Shalom MBI Families,
We are now done with our first weekend of MBI and are onto the first full week! Here’s a little bit of what happened over the last few days in Israel.
Saturday was the first full day of programming on MBI. This day, of course, was also Shabbat! Shabbat is a very special time on MBI, as it is at all the machanot. The tzevet spent a long time planning 3 special peulot (educational activities) for the day. The first peulah was introducing the kvutzot to each other. The next peulah touched on the rules of MBI and shmirat hachaim (the guarding of life, i.e. safety). Lastly, the chanichimot had a peulah run for them about consent on MBI. The day ended with havdalah, and then everyone headed back to the hotel to go to sleep. They had to be rested for the first full “real day” of MBI.
Some highlights over the last few days include the chanichimot going on an archaeological dig in the ancient town of Maresha, some time on Rothschild Street getting lunch and shopping around the area, and also swimming in the Mediterranean Sea. At the end of everyday, the chanichimot head back to the hostel and have a peulah with their bus kvutzah. One peulah that they had recently was on shivyon erech ha’adam (equality of human value), one of the main components of Habonim Dror ideology.
Over the next few days, the chanichimot are going to start to move away from the center of Israel, where they have been spending the first part of MBI. They’ll first see a little bit of the north before coming back down to Rishon L’Tziyon, and then will head south to spend a few days there.
Thank you all for being so patient for the first blog to come out. I am hoping to post new updates every other day, and will hopefully have some of the tzevet and chanichimot share their experiences sometime. Until then, thanks so much, and we’ll be sharing more about MBI soon!
By: Ben Markbreiter
