Workshop 59: The Birth?

Monday, August 24, 2009

The Birth?

It's 1:22 AM on Tuesday night... er Monday morning... watching Andrew pack and learning how to blog. Wow, this is emo. I am talking to myself. Anyhow, I wanted to call my blog "Nine Months" - as in nine months in Israel - but Google told me that the url ninemonths.blogspot.com was already taken. When I went to investigate why, I discovered that the blog entitled "Nine Months" is about some woman's pregnancy. (I really shouldn't have been all that surprised.) So before there's any confusion, I just want to make it clear that I am not pregnant, nor do I intend to become pregnant. The nine months that this blog is about are the nine months I'm about to spend in Israel, participating in a program called Workshop. The program is part volunteering, part Israeli immersion, and part communal living... or socialism, if you will. For a little more information on the program, let me refer you to the program's website: http://www.habonimdror.org/programs/workshop.html

After reading that little program description (if you actually went to the site, that is), you may be wondering why I'm choosing to go live like a hippie for nine months in Israel. The answer is a little complicated, and will probably change as I learn more about what I'm actually doing, living communally and volunteering with both Israelis and Palestinians in one of the most heated conflicts in the world. In a nutshell, I believe in the aims of the Habonim Dror movement, I support Israel (though I'm not entirely sure why), and I can't think of any convincing reasons why not to go.

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Glossary

I realized that there are many terms I'll be using here that may need some definition, so I've compiled this little glossary which will hopefully help. I'll try to add words as I go along, but if something shows up which you don't understand, please just let me know and I'll add it to the glossary.

Avodot: Plural for "avodah," which translates literally to "work." While we're living on kibbutz, we'll work for four hours once a week in specific occupations (mine being the child's nursery).

Madrich: Hebrew for "counselor," the plural is madrichim. We have six madrichim, three from Habonim Dror North America and three from Hanoar Haoved, our sister movement in Israel (so they're Israeli, if that wasn't clear). Our madrichim aren't in charge of supervising us, rather they'll come once a week to run group-building type programs for the group. The rest of the days we'll spend in classes with other teachers and educators.

Kvutsah: Hebrew for "group," however the connotation is slightly different in Habonim Dror. A kvutsah is a group of people that chose to live together and form a close community based on certain shared values and goals. Kvutsah implies communication, trust, and respect, rather than just a random gathering of people. Our group of 58 is split into three kvutsot (plural), each consisting of about 18 people. Each individual group will set up their own structures concerning how we want to run our community and build our culture.
Peula: Hebrew for "activity," but specifically refers to the seminar-style programs written for us by our madrichim, which center around issues (such as interpersonal relationships, Jewish identity, Zionism, etc.) which are central to the pillars of the movement.

Kibbutz: An agricultural community. Israel was founded largely by the construction of many kibbutzim (plural). Originally they were founded on socialist values (basically give what you can, take what you need), and had many communal facilities such as communal dining halls, schools, and separate housing for all the children, but now the majority of the kibbutzim have been privatized and the focus is now more on individual gain. Many kibbutzim these days are no more than little villages. The kibbutz we will live on through December hasn't been completely privatized yet, and they still have a communal dining hall and many industries in which people on the kibbutz work, such as a wire and cable factory, cows, and agriculture.

Kupa: Literally translates to "box" in Hebrew, kupa is the system that each kvutsah sets up where everyone "gives what they can, and takes what they need." Everyone will give around $1500-1800 to kupa, and the kvutsah will decide as a whole how and when the money, which is our spending money, will be spent. My kvutsah agreed on an open kupa, where everyone takes according to their need for things such as free weekends, snacks, small personal purchases (like rings), personal necessities (like shampoo), etc. We're also budgeting for a few specific things like kvutsah apparel at the end of the year and tzedakah (charity). Kupa is ideally meant to build trust and responsibility among the group.

Chevrati: Translates to something like "friendly," a chevrati is a fun (and also usually random, crazy, and, at times, inappropriate) activity to do with the group.

Workshop 59

Monday, August 24, 2009

The Birth?

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