Shnat Netzer - Update 2

Dear parents, snifim and shnattim shalom,

A good week just ended, and things are going really well here. The weather is cooling down a little bit, and it might even rain soon. We finally had a full week of "normality"- lessons, lectures, activities. Don't get used to it yet… the holidays are here!!!

This week, the Etgarniks went to a great Siyur day (day trip) to Massadah- for some it was the first time. On Tuesday, Machon and Etgar came together for Yom Tnua, where we had some games first, and then had a creative prayer- each shnatti received a part of the Arvit prayer, and had to go to the library, add more ideas to it, find replacements to their reading if they did not agree or like it etc. The outcome was truly interesting and meaningful. Yom Tnua finished with a potluck dinner which was organized by the shnattim and the tzevet and was lovely.

Next week, the Machoniks are going to go for their first long Tiyul (excursion) in the North of Israel, and we wish them much enjoyment. They will come back next Friday, right in time to go to the Shabbat Beyachad on Kibbutz Yahel down south.

There is a festive feeling in the air here in Jerusalem, as Rosh Hashana is finally here. Lots of Shana Tova cards, emails and letters are going around, and its heart warming.

Shana Tova U'metuka.

The Netzer staff


Etgar - Hannah Luder:

HELLOoooo,

Another eventful week has swept quickly by….The week started on Sunday: MKK did “modern issues from a reform perspective” classes although I find it allot more like torah study….  This was preceded by Kehila class from our madricha Sara/h. This class involved a teambuilding/feedback game of ready steady cook with leaks, tomatoes, chocolate, biscuits, and a tin of pineapples. This resulted in all the kitchen utensils and cutlery being dirty and a nightmare pile of washing for the days washing up team but we got over this small matter as all the delicious dishes each group prepared made for a very chocolaty early lunch *NOM* X3 ( and apparently leaks are not mean to be boiled..ooops)  …. Sunday afternoon was a classic shop and cleaning session with a preceding asefa to decide what to buy. Sunday night dinner was a load of stogy rice and fried vegetables cooked by me… (I’m new to cooking… :S).

On Monday we rose early for an 8am start. Mark Lazar gave us an insightful tour into the history of the world religions with a tour round the temple mount being hounded by the modesty police for having too much flesh on show, especially during Ramadan. Then we visited the tourist infested church of the holy sepulcher which was an amazing sight despite the crowds. Then we went home and napped for a bit , had lunch and went to leadership class where we decided on the topics of the peer led peulot.

On Tuesday we had deep , heavy, hardcore Israeli-Palestinian conflict (muffin) class. This was thoroughly informative but at times a little too much to take in… (i.e. a lot of info in one session). It was Yom Tenua with machon. We did a creative ma’amad where we were all given sections of liturgy, sent into the Hebrew union college library to find alternative quotes, sayings or anything else to replace your prayer.  We then made placemats of what we want to see at the end of the year, and decorated the tables with them. Dinner was pot luck so etga cooked some rice and potato dishes, Sara/h made a quinoa salad, Lior made a pasta dish, Neil made Tai curry and machon bought chocolate pastry for pudding. My only gastronomical complaint was the lack of healthy drinks – being only coke, diet coke and fanta... not even juices…

Wednesday was another early start (although I over slept…^_^’) with an 8 am coach journey down to Masada. We took the cable car up and down so it wasn’t quite so strenuous but the heat even in September really does get to you up there… +___+;  We had a good time romping about in the gift shop and eating our packed lunches that we made in the flat the night before. Then, after a short trip down the road, we arrived at the Dead Sea where everyone had a nice float around in sea and mud. After the drive back, everyone collapsed into bed for a nap. It was a “guy’s night” so the guys made dinner, which was pasta with mini burgers?! And a tomato sauce that had croutons and Tabasco sauce (but was actually really nice), they told us it had coffee in it but I’m so sure it did…

Today was a slow day given that it’s Thursday. We had a fascinating decision on god and the nature of belief. Then we had Judaism electives, where we had 2 different ways to study torah – through text or through a form or drama/hot seating kind of thing where you think as a character from the bible stories…

That’s it for this week. We are having a community meal in the flat tonight. On Friday most people are going to stay with host families or with their own family and friends for the weekend or just for meals. Some are going to MKK’s house for lunch on Sunday.  XD

SHANAH TOVAH

Hannah Luder


Machon - Jonny Singer

In the beginning Lior created the shnat, and the shnat was without form, and full of orientation; and darkness was upon the faces of the shnaties. And the Spirit of Lior moved upon the orientation weekend. And Lior said, Let there be friendship between movements: and there was friendship between movements. And Lior saw the friendship between movements, that it was good: and Lior divided the machon from the etgar. And the evening and the morning were the first day, through which orientation was finished.

And Lior made the firmament, and divided the shnaties which were under the firmament from the shnaties which were above the firmament: and it was so. And Lior called the firmament Ben-Yehuda street. And the evening and the morning were the second day, in which machon left for Kiryat moriah

And Lior said, Let the waters under the Ben Yehuda be gathered together unto one place, and let the netzer flat appear: and it was so. And Lior called the people in the netzer flat etgar; and the gathering together of the other shnaties called he machon: and Lior saw that it was good

And Lior said, Let the teachers at machon bring forth lessons, the hadracha yielding class, and the Zionism and Israel class yielding knowledge after his kind, whose lesson is in itself, upon the machonicks: and it was so. And the teachers at machon brought forth lessons, and hadracha yielding classes after his kind, and the Zionism and Israel yielding knowledge, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and Lior saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day, in which machon finished their tiyul and began lessons.

And Lior said, Let there be Goldstar in the firmament of the Ben Yehuda to divide the day from the night; and let them be for relaxation, and for watching football, and for meeting Israelis: And let them be for Goldstar in the firmament of the Ben Yehuda to give cheerfulness upon the shnaties: and it was so. And Lior saw that it was good, although not inside the netzer flat, where alcohol may not be stored or consumed. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day, during which machon regularly trekked to central Jerusalem to hang out with the rest of netzer.

And Lior said, Let the machon bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath different ideologies, and FZY that may talk about alyiah incessantly in the open firmament of Ben Yehuda (or anywhere else for that matter). And Lior created great AJ6, and every living creature that is peer-led, which the machon brought forth abundantly (well, three of them at least), after their kind, and every Hanoah-Hazioni member after his kind: and Lior saw that it was good. And Lior blessed them, saying, work hard, and occasionally hook up with each other, and fill the classes in the machon, and let Hanoah keep to themselves. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day, in which the Machonikim got to know the other movements in the institute better.

And Lior said, Let the machon bring forth the IDF soldier after his kind who are the beasts of the earth after their kind: and it was so. And Lior made the beast of the earth after his kind, who are the IDF soldiers, and Lior saw that it was good. And the IDF soldiers pushed in front of the machoniks at lunch and were generally annoying.

And Lior said, Let us make machon tzevet in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the machonikim, and over the FZY, and over the Hanoah Ha-zioni, and over all the AJ6, and over every machonik thing that creepeth upon the machon. So Lior created the machon tzevet in her own image, in the image of Lior created she them; male (Colin and Chaggai) and female (Talia and Bat-el) created she them.

And Lior saw every thing that she had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day, during which machonikim finally realized that they had settled into life at machon.

Thus the machon and the etgar were into routine, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day Lior ended her work which she had made; and she rested on the seventh day from all her work which he had made, so that machon and etgar alike could go and camp on a beach for the weekend on Tel-Aviv beach, get horrifically sunburned and swim a lot. And Lior blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it she had rested from all her work which Lior created and made, and thus would not have shanties calling her every hour of the day and night.


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