Kulanu Baaretz: Night Out at Chamat Gader

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Night Out at Chamat Gader

Last night, Kenny and Menachem took everyone to the Chamat Gader hot springs for some pure relaxation. Here's what Kenny had to say about the experience:

'Last night, I was so proud to be with Kulanu. When we arrived, we found the springs to be packed due to the Arab holiday. But we were not going to go home, so into the springs we went. After a few minutes, under two former New Yorkers watchful eyes, we see some guys the same age as ours approach, and in a broken English/Arabic/Hebrew start off with, "Hi I'm Chamed, who are you?" "I'm Jordan, from New York", was the answer. Then Ephraim and then the others went on to introduce themselves. There was some good natured joking around, and of course I am thinking, where is this going? But after twenty minutes, the Israeli-Arabs from Hanah say, 'Well, we have to go home. Nice meeting you.' And they were off. Dovi, who was hanging with them, approached me in the most serious voice to let me know how these guys gave up their place in the jacuzzi for him. He was so happy, and that's when he said, "I thought they were all bad, but they were really nice. I hope Ms Schiowitz lets me put this in the blog."

It was well worth the trip'

Shabbat Shalom!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: Thank you so much for sharing that story. If anyone can bring peace and light to the Middle East, it's our Kulanu students!!!
CK; December 22, 2007 at 3:35 PM

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Kenny"s Thoughts on Kulanu Baaretz

I am most proud of how the kibbutz has opened their hearts and homes to Kulanu. People are genuinely concerned, supportive and willing to lend a helping hand wherever they can. The students are a part of this community, and they are truly standing on their own, without shadows, because they don't need them. At work, they have to produce, just like anyone else and they are there as true contributors, not just as a chesed. So whatever they do has to count but at the same time, there needs to be support and understanding of their needs. I am also so proud to be a part of a program where students are so quickly learning to be independent. I see kids helping kids out, waking up each other to go to davening. I see a student who at the beginning of the program, when he was the only one who arrived at davening on time, said, "Well I'm here, that's all that matters". Three weeks later, when he was still the only one there at 8:00, he went back to the dorm, with his tefilin on, to wake up the rest of his peers. This shows a true sense of being a part of community. And that's really what makes the world go round. That's what makes us survive as a community. We are seeing students become a part of a community in the real sense of the word.