Day 1 of community week: water hike, pizza and meeting youth from Kiryat Shmona

Contributed by Ilan Vitemberg (chaperone/substitute educator)

Today was the first Community Week day.  It was a rich, full, and at times, challenging day. We started the day at the Dado Overlook above Metula.  At this point you are standing at the very tip of Etzba Hagalil ("The Finger of the Galilee" Israel's most Northern point.)  You can almost touch the Lebanese border from three different sides. 

The San Francisco contingent of the leadership team (which was comprised of Aaron, Ilana and Lauren) started the day with a circle in which each fellow talked about the first night at home hospitality.  It looked like everyone was really pleased and excited.  We learned that few of the teens ended up meeting, by chance, at a Frozen Yogurt place (with their hosts, of course) on the first night. Northern Israel is a small place...

After a few introductory games, we proceeded to a walk in the Hazbanni river.  A few teens chose to dip in the water and splash around. Lunch was shnitzel, couscous and vegetables and then a text study (led by myslef and Idan, the Israeli coordinator) about what it means to be a host, and what it means to be a guest.  It was 2 o'clock in the afternoon, after lunch, so I incorporated some movements/fun activities to bring up the post-food energy. The fellows were very tired but still dug deep and participated in a meaningful discussion.  

We then walked to "Hafuch Al Hafuch" - a center for youth at risk in Kiriat Shmona. Even though it was hot, and the teens were tired from a long day, they were very engaged and asked a lot of questions of the folks who work at the center.  The leadership team prepared pizza dough and the teens played games with the youth at the place, and prepared delicious pizzas in the oven in the yard as well.  We concluded today with a "Maagal Laila" in which we debriefed the day and established personal and communal goals for ourselves as individuals and as a group.  

Not everything went perfectly smoothly: because of the excitement and the energy of the first day, it was challenging for the leaders of the day to maintain quiet and to facilitate their meetings.  However, this served as a great opportunity for growth. The teens came up with very specific steps to improve their activities (including a communal "Lets Get Quiet" code that they taught the Israelis).  I'm looking forward to see how they implement it tomorrow.