One of our beloved chadar ochel (dining hall) songs called 'Separation Blues' has a verse that says, "Mosh in Maryland, Galil in Penn. We're gonna get together again, because we got the separation blues." Machaneh (camp) Moshavah is the
Habonim Dror camp from Maryland (just like the song says). Being only a few hours away, Mosh and Galil meet every summer on what we call Mifgash (meeting). Decades of mifgashim have also lead to decades of rivalry between the two machanhot. It's not a real rivalry of course, we just tease them because clearly we are better. So today as our Madatzim packed up to head to Mosh of a Mifgash of their own, our Bogrim (14-15 year olds) greeted Mosh's Bogrim in the best way they knew how; with song and dance.
It's important to note the great thing about Mifgash, despite the teasing. A lot of these Bogrim, from both machanot, have been involved in their machaneh for at least a few years and have had pretty similar experiences to one another. There are common chants, common values, common games, and many other, well, commonalities. So unlike when our chanichim meet new friends
It's important to note the great thing about Mifgash, despite the teasing. A lot of these Bogrim, from both machanot, have been involved in their machaneh for at least a few years and have had pretty similar experiences to one another. There are common chants, common values, common games, and many other, well, commonalities. So unlike when our chanichim meet new friends
outside of machaneh and need to explain how they spend their summer, chanichim from Habonim Dror machanot share a frame of reference that makes bonding occur just slightly slower than the speed of light. It's not quite a phenomenon because it makes total sense, but the experience for everyone is still pretty extraordinary.
So while the Bogrim approached one another like Sharks and Jets in front of the chadar ochel, the Amelim (9-10 year olds) sat inside of the chadar ochel and made cakes. These weren't
just ordinary cakes though. The Amelim were split up into three groups and given a cake, candy, and icing, and asked to create a map of Israel. They used hard candies for major cities, blue icing for the Mediterranean, and Graham Crackers for the Negev Desert. As they built their states, their madrichim (counselors) asked them questions about Israel's history and people.
Yesterday, Galil celebrated America's independence with a Yom Meuchad (special day). The day was framed as if the chanichim woke up and it was Independence Day in the year 2510 where nearly everything was run by fast food and video games. Though initially a lot of the chanichim were excited about some new virtuality in their machaneh lives, they soon grew bored and unchallenged by a culture that America had become. As the day went on, we reconnected with the freedom and independence we have today and had a dance party that couldn't be beaten.
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M.C. SHMOLLY
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