A family group of high school grads from 8 different countries have just begun their journey of discovery, personal development, independence, and adventure in Israel!
Stay tuned to this blog as we follow them around Israel as they forge their paths with Kivun 5783!
Kivun is a Co-ed, experiential, 9-month Israel immersion program for the Northern Hemisphere, focusing on personal development, independent living and Jewish growth. Participants live in apartments in Jerusalem, where together with friends they learn about themselves, Judaism and Zionism through an incredible array of experiences such as Kibbutz, Volunteering, Seminars, Professional Internship, Magen David Adom, and IDF experience. For more information or to apply click here.
Erev Shabbat Shalom!
Parshat Ki Tavo.
A friend of mine asked me this week how I was doing. I thought to myself; I wake up every morning with a smile knowing that our participants are happy and engaged; I get to see smiling faces of passionate young participants who are working hard both physically and mentally. In short, I am doing great!
This week was a bit tricky since the “excitement” of the first week may have died down a bit, and knowing the challenging work and excessive heat at the Kibbutz posed an inherent challenge to the week. However, our participants showed up. They were present in the challenges as well as the fun and relaxation. The committees came together and kept us well fed and our Moadon clean. We had rich content from our participants and Ulpan from the Tzevet. We had guest speakers, Bet Midrash, and our first meeting with Yonatan Sinclair from “Keshev.”
We ended the week with a special “Poike” dinner (a thick cauldron cooked on the fire) by our madrichim and a Mishmar filled with Torah and song. We talked about the Baal Shem Tov whose Yahrtzeit was this week. The central teaching we shared is how the Baal Shem Tov taught us one word that changed how we relate to God. The word “yet.” Meaning I don’t connect to davening - yet. I don’t understand this Halacha - yet. I don’t feel like I’m growing - yet. We combined this idea with the beginning of the Parsha. Ki Tavo, When you arrive, not if, but when. We may not feel like we belong in Israel - yet.
We continued and discussed the first Mitzvah in the Parsha, the Mitzva of Bikurim. Rashi explains that the reason for Bikurim is שלא יהא כפוי טובה for us not to be ungrateful. The question is, why does Rashi not use the positive tense for us to מכיר טוב recognize God’s goodness? One of the answers is that we are technically unable to acknowledge all of God’s goodness since we are finite beings in an infinite reality. Therefore at least we shouldn’t be ungrateful for what we have.
I want to take this opportunity and thank the Witt and Hutman families for sponsoring our pre-selichot dinner as a token of appreciation for our Madrichim and all the hard work they are putting in.
Participants Corner, by Dina Kaufman UK.
Starting our second week on kibbutz in Ein Hanatziv, the participants have begun to get a feel for the work required of them, after a relaxing off shabbat. The week consisted of field work, boys in sde eliyahu, Chavat Eden, cows, bed preparing for chickens and many more exciting activities. After early wake ups and long mornings at work the participants were treated with delicious take out food on different days of the week. After a quick rest, the day continued with inspirational speeches, swimming in the pool & the Maayan, Ulpan and learning with chavrusa style. After an amazing week we travelled to Nir David for an immersive water hike to refresh off from the hot and humid weather. We look forward to spending a shabbat on the kibbutz and get back to learning in the coming week!
