Merav's+Project

Ifaces 20011

What does being a good Israeli mean to me? Merav lieberman April 6, 20011 Melissa Weglien Neveh Chana high school for girls Table of contents  Rational..................................................pg.3 Profile……………………………………………….pg.4 Background research………………………..pg.8 Personal connection…………………………pg.11 Reflection…………………………………………pg.13 Works cited………………………………………pg.14 Appendix………………………………………….pg.15  Rational  I've chosen to base my research question on a couple I've met this summer, who have really changed my life- Rav Yair and Tania Eisenstock. This past summer I went to camp Moshava, and Machal (my age group) got a Rav just for us, Rav Yair. Even though I only know how much Yair and Tania have affected me and my friends, I know that anywhere they go; they change people's lives, just like they changed mine. I'm still not sure where I'd like to take this project. I can take it so many ways. I'd like to know a little more about where I met them- camp. I'd like to know how they got there, why they think it's so important… I'd also like to know a little more about them besides camp. What they do today, their beliefs, how they manage to keep spreading their incredible passion about amuna and life… I hope that by talking to them a little more, and learning more about their life, I will know what I want to do with this project, and where I'd like to take it from here. Profile Yair Eisenstock Yair Eisenstock grew up with his family in Be'er sheva until he was four, when he moved to Stamford, Connecticut. At the same age he started going to camp every summer with his family. Yair was just like all normal kids- he liked playing basketball, baseball, he liked learning Torah and being with his friends. But there's still something about him, about the way he speaks with so much passion about "Eretz Yisrael", about the way he connects with his students, that makes him just so not normal. When I tried asking him how he thinks he became so passionate and enthusiastic about everything he does, he didn’t really have an answer for me. All he could say was "every person in this world is special, he just has to find a way to bring his specialty to actions..." and he continues "I, Baruch Hashem grew up in an environment that encouraged me to do that". When I ask him if he can tell me a little more about this "environment", and why he thinks that's the place that helped him find his specialty, he has one word for me- camp.                   Yair basically grew up in camp. He has been going there every summer ever since he was four years old. He has moved around a lot. At age 7, Yair came back to Israel and lived in Efrat, and now he lives in Yerushalaim. But through all those years, every summer, Yair would go with his family back to camp. His father was one of the rabbis in camp, which was a very important job, which meant of cores that Yair knew the staff, the "Rosh Moshe" (the head of the camp), all the big people, which of cores is very special, and made him feel at home in camp. And which also meant coming back every summer to camp. When he was twenty Yair was set up by one of his chanichim in Bnei Akiva to Tanya. Tanya, who had been paralyzed two years ago after taking place in a car accident, had just started walking again, and was trying to get back to her normal life. A few months after they were set up, Tanya and Yiar got married and started a family. After getting married, the decision if to go back to camp or    not, didn’t even appear once to Yair. He knew without a question that the fact that he now  has a family was not going to mean that he will stop going to camp every summer. "It was just natural to continue trying to give and help Am Yisrael, and since I grew up in camp I felt it's where I can give, the most." Is what he says after I ask him about the decision to come back to camp after he got married. "I didn’t even think of not coming back to camp as an option".  Like I said before, Yair is a special person. He admits to always failing, and thinks of failures as a positive thing. "I fail all the time, I feel like it's a second nature in my life". Then he quickly adds "I think we all fail, but what's important is the way we react to the failure". <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">And he tells me about all the times he failed to teach his students about the <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">important things in life, and how for years he had been blaming himself that had failed his students, when he <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">realized that he had so many more to fix his mistakes from the past and learn from them. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">He continues by telling <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">me that he still fails, but how he has learned to learn from those failures, and how to make a change in what he did <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">for the future. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> Today, Yair is a teacher. Until last year (when he lived in Efrat) he taught in Orot Yehuda high <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">school, and now he is the director of the overseas program in Otniel. He is also a ram in the yeshiva for the Israelis, <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">teaching in midreshet lindenbaum, and getting his masters in tanach from herzog collage. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Yair and Tanya are also an  <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">av and em beit in midreshet lindenbaum. I think what helps from what they do the most now for our generation, <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">is just singing and dancing with their son Ohr Eitan and the time they put into each other. I'm sure that in every <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">school he taught in, and will teach in, all of his students will remember him, and be inspired by him like all of his <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">students in the past. But what I really think is the biggest thing that Yair does, that is contributing to the community, <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">is what he does, once a year, every summer, for the two months that he is in camp. That’s also where I met him, <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">and where I had the virtue of meeting him, and being truly inspired by him. So what does he do in camp that’s so <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">significant? Well, Machal's rabbi. Machal, is a group of ninth graders, who are still a part of camp, but what's special <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">about them is that since they're older, they get their own campus, their own Biet Midrash, their own "Cheder <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Ochel", and of cores- their own rabbi. Naturally being an Eidah's (a group of kids the same age, for example- <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Machal),rabbi is a big job. It's your job to give a "D'var Torah" every morning, it's your job to make sure there are <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">three Tfilot every day, it's basically your job to make sure everything technical is going right. Of cores the rabbi is <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">also supposed to get very one in the right spirit, but that’s usually a job that’s more for the "Rashei E'dah". But as a <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">rabbi, Yair does a lot more than that’s. Yair was the one, who really lifted us up, and I'm sure, for everyone else, he <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">was one of the more remember able Things from camp. Every morning after davening, he would tell us to all stand <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">up on our chairs, and since were shevet Lehava, he would yell with all his might "FIRE" and we would all yell after <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">him "FIRE!!!!" the way he yelled fire, with so much passion, and complete desire to work hashem, was just amazing. <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> Yair was always there. Dancing or singing or on the spot              <span style="height: 175.5pt; left: 0px; margin-left: 212.25pt; margin-top: 283.5pt; mso-position-horizontal-relative: text; mso-position-horizontal: absolute; mso-position-vertical-relative: text; mso-position-vertical: absolute; mso-wrap-distance-left: 9pt; mso-wrap-distance-right: 9pt; mso-wrap-style: square; position: absolute; text-align: left; visibility: visible; width: 234pt; z-index: -1;">  coming up with these amazing talks with us about the <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">purpose that every person has in the world. Even when he wasn’t told to, he was always there, lifting us all, and <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">inspiring us all to be better people. On the third week of camp we went on a three day trip to Boston. (Boston is a 6 <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">hour drive away from camp). Yiar didn’t come with us; he stayed in camp with his wife and son. But on the second <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">day of our trip, Yair surprised us by showing up at our camp site, holding a sefer torah, "because it's Monday today. <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">And how can we go through a Monday without reading from the torah?" these are just some of the little things Yair <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">has done for us during the month I knew him when I was in camp this summer. <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">The fact that is whole family is a part of camp, gives them motivation (according to Yair) to be more thoughtful <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">about where am yisrael are today, and also it gives When I asked what he thinks about Israeli kids going to camp <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">(like he's done since the age of seven when he moved back to Israel), he says he thinks they can get a lot, even <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">though the main idea of camp is "making aliyah". he thinks that the fact that these kids live in Israel, can give much <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">more meaning also for the American kids in camp because it has much more meaning then any peulla given in camp, <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">because its real and its their friends and people their age. Yair believes that the fact that you do something, or you <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">are a part of something doesn't mean you connect to it. Just because you live in Israel, doesn't necessarily mean you <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">connect to living there." living in Israel is not the end goal, living in Israel and feeling connected to the land is the  <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> goal, and that is something that never ends". And he continues " Camp helps me think more about not only putting a  <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">check in being in the land but it makes me ask myself why and how I want to be living here". <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> I believe that Yair is exactly the kind of person anyone who knows him would think of when we say "a good

<span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Israeli". the way he simply does all those little great things, and how he doesn't even realize it, but he is the person  <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">who has influenced so many young kids who live in America, some to appreciate Israel more, and some to even  <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">make aliyh. I think he is an amazing person, and has made such a difference in so many peoples lives, and I'm sure <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"> he will keep spreading his passion and emuna to all the people that cross by him, and leave something in them just <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"> like he did for me, and I know just like he did for all my friends in camp with me. <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; text-align: center;"> <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;"> Background research <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;"> Camp Moshava - IO (Indian Orchard) - Machal <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> Camp Moshava is an <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> Orthodox Jewish <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> summer camp located in Pennsylvania near a little town called Honesdale. <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">It is operated by the <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> Bnei Akiva <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> youth movement. Their vision is to introduce the campers to a lifelong commitment <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">to Am Yisrael, <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> Eretz Yisrael <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">, and <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> Torat Yisrael  <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">. They encourage children to develop their own individual leadership potential, enable them to become self-reliant, and encourage them to become a contributing member of the group or "kvutza." Camp Moshava serves kids from all over. Kids come to camp from New York, New Jersey, Monticello, Scranton, Baltimore, Silver Spring, Philadelphia, and more. <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"> <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;">              <span style="height: 168.55pt; margin-left: -8.6pt; margin-top: 170pt; mso-position-horizontal-relative: text; mso-position-horizontal: absolute; mso-position-vertical-relative: text; mso-position-vertical: absolute; mso-wrap-distance-left: 9pt; mso-wrap-distance-right: 9pt; mso-wrap-style: square; position: absolute; visibility: visible; width: 225pt; z-index: -1;"> <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;"> Every month there is a camp theme around which all activities are based. The theme is always educational and teaches about either a portion of Jewish history, Zionism, or an important Jewish-traditional theme. Some past Biblical themes have consisted of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, and the time of Joshua and the Judges. Post-Biblical historical themes cover topics like the Return to Zion with Ezra, Judaism in the middle Ages, and the period of the Mishna and Talmud. Other themes cover topics like Jewish leadership and American Judaism. Typically, campers learn about the topic through skits, special activities, formal classes and even special decorations and structures that are built in camp. <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;"> This year's theme was "Tiferet Israel". Every bunk got its own name that has to do with the topic, and throughout the month the activities had to do with the topic. For example the camp song this summer was "mi shema'amin lo mefached" ( <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">מי שמאמין לא מפחד ) and every morning the campers would be woken up to that song. Also, this year's color war groups were the three pilgrimage Jewish holidays- Pesach, Shavuot, and Succot. By making these holidays the theme of color war, the staff increased the children's awareness to how important being in Israel and being able to fully celebrate these holidays really is. <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;"> Like most of Bnei Akiva's camps, Camp Moshava's day-to-day programming is largely run by young adults from age 17 to late twenties, although the administrative duties are handled by adults. The staff is headed by a Rosh Moshava, or head counselor, and one or two assistant head counselors. The rest of the upper staff is comprised of division heads. The rest of the staff is mainly divided into regular staff and counselors. Counselors are responsible for their bunks at all times, while the regular staff have responsibilities based on their specialties during the day, and at night are called upon to perform whatever duties are necessary for either the everyday running of the camp or for special nighttime activities. The main specialties except of counselors are kitchen, sports, swim, and arts and crafts. An additional specialty is the Kollel staff, who spend part of the day teaching daily classes to each bunk, and in the evening they perform tasks like all members of the staff. Smaller specialties include drama, horseback riding, nature, pottery, and photography. <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"> <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;"> Camp Moshava is built from different age groups. Each group has its own "Eidah", or division. There's Eidah "Heiy" which is fourth graders, then Eidah "Alef" (fifth graders), all the way to Eidah Daled which are eighth graders. When you are in ninth grade, your age group is called "Machal". Machal is a little different from all the other Eidot. Machal gets their own "Cheder Ochel"(dining room), their own study hall, their own Rabbi, and their whole campus is farther away, and separate from the rest of camp. They have special activities too. While the other campers are doing the regular activities like- swimming in the lake, art, archery, chavaya israelit (an Israeli experience), and more… Machal has a special program. Machal is an intensive educational and fun program designed for campers who have finished a year of high school. After the campers have gone through five years of maturing and developing in camp the Machal program attempts to: build strong, cohesive group spirit and camaraderie; instill important <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;"> ideals of Torah Va'Avodah through textual learning and innovative activities and discussions; Build deeper commitment and understanding of daily religious observance and learning; Recognize the beauty and educational opportunities that our natural environment presents; and Enjoy the athletics/ sports, creative arts, swimming and other activities at Camp Moshava. To accomplish these goals, there is a special emphasis on the outdoors and appreciation of nature. Moshava has built a program that focuses on group development, learning on a higher level and special activities reserved only for this age group. To achieve these goals, the Machal program leaves the campgrounds more often than the younger ages. While in other Eidot they would go on a two day trip away from camp once every session (month), Machal goes on trips at least once a week, if not more. These trips include hikes in the local area, special trips to sites of interests, rafting on the Delaware, intercamps and two extensive trips to more "exotic", exciting locations. Machal travels to Boston, Massachusetts and Cape Cod area during the first session and spends three exciting days in the Niagara Falls and Toronto area during the second session. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';"> <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;"> This past summer I went for the first time to camp Moshava. And since I finished ninth grade, I went to Machal. Machal really was a great experience for me, and for all of my friends that I met there. That’s also how I met Yair Eisenstock. As our Rav in Machal he really did have a big part in what Machal did to us and changed in our lives. <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: left; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Personal connection For my personal connection I wanted to bring something that’s, well, personal. I had a really hard time finding something personal to me that has to do with my project and even more, with Am Yisrael. I decided to go in the direction of something that has to do with camp, since that’s really what my project is all about. I tried to think what camp is for me. Camp for me was meeting tons of new people, (when I went to camp, I went not knowing a single person my age...), camp for me was being exposed to a huge community of people who live so far away, and still feel connected to Israel, really, the whole experience of camp was all about Eretz Yisrael, and Am Yisrael. And that’s when I found my personal connection. During my summer in camp, I don’t think I have ever felt as connected to Am Yisrael as I did then. So I decided to share my experience of camp. For that, I brought picture album of mine from my month in camp. Some of the pictures have more to do with Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael, and some are just part of the experience. <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="height: 338.55pt; left: 0px; margin-left: 3.25pt; margin-top: 34.75pt; mso-position-horizontal-relative: text; mso-position-horizontal: absolute; mso-position-vertical-relative: text; mso-position-vertical: absolute; mso-wrap-distance-left: 9pt; mso-wrap-distance-right: 9pt; mso-wrap-style: square; position: absolute; text-align: left; visibility: visible; width: 452.2pt; z-index: -1;">  <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> One of the things I remember most about camp, is the way not only the older workers, but also the youth, my  <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">friends, would have such strong feelings and thoughts about Am Yisrael. Usually in the mornings we would have <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">these sessions, by groups, that they would randomly put you in (usually //none// of the other people in that group <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">would be your friends). These sessions were all about things that are happening in Israel now, or that have to do <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">with the Jews around the world. The counselor would start the session and five minutes later I'd find myself <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">passionately arguing about //my// country with people I haven’t ever spoken to before. What amazed me most, and s <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">till does, is how much they knew about Israel. There were some kids there that have never even been to Israel, but <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">they had their opinions, and they would stick to those opinions without thinking twice. They knew exactly what <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">they were talking about. But really, what I think I remember most from camp is how important "giving to Am <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Yisrael" was to camp. We went to a Jewish summer camp for kids with mental retardation to have fun and play <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">games with them. We went to a Jewish old age home to just talk with them and lighten up their morning. We would <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">always talk about the little things we can do to help Israel, The little ways we can support, and encourage the <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">people in Israel that what they're doing is the right thing. Another thing that camp liked doing was sing. We would <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">sing //a lot//. And every time we would start singing "shirey seuda shlishit" (not necessarily on shabat), our rabbi would <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">"dedicate" the songs to "Am Yisrael, in hope that they will all soon return to Eretz Yisrael and that Beit Hamikdash <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">will be rebuilt". Everyone would answer Amen and start singing. Sometimes I would think that all this talking about <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">"returning to Eretz Yisrael" didn’t really have anything to do with me. And that I had nothing really to do with <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">"supporting and encouraging Israel". I mean, I already "returned" to Israel. I'm the people in Israel, and I don't really <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">need support. Sometimes I would even ask myself what I was doing in camp, if what they're telling us to do is make <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">aliyah, when I'm already passed that stage. But what I realized is that while I had the privilege to grow up in Israel <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">and now my friends are being exposed to what they can do for Israel, they grew up in an environment where the <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">unity of Am Yisrael is most important. Which I think, is a principle just as important as Eretz Yisrael. But, since I grew <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">up in an environment that is only Am Yisrael, I've never been exposed to how important our unity is. And while my <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">friends were being exposed to the reality I grew up in, I was for the first time being exposed to something I've  <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">never been exposed to before- the importance of Am Yisrael, which is exactly the reality that they grew up in. the <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">strongest thing I got from camp, was what I can do not for Eretz Yisrael, but for Am Yisrael. And that’s something I <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">will always take with me from my one month in the summer experience from camp. <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="color: #548dd4; font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Reflection <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> Looking back at my project I think it has gone in a completely different direction than what I expected. When I <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">first heard we were going to do a project about a good Israeli, a figured most of the project would be about how I  <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">can contribute to the land of Israel and its people. Lately I realized that since I grew up in Israel, when I would think <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">of Jews or "the chosen people", I would usually think about the Jewish nation- that is living in Israel. Really, I <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">never thought all the Jews from around the world actually cared about little Israel. I used to think something like <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">this- "whoever comes to live in Israel cares, whoever doesn’t, doesn’t". After my experience in camp that <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">completely changed, but I still wasn't sure what to do now. But from my project, I've learned what I need to do <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">now. Through this project I came to realize that being a good Israeli doesn’t necessarily mean that what I'm doing is <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">helping Israel and its people. Being a good Israeli (at least to me), can also mean that I'm not even living in Israel, <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">but I am helping the Jewish nation. If it's by being a rabbi in some distant Jewish community, if it's by going <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">somewhere just for the summer and teaching the kids about Israel, or if it's by going to some far place where the <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Jewish people there don’t even know what being Jewish means, and teaching them all about it. I've learned from <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">this project that to be a good Israeli, you don’t actually need to ne in Israel, doing something for Israel. All you need <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">is to be anywhere in the world helping bring together the Jewish nation. To me, that is the perfect example for a <span style="direction: ltr; line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">good Israeli. <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> Works cited Moshava.org web. February 2 2001 Jteennmw.org web. February 2 20011 Stone.org web. February 8 20011 Eisenstock. Yair. Interview. Lieberman. Merav. January 16 2011 Graphics- google.co.il.images web. February 15 moshava.org web. February 15 Ilschool.org web. April 6 <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">