During hugim time, small groups sat on the grass in circles and took big deep breaths. With a pen in hand, they wrote poems together, one line at a time, but in an especially creative way. Someone would write a line and then pass the paper to the right for the next person to contribute to until the paper was nearly full.
Here are some examples from our creative chanichim!
The sounds of Israel are different
The breeze, the birds, the language
I don’t recognize the people walking in the streets
The clothes they wear, so bright and warm
Filled with awe, I follow streets full of
People and places I never could have imagined
Enhancing my knowledge
I breathe in, this is going to be a big adventure.
– Experience
Everybody walks with a purpose
But everybody’s purpose is different
We define our own purpose
And we find purpose in each other
To depend on and go back to
Trust. To know you are home.
Security. To know you are safe.
– Purpose
Israel is a land of many contradictions
There is beauty as well as conflict at every corner
There is a strange sense of guilt but a nice feeling of belonging
That makes me question who I am and who I am belonging to
And where do I belong?
Finding a home within a community is a challenge
But in the end, it’s all worth it
– In the End
We travel as a unit made up of beautiful and diverse perspectives. Now the ideas wrap around each other and get put on paper. Inspired by the line before, they continued the poem and titled it at the end, symbolizing how each shared perspective can inspire something new.
It’s amazing to hear what they think and feel. It’s special to see them work together to form deep ideas and connections to each other, to themselves, to Israel, and to their relationship with Judaism.
