Reform synagogues, seminaries and rabbinic organizations in the US and Canada have joined in the campaign on behalf of the Israeli movement. An e-mail sent to more than 70 000 leaders of Reform Jewry in North America said:

“We need your help to save the future of the Reform Movement in Israel. Through no fault of its own, the IMPJ has 2 million fewer shekels than originally budgeted, representing more than 30 percent of its funding. To stay afloat, the IMPJ has had to lay off half its staff and has drastically cut back on its operations.”

The timing of this financial crisis is a blow to the increasingly dynamic growth of Progressive Judaism, the branch with which more Israelis identify than Orthodoxy. Many thousands of Israeli Jews are now enjoying this spiritual alternative – through worship, education and social action – thanks to the efforts of dedicated movement staff and volunteers. Their programs and support are now gravely threatened by the current revenue shortfall.

The goal of the appeal is to raise at least $500,000 to alleviate this emergency and sustain the movement. Contributions are being coordinated in the US at www.urj.org/israel/impj.

(Edited extract from an article on the Union for Reform Judaism website).

Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism

The Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism (IMPJ) is Israel’s liberal Jewish religious movement, and a member of the World Union of Progressive Judaism.

World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ)

The World Union for Progressive Judaism is the international umbrella organisation of the Liberal, Progressive and Reconstructionist movements, serving 1 200 congregations with 1.7 million members in 42 countries.

Union for Reform Judaism

The central body of the Reform Movement in North America, founded in 1873. It is the largest Jewish movement in North America and represents 1.5 million Jews in more than 900 congregations.

• NBC television’s exit polls said 77% of Jews voted for Obama; 22% for John McCain
• CNN television’s exit polls said 78% of Jews voted for Obama; 21% for McCain

No other major religious group voted so overwhelmingly for Obama. Among mainstream Christian denominations, 55% of practicing Catholics voted for Obama, and 45% of Protestants.

In the months before the election, a number of experts predicted that Obama would receive the lowest Jewish vote of any recent Democratic presidential candidate. A Republican campaign to position Obama as untrustworthy on Israel was widely considered to have hit home. So were poison emails describing Obama as a closet Muslim and anti-Semite.

Yet in the end, Jews appear to have voted for Obama in similar numbers to how they voted for previous Democratic candidates such as Al Gore (79%), Bill Clinton (80%) and John Kerry (76%). American Jews, dominated by the Reform movement, remain overwhelmingly liberal in their political attitudes.

The only Democratic candidate to have failed to win the Jewish vote was Jimmy Carter: only 45% of Jews voted for him in his second term run. In Carter’s first term, 70% of Jews voted for him. The candidates who enjoyed the most Jewish support were John F Kennedy (81%), Lyndon Johnson (90%) and Hubert Humphrey (81%).

Jews in high places

There are 13 Jewish senators, the highest number ever, and 31 Jewish congressmen. A total of 59 Jews ran for Congress. In some cases, Jews opposed one another for the same seat. Jews made up 2% of the voting population.

“Is medicine still a good job for a nice Jewish boy or girl?”

THE newly appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town, Professor Max Price, will be giving the this year’s Rabbi Dr David Sherman lecture.

The lecture, in memory of the much-loved Rabbi Sherman, who was the outspoken leader of Cape Town’s progressive community for many years, is an annual feature at his former congregation, Temple Israel.

Professor Price recently moved to Cape Town from Johannesburg, where he and his family were active members of Temple Emanuel. His talk is titled “Is medicine still a good job for a nice Jewish boy or girl?” a topic that will resound with many young adults and parents.

He will respond to the question of whether the quality of the training in South Africa is still as high as it has been, and whether a matriculant contemplating a career in medicine would be enhancing their prospects studying here or would be better off going overseas.

And in the same light, is it ethical for someone with doubts about a long-term future in this country to take up one of the few places available in the Medical School? And for that matter, with changing criteria for admissions selections, will I or my child actually get in?

Another issue that has raised a number of questions is whether it is reasonable to expect medical students and graduates to do community service, when the same is not expected of other students.

Dr Price has been a Rhodes Scholar to Oxford, studied at Harvard and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, was Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Wits, has been a consultant to the South African government on several health issues, and was appointed Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town in July 2008.

In 2004 he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa in recognition of his leadership role in public health medicine and medical education.

The lecture is on Tuesday, February 17, 2009, at 7.30 for 8.00pm at Temple Israel, Green Point. Contact the shul at 021-434-8901.

On November 3rd, Rabbi Craig Kacev, general director of the SA Board of Jewish Education, confirmed that a policy to restrict Netzer activities at King David schools, first imposed in March 2005, would remain unchanged – despite six months of negotiations to have the ban lifted.

In a letter to Lurie, Rabbi Kacev said that Netzer representatives could appear at King David schools only as representatives of the Jewish Agency. They would not be permitted to wear Netzer apparel, and could not “promote reform ideology”. They would be allowed to meet current members of Netzer at the school, but would not be permitted to promote their activities to the rest of the school.

None of the other Jewish youth movements, some of them secular, are restricted in this way. The Progressive movement’s difficulties date back to 2005, when the King David constitution was changed, turning general Jewish community schools into avowedly orthodox schools. The controversy flared up again earlier this year, when Netzer Gauteng Shaliach Michael Szczupak was barred from taking part in a schools Zionist programme, despite having been invited by the Israel Centre.

The SA Zionist Federation and the SA Jewish Board of Deputies called upon the SAUPJ not to protest in public, but to negotiate in private with the Board of Jewish Education. The SAUPJ agreed. Negotiations seemed to make an encouraging start, but after months of silence, Rabbi Kacev’s letter confirming that there would be no change, arrived in November.

The day after the letter arrived, Lurie was due to speak at an SA Zionist Federation memorial service to slain Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin. Lurie began by saying he agreed with Rabbi Dovid Hasdan of Great Park Synagogue, who had talked earlier about Rabin’s kindness, generosity and tolerance. Lurie said Rabin had stood for “pluralism … that we all have a place in the sun”.

He continued: “It is a great pity we cannot learn from Rabin’s example. I think that he would be disappointed and sad if he knew that the SA Jewish Board of Education was treating the Progressive youth movement, Netzer, in a discriminatory way.”

Before Lurie could get much further, Avrom Krengel, chairman of the SA Zionist Federation, stepped up to the podium and silenced him by switching off the microphone. It is almost unprecedented for an invited speaker at a Jewish function to be prevented from finishing a speech. Krengel, who has generally been sympathetic to the Netzer cause, told Lurie he would not be invited again to speak at any Zionist Federation function.

The Jewish Report newspaper, which led its edition of November 14 on the incident, said that there had been “mutterings from a large section of the crowd who believed this occasion was not the time or place for such a diatribe”. Lurie apologised to Krengel and the organisers, and wrote an open letter of apology to Jewish Report, saying it was not his intention to disrespect the memory of Yitzhak Rabin.

But there are many in the Progressive movement who believe it was high time the matter was aired in public, and that the Rabin memorial was an appropriate forum to talk about the failure of sections of the South African Jewish Community to live up to his ideals.

The issue was summarized by Mr Justice Dennis Davis, in a recent Jewish Report column: “The South African Jewish community used to adhere to an overlapping consensus … our cohesion made us remarkable as we carried on with our diverse views while protecting and promoting the community as a whole. Truly, it was a case of each Jew is responsible for the other. No longer. We now experience a discourse of there being Jews and members of another religion … A triumphalist form of Orthodoxy is expounded which eschews any other form of Jewish life. Our schools become a battleground rather than a forum for love and respect of all Jews …”

Meghan Finn, the National Mazkira and Gizbarit (Chair and Treasurer) of Netzer South Africa, has set up a Facebook group around the issue, which within two days attracted a hundred members, including the head boy of King David Victory Park, and a number of sympathetic Jews from outside the Progressive movement.

One of the aims of the group is to collect 500 signatures to a petition that can be sent both to Rabbi Kacev and to Jewish Report. The petition is online, and can be signed in a matter of seconds. Click here to add your name. (November 17, 2008)

Facebook group

If you’re on Facebook,join Meghan Finn’s group by clicking this link

Rabbi Kacev’s letter

Full text of Rabbi Craig Kacev’s letter to Steve Lurie, which provoked the controversy (PDF document).

Steve Lurie’s letter

Full text of Steve Lurie’s apology letter, which appeared in Jewish Report on November 14.

Making Judaism fun for tomorrow’s leaders

The Progressive Jewish youth movement, Netzer, provides regular events for young people ranging from Grade 1 to post-matric

Passing the light to the next generation

What happens when the youth are no longer so young? They join TaMaR, the young adults movement

Another mentions the right of women and minors to be included among the seven people called to read from the Torah on the Sabbath (Tosefta, Megillah 3, 11-12); the obvious assumption here is that these participants were regular attendees.

The Jerusalem Talmud (Sotah 1, 4, 16d) tells of a woman in Tiberias who went to the synagogue every Friday night to hear R. Meir’s sermons, and a late midrash (Yalqut Shim’oni, Deuteronomy, 871) tells of an elderly woman who, when consulting with the second-century R. Yose b. Halafta, mentioned that she went to the synagogue every morning.

A Christian source also confirms the presence of women, albeit in a less flattering light. Toward the end of the fourth century, John Chrysostom (later to become the Patriarch of Constantinople) preached that synagogues were places of abomination, the proof of which lay in the fact that men and women gathered there together.

He also denounced some of the women in his church as “judaizers,” an indication that they regularly attended the synagogue (Discourse against Judaizing Christians)…

For the first seven centuries of the Common Era, women and men in both Palestine and the Diaspora sat together in the synagogue. This practice was in stark contrast to that of Roman society, which regularly instituted segregation in the public realm along class, ethnic, or gender lines; and that of the early church, which by and large separated men and women as well.

The physical separation of men and women in the synagogue developed at a later time. There is no archaeological evidence from antiquity of a women’s section in any synagogue, nor a single inscription noting such a separation. The absence of epigraphical evidence is significant, given the fact that many synagogue inscriptions of the time do, in fact, name various areas within the building.

The majority of these edifices had only a single prayer hall where the congregation gathered, but no balcony. And even when a building did have one, there is no reason to assume that it served as a women’s gallery. It might have functioned as a space for meetings, court sessions, festive meals, study, or the hazzan’s (cantor’s) living quarters; according to rabbinic sources, the synagogue balcony was used for all these purposes.

Also notably absent from rabbinic sources is any discussion of separate seating for women. Four hundred or so traditions in rabbinic literature address the synagogue and its functions, and not one mentions a special women’s section.

One rabbinic source does attest to the separation of men and women, but this was in the Jerusalem Temple, when a special balcony was constructed around the “Women’s Court” to separate the sexes during the frivolous Water Drawing Festival on Sukkot (Mishnah, Middot 2, 5; Tosefta, Sukkah 4,1).

Notably, this stated exception to the rule makes it clear that on the other fifty-one weeks of the year, there was no such separation of men and women in the Temple precincts.

The sum of the evidence leaves little doubt that throughout Late Antiquity, whenever Jews gathered in the synagogue for ritual purposes, there were no gender distinctions in seating arrangements …

We know from Maimonides and the Cairo Genizah that the custom (of separate seating), in Egypt at least, was well in place by the eleventh and twelfth centuries, as these sources explicitly note a separation or partition (mehitzah).

Thus, at some point between the seventh and eighth centuries (our last-dated archaeological and literary sources for Late Antiquity) and the eleventh century (the above-noted sources from Egypt), this division was adopted by Jewish communities, likely because of Islamic or Christian influence, newly developing religious stringencies within Judaism regarding the impurity of women, or perhaps both of these considerations.

The full interview

Read the full interview with Professor Levine on the Reform Magazine website

Exerpts used with permission from the Union for Reform Judaism

THE Anita Saltz International Education centre in Jerusalem is an exciting, innovative initiative of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. It offers many seminars and workshops, one of them being the Beutel Seminar for Progressive Jewish Leadership.

I was privileged to be chosen by the South African Union for Progressive Judaism (SAUPJ) to represent South Africa at this year’s seminar, which lasted ten days.

There were 16 participants from Australia, Canada, Denmark, England, France, Germany, India, Israel, North America, Poland, Spain and South Africa. Together we studied aspects of Judaism from Biblical times to the present.

With Rabbi Levi Weiman Kelman of Kehilat Kol Haneshama Synagogue, we explored the important connection between prayer and spirituality. This took place in a room at Hebrew Union College (HUC) facing the walls of the Old City, giving one a true sense of our connection to Ancient Judaism.

We studied sacred texts within the majesty of sacred space. These texts truly came alive when visiting the different sites both in Jerusalem and the Negev. Among the interesting and fascinating activities were:

• Walking Jerusalem through the Psalms. We reached Zion Gate and David’s Tomb, on the way studying amongst others Psalm 126, Shir HaMa’a lot, A Song of Ascents.
• We went to the Second Temple Period Model of Jerusalem and then on to the Jewish Quarter of the Old City where we visited an underground village which has recently been excavated.
• We spoke about building and destruction on our extended stay on Mount Herzl and Yad Vashem. This was of course a most emotional and draining experience for us all. Our guide was superb in imparting information and certainly helped our understanding of the incredible but horrific exhibits and memorabilia of those dreadful years.
• We discussed the building of a Jewish State on visiting the Trumpledor Cemetery in Tel Aviv. Bialik and Shalom Aleichem’s daughter, among other famous people, are buried there.
• By contrast, modern Tel Aviv offered the fun of shopping and bartering at Carmel Market.
• At the Palmach Museum, where the army is graphically depicted from pre-1944 to 1951, we spoke to some people presently in the army and later met with the Reform Movement’s Mechina which is a pre-army gap year program. We were taken to some of the projects these youngsters are involved in, including an Old Aged Centre for the Visually Impaired, and ended this day with a typical Middle Eastern meal at Jaffo Café.
• We went to the Tayelet where we looked down on Jerusalem. We spoke about “Old Jerusalem” which was in the centre – the obviously wealthy Jerusalem, full of trees to the left and the poorer Jerusalem in an arid area to the right.
• Our discussions included ethical issues within the Jewish society and between Jews and Arabs. Coming from South Africa, with our background of discrimination, I found this particularly interesting.
• A night time visit to the Kotel including the Tunnel tour which goes under the Moslem Quarter of the Old City, revealed evidence of a village being there thousands of years ago.
• On our way to Kibbutz Yahel, a reform Kibbutz in the Arava, we stopped at Sde Boker, Ben Gurion’s home and final resting place. Although I thought I knew much about Ben Gurion, I gained a better insight into his personality.
• During our stay on Yahel we were fortunate to come into contact with pioneers of the Kibbutz who spoke about leadership on the early days of Yahel, the strategies for working in a small community and building a community from scratch. Yahel Kibbutz is truly proof that people can live and work together in harmony.
• Another Reform Kibbutz in the area, Kibbutz Lotan, where they are very ecologically minded, has an eco-park, organic garden and constructed wetland for migrating birds. Their motto is ‘Le’ovda u’leshomra’ (to till the earth and to preserve it). All the rooms or house are built with straw, mud and used tyres – certainly ecologically friendly.
• While in the Negev, walking the paths of ancient times, we spoke about modern day Israel, its political situation and “where to from now?” This was most timely as it was just prior to the national elections. It gave us all a better understanding of Israel’s governmental issues.
• One particular incident which had an effect on me was sitting at the City of David studying the text of David’s ascension to Jerusalem with the Ark, when at 11.50 am the Moslem call to prayer was heard all around us. Because we share so much common ground both literally and figuratively, it gave me a feeling of hope for peace and tranquility in Israel today.

I feel the success of the seminar is the fact that throughout the 10 days we learnt to build communities and connect with one another, making world-wide contacts and friendships that I hope will endure for many years to come.

Top row: Jasper Andersen (Denmark);Phyllis Sewall (USA); Barbara Rosel (Germany); Joshua Reuben (India); Andrew Monk (England); Ludmila Krzewska (Poland)

Middle row: Heidimarie Braun (Germany); Gisela Dolgonos (Spain); Yishai Lachter (Israel); Jeanette Gross (USA); Levanah Leibmann (France); Lenore Rubin (USA)

Front row: Marsha Zinberg (Canada); Giddy Lief (South Africa); Paul Liptz (Leader); Larisa Merunowicz (Poland); Terry Boyd (Australia)

Feeling fulfilled after praying at the Kotel

At the gravesides of David and Paula Ben Gurion, with the Negev in the background

Holding a pomello just picked off a tree in the orchard of Kibbutz Yahel in the Arava

The current prayer book, Gates of Prayer, is to be phased out after more than thirty years because:

• Most copies of the book, in most congregations, are now in an extremely tattered state.
• Changes to the liturgy, particularly the use of gender-inclusive language, have made it obsolete.

South African rabbis decided that the choice of payer book should be one in which all members could participate. During the course of 2008, three different prayer books were tried out in congregations around the country: The British Reform prayer book Forms of Prayer (2008); the British Liberal movement prayer book Siddur Lev Chadash (1995); and the US reform prayer book Mishkan T’Filah (2008).

The Liberal book was rejected first, as too abbreviated, although many people liked the additional readings it supplies. The British Reform book was widely supported because it takes the most traditional approach, closer to South African practice, and offers excellent explanatory notes. But in the end, the US book won out, for a number of reasons.

• The book contains the Pilgrim Festival prayers, eliminating the need to buy yet another prayer book (the British book is for daily and Shabbat prayer only).
• Mishkan T’Filah includes the widest selection of supporting materials, including music, adult study material and even a full colour children’s siddur and machzor.
• The Progressive Jewish movement in Australia and New Zealand were given permission by the Americans to customise the book to their purposes. Changes could be made to US spelling, to references to northern hemisphere seasons, and to various prayers which had been shortened. The Australians contacted the South Africans, and it was agreed to jointly produce a Commonwealth version, including local national prayers and anthems.

Considerable editing and production work is required, which is why the revised Mishkan T’Filah will only be launched in South Africa near the end of 2009. The book has a most attractive format and design, and is printed in colour. It includes a wide selection of additional readings from the Progressive liturgical tradition and the great poetic writings from Jewish history. It is flexible, allowing for alternative theologies and styles of service.

Help sponsor the siddur!

During the months up to June 2009, the SAUPJ will be calling upon supporters to help sponsor the siddur project.

One type of sponsorship allows people to have dedications to their loved ones inscribed permanently in all printed copies of the book.

Three different levels of sponsorship are available, ranging in price from R2 500 to R7 500. To learn more about the programme, click here to see the SAUPJ sponsorship form.

What the name means

Mishkan is the Hebrew word for “tabernacle”, the nomadic holy sanctuary carried through the desert by Moses and the Israelites. Mishkan T’Filah translates as tabernacle, or dwelling place, of prayer.

The government’s willingness to succumb to pressure and threats from the Chinese government is a rejection of what we are supposed to hold dear – the sanctity of human rights, democracy and freedom.

It is ironic that the news of the government’s submission to one of the world’s most oppressive nations broke two days after our celebration of Human Rights Day.

This refusal to allow the Dalai Lama to attend a conference on peace makes a mockery of our constitution and of the struggle against apartheid during which so many people suffered humiliation, imprisonment and death so that South Africa can be transformed into a country in which the dignity of all men and women is guaranteed.

We call on the South African government to rescind its decision not to allow the esteemed leader of the Tibetan People into our beautiful country and to stand up to the bullying tactics of the Chinese government. We should be guided by our desire to do what is ethically and morally right and not by intimidation and money.

Issued by: Rabbi Malcolm Matitiani, Chairman of the South African Association of Progressive Rabbis, and Mr Steve Lurie, Chairman of the South African Union of Progressive Judaism.

Those rights allow us to declare publicly our support for the State of Israel whose foundations lie in our historic and religious connection to the land and the unbroken Jewish presence there for three millennia.

We take pride in the outstanding achievements of the State of Israel and the many contributions to the betterment of humanity since its establishment more than 60 years ago.

We hope that peace and concord will soon be established between Israelis and Palestinians establishing mutual agreement, respect and growing cooperation.

We call on the international community and the government of South Africa to use all diplomatic means at their disposal to achieve the immediate release of abducted Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, held in Gaza by the Hamas since 25 June 2006.

We encourage all South Africans to live and act in the spirit of the Bill of Rights of South Africa and our motto, “Unity in Diversity” and to respect our democratic right as loyal South Africans to support Israel.

Declaration
on Dalai Lama

We the South African Progressive Jewish Community, are appalled that the government of South Africa has refused to grant His Holiness the Dalai Lama entry into our country to attend the 2010 World Cup-organised peace conference in Johannesburg.
See full statement.

JUNE 4

From Netzer Staff:

We have a week and a half to go for Etgar and Machon. The shnattim are doing fine and looking forward to their next part of Shnat- going to the cities! Machon enjoyed their peer- led week and Etgar enjoyed their Northern Tiyul in the Galilee and the Golan Heights. This week we informed the shnattim that they are all going together to Kibbutz Yahel for their last part of Shnat, starting the 30th of August 2009. We hope they have a great time there.

Shabbat Shalom

Parents Report from Machon, by Isabella Williams:

Dear Families, friends, and of course beloved pets,

We are all missing you greatly, but are keeping ourselves busy with our daily lives here in Israel.

Machon is coming to an end. Some of us are sad to have to leave this place we have called home for the past 4 months, and other cant wait to move onto the next part of our Shnat program.
Classes are concluding and this week started our peer-led week.

Last Wednesday Machon held a Tikkun Leil for us to celebrate Shavuot a day earlier than the country, so we could have fun learning as well as going out to the commnity for the real shavuot the next night.

At 11.45pm we all made our way to Ulam Rachel. We were provided with tea, coffee, fruit, biscuits and of course the traditional cheesecake to keep us awake.

We had 4 guest speakers over the course of the night – a feminist, a hareidi, a kabbalist and an environmentalist – who each spoke about two topics including an insiders vew on Hareidi society and Kabbalistic philosophy.

The busy night of learning concluded at 5.30am when we headed down to the tayelet to watch the beautiful sunrise over Jerusalem and to sing songs and a few prayers – Netzer style!

Thursday was a chofesh day so we could sleep and recover from our night of learning and have an oppotunity to attend another tikkun leil that night.

The weekend was a normal free weekend. Most machoniks chose to stay in Jerusalem.

I enjoyed shabbat with Etgar. We baked challah and lit shabbat candles that Rikki and Talia had decorated during their volunteering. Rikki cooked up amazing sushi and we had a really enjoyable dinner.

Monday was our first day of peer-led classes. This is where fellow machoniks become the teacher and the teacher’s join the rest of the class as students. Our erev peula was a particularly fun night. We went to a park and we had pizza and ice cream for dinner before playing backyard cricket.

We were then split into teams where we had to dress up to play a giant board-game drawn out on the basketball court. There were lots of group challanges and we all had a lot of fun.

Tuesday was a regular day, except at 11am we had a bomb drill. The sirens went off over the city and everyone made for the bomb shelters. It was an experience i’ve never had before and hope never have to repeat.

That afternoon for Tnua time (it was just Machon because Etgar are on tiyul) Neil treated us to a movie, popcorn and drinks. We weren’t told what we were going to see – it was a surprise. We made our way to Malcha Mall, sat in our seats and anxiously waited for the movie to start – meanwhile trying to guess what it was that we were about to watch. It turned out to be Star Trek!!! We all enjoyed ourselves especially as it was the first time for most of us to go to the cinemas in Israel.

Sending you all our love and ensuring you that our Hebrew is getting slightly better each day.

Take Care.
Love always,
Bella xoxo

Etgar report by Beth Exiner:

Dear family and friends,this week started off with a late wakeup on Sunday and then lunch at Dana’s place, where Shira and Dana cooked us a feast of delicious pasta and a choice in salads. Here, we were briefed about the week to come.Bright and early Monday morning, we were up and on the bus, ready for Northern Tiyul. Sadly, we also had to say goodbye to Alex, who was going back to Australia.

We picked up our tour guide and friend Niro in Tel Aviv and were on our way, up to the north of Israel. We started the tiyul with a short hike on Carmel Mountain which is also called Little Switzerland. We soon found out that the name originated from how green everything was on the mountain. That afternoon, we had a coffee and a look around the Druze village, Dalyat Al-Carmel and then we were hosted by some people from the Druze community who answered our questions about their religion and also cooked a good dinner, made even better by the fact that we were all starving.

Some interesting things we learned about the Druze are that at 15 years of age, everyone has the right to choose whether they will be secular or religious, and also the Druze believe in five prophets. The next day we awoke early, drove to the Kinerret and went to a lookout, where Niro taught us about the significance of the sea, such as it is the source of water for a large percent of Israel.

After this, we went on a five hour hike called Wadi El-Al, which was absolutely breath taking, albeit really, really hard.On Wednesday, we had a more relaxing day, visiting the caves at Rosh Hanikra, and then went wine tasting at a place called Binyamina. This week was incredible, but even so, I think we were all happy to see the weekend come a day early!

MAY 30

From the Netzer staff

Summer is here, and also the feeling that things are coming to an end- whether it is Etgar, Machon or the whole of Shnat Netzer. Machon had a very interesting, complicated and meaningful trip to Chevron, and Etgar enjoyed their very well organized peer-led week.

This week the entire group (both North and South) met on Tuesday in Tel- Aviv for the MASA Mega Event- once a year, MASA holds a special event for all the MASA programs in Israel. This year it was held in Tel- Aviv, and had our Prime- Minister Binyamin Netanyahu coming to bless the participants; awarding the volunteering prizes to participants; a concert by Mosh Ben- Ari. The shnattim enjoyed a Shabbat Beyachad last weekend, and one wrote to me: Thought you might like to see the photos from Shabbat B’yachad – there are some really really lovely group ones that I think you’d like. Have a look here.

I hope you love them too. It seems that the group really enjoyed their time together.

Our participants are doing well, and enjoying their time. Offers and suggestions as to the upcoming Chag Shavout were given to the Shnattim, and we hope they will use them.

Etgar report by Talya Davidoff:

Dear parents shnatties and anyone else who enjoys a little light reading

So, last Friday we had a shabbat bayachad (together) with all the shnatties on kibbutz Ein Dor. Its was most likely our last chance for the whole group to spend time with each other. We ran a service for the kibbutz and spent lots of time at the pool, not to mention celebrating the birthdays of Kimmi, Sarah, Blake, and Oli! As scheduled, on Sunday, Etgar began their peer led week.

We ran amazing programs for each other like politics in the middle east, the amazing race, Kehila (community), and much more. On Tuesday evening, the whole Shnat group was invited to a MASA event, with many performances and a speech from the Israeli Prime Minister, Bibi Natanyahu. We ended our peer led week with smoothies on Wednesday as Thursday is the beginning of Shavuot.

MAY 21

From the Netzer staff:

What a HOT week!!! The summer suddenly came, bringing a hit wave to Israel, and making it hard to focus.

This week is the last regularly scheduled week of Etgar. The Etgarniks had their last week of classes and started saying goodbye to their volunteer places. They have also begun planning the end of Etgar. Most of their energy has been focused on next week’s Peer-Led Week, a week during which the Etgarniks get to plan an entire week’s activities on their own. They have created planning committees and are in the process of finalizing the schedule. Everyone in the group will be leading activities. They have also started planning their Sikkum Seminar.

On Wednesday the group went to Mitkan Adam, an army base near Modi’in that house a special unit that works with dogs. We are very fortunate to have Yuval, (a member of the Netzer family who is the current TAMAR coordinator and Netzer liaison to Spanish-speaking countries), who served in this army base, joining us on our trip. Machon came back from a 5 days trip in the North, which was truly great! All the shnattim loved it and described it as one of their best experiences so far.

Thursday is Yom Yerushalayim and the shnattim went out to celebrate in the city that they have come to call home. This Shabbat, a few of our Northern shnattim are celebrating their birthday on kibbutz Ein- Dor, and invited over all the shnattim to celebrate with them. About 50 shnattim are expected to celebrate the upcoming birthdays, with Netzer sponsoring the Shabbaton. Mazal tov guys! This weekend was initiated and organized by the Shnatim and we are very proud of them for their initiative.

Etgar report by Alex Tate:

This week on Etgar we had a fairly standard week in terms of classes although we spent large amounts of time planning for peer led week, the week in which we plan and run the entire week of etgar which is next week.

Today we had a siyur to an army base where the dog unit of the Israeli army is based, we had a tour and got to see, some of the 300 dogs that are in the unit in action, including dogs sniffing out explosives and weapons and attack dogs ferociously launching and attacking at a trainer in a protective suite. this showed us a whole new innovative element to the IDF and one you certainly don’t get to see every day. We said goodbye and thanked all our teachers this week as this was our last standard week of Etgar, next week is peer led, then northern tiyul and finally sikkum seminar.

Machon report by Sam Osborn,
Northern Tiyul:

Our alarms rang at 6:30. By 6:45 we were on our way. As the Pope was driving somewhere that day all roads around Kiryat Moria were closed off at 7:00. Luckily we made it and had a nice sleep until breakfast. On the first day we explored old Acco. We toured the old crusader buildings, the markets and the port. This was the second time I’d been to Acco but this time with Haggai guiding so I learnt all these different facts and more background. As the Hummus is unbelievable in Acco as soon as we were on lunch break, a few of us ran down to Hummus Said and cued up. You get hummus, pitta, onion, pickles, olives and tomatoes. It is unbelievably delicious. I ate one entire bowl of hummus by myself.

After Acco we had (extra) lunch on the resort like Achziv beach were we played a bit of beach cricket, swam and read. Our last stop was the Grottos in Rosh Hanikra (naturally formed sea caves) before driving to our hostel in Pi’quien, a druze village. In the evening we had an amazing kef (fun) peula and went to late right before a day of long hiking. We hiked along Nachal Kziv past Montfort Castle through jungle like valleys.

In the night we drove to Kibbutz Manara where we stayed for the weekend, literally on the border of Lebanon. There was the kibbutz fence, then the road, then the Lebanese fence. Nearby was a Nepalese-manned UN base. On Friday we toured Mt Meron and Tsfat before preparing for Shabbat. In the evening Shabbat we had a very interesting and potentially controversial service.

We wanted to have one Shabbat together, Orthodox Reform and Secular so we created a special service. We had the full Orthodox service plus lots of readings and alternative prayers in the booklet and some poems read out. I ran the service with Josh Back, a lovely hinani-ite. In the hall we set up two mechitsas, men and women on the left and right of them and mixed between the two. Proudly our service fulfilled all the requirements of the most Halachly observant there (which is quite observant). It was very different and strange for some people and was mostly a great service. A few people couldn’t be bothered participating, which was disappointing, but expected.

On Saturday we had a relaxing Shabbat and then Saturday night was Karaoke night. Sadly there was no R.E.N.T on the machine. However we discovered there is an amateur production coming.

Machon is coming to an end but is extremely busy. Soon options will start!!
It will be very sad to leave Jerusalem which feels like such a second home.

Again: most people are still planning on coming home.

Sam Osborn (Melbourne)

For further information, please contact

Jackie on 082 855 5199

Mor on 082 339 0246

Email: netzersa@gmail.com

Fax: 011 646 5543

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