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JOLT Israel
JEWISH OVERSEAS LEADERSHIP TRAINING IN ISRAEL
NCSY JOLT Israel!!! Absolutely Awesome Day #10
Dear Heilige NCSY JOLT Israel Parents, We are almost there….I am writing to you from the beautiful Kibbutz Lavi hotel right now. We are relaxing and getting ready for what is going to be an exciting, exhilarating and emotional nine days. We woke up this morning at 8:30 and had a beautiful davening at 9:00. Immediately following davening we took our luggage straight tot he busses and loaded them up for our quick drive to Kibbutz Lavi. On the way we stopped at the supermarket and gave the kids  few minutes to buy food and snacks if they wanted. I have to say that fasting in Israel, especially in the heat of Tiveria is not an easy thing to do. Anyway, we unloaded our luggage and stored it in a room as we waited for our specific rooms to be ready. Immediately following that, we broke into learning groups and did a wonderful activity appropriate for the day. I wanted the kids to learn that the solution to Sinas Chinam is Ahavas Chinam and that the first step in learning to love unconditionally is getting to know the people around you in a deeper and more meaningful way. In this vein the Chaburas spent time going around and pushing the kids to learn about each other just a bit more. I actually had kids coming over t me thanking me for the opportunity to learn about others and share about themselves! How awesome is that?! After the learning, we sent the kids to their fresh rooms, with new roommates and the advisors met to do some last minutes planning. We met with the kids at 4:30 and started to go through expectations and procedure for tomorrow when our campers get off the bus. By the way, the name of our camp is "Hachi Achi" which is translated as "Best Brother". Each of the groups came up with bunk names, started getting ready for their activities tomorrow and the kids made welcome posters and beautiful name tags for the kids. We will have 57 children who have siblings with cancer that we will be working with. We spoke to the kids about the great Chesed that we are performing and the fact that we are actually going to be providing a Chesed for the entire family! We gave the kids a bit of free time, Michael had an optional Shiur and then we had an optional ebbing for the kids 20 minutes prior to Maariv. After davening we were treated to some amazing food! I wish I could really tell you everything we had but there were so many choices!! I'll tell you what I had….  :-) I started off with a Pea soup. It was less thick than American style split pea soups but really delicious and a perfect thing to break the fast on. Then I needed a cup of tea so I started with dessert (I know, I know, totally unconventional) It had an amazing piece of walnut cause soaked in maple syrup and a Moroccan pastry which consists of fried dough dipped in honey. They were so amazing!!!! After dessert I went back to my main. The kibbutz actually served Fleishig tonight and I thought that would be too heavy so I opted for fish. I had two different kinds. One I believe was salmon and one was a thicker fish as well but I wasn't sure exactly what. It tasted a bit like Carp but wasn't sure. The spices were soft but excellent and melded perfectly with the fish itself. I had a few salads as side dishes. A cucumber dill salad, a couscous with prunes, walnuts and cranberries and some grilled vegetables. Needless to say it was amazing!! After we ate, we all met again for a few minutes, reviewed some last minute things and gave out our camp shirts. The energy level is high, our kids are super excited and we are ready to roll! one of things that really worked out feel is all of our hard work and focus on group dynamics to ensure that within a week we would totally come together as a family! It happened with us as advisors and it happened amongst the kids. This sense of togetherness will only serve to ensure the success of our camp. Tomorrow it all begins and I am super excited to fill you in on how our day was. We should be blessed with the strength and fortitude to be Mechazek these children and shower them with love and attention. And Hashem should help us in our mission of Chesed and should shower His CHesed upon us as well. I look forward to speaking with you tomorrow. With warmest wishes -Rabbi Weinberg
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