will find a few slight alterations to the one I sent originally.
 
Once again, many thanks are owing to the three dedicated madrichim, Ryan, Ella and Michal, who are devoting themselves day and night to looking after your kids and making sure they are happy and comfortable.
 
Enjoy the pictures, which I am attaching hereto and I'll, of course, be sending a further update in a couple of weeks time.