Whats been going on in Messima: Tzevet Cholon (Karich)

In the midst of thought provoking peulot, fun chevratis, serious sichot, and many other things, I spend a great deal of my time with the rest of my tzevet where we do messima. I have blogged a little about my messima experience, however things now are different, and much improved. (not that there was any problem before, we are the best tzevet!) Seeing as we have sichot and peulot which have questioned various issues such as the roll of a madrich and why the Israeli school system is the way it is, and what we can do to improve it, recently our intensity and passion has picked up quite a lot. We have new ideas and understandings of what it means to be a madrich, as well as what it means to be on a tzevet. But these questions are constantly adressed, and then those thoughts are put into action.
In messima we write different peulot where we simply have a goal of informally educating our chanichim based on values such as equality, collective responsibility and what it means to have relationships with others, as well as many others. This past weekend was the tiyul and Pasechet, a 2 day series of peulot and extremely fun activities for the chanichim to take part in to gain a unique perspective of Judaism, and what the upcoming chag means to them. Leading up to the two events, the peulot had began to run smooth, and that was only a sign of things to come.
The tiyul quickly arrived, and I was full of new ideas. RIght off the bat, I knew that it would be tough. What i mean, is that in our kvutza we have two male madrichim, and zero female, in messima, I am a madrich for12 girls and 2 boys. I knew it would be difficult, but the challenge was worth it, and will continue to be. Immediately, weather it be by talking in Hebrew or English, playing fun games, or teaching about the flowers we passed, it was surprisingly easy to get on their good side, and I too saw how great they were.
Although things in our kvutza went well, my tiyul experience exposed me even more to some major flaws in some step in the process for the youth of Israel. Never in my life, have I seen so many rocks thrown at each other, so many fights, or so much cursing. When I asked Anat what the deal was, she told me it is just a result of not having a good enough school system, as well as other factors that lead to this behavior, and that we have a unique opportunity to change this, and improve the chanichims lives and help them help society around them. From then on, I realized how unique of an opportunity I have, and immediately I became comfortable with my chanichim on the hike and was able to connect with them and have teach them certain values I strive to carry out which they can relate to, and they taught me.
After a two day tiyul, it was time for the Pasechet. With the knowledge that this could either be an incredible experience or a disaster, (depending on the chanichim's moods) the best we could do is go into with an excited attitude, (which we always have!) and being flexible with our tochnit.

Goals:
-Learning useful english words.
-Respecting the kvutza, and learning to cooperate and work with one another.
-Starting to think about Passover, as well as seeing that the American Madrichim have the same narrative.
-Communication/teamwork.
Trigger:
Skit- Repeated by characters in Hebrew, just so chanichim understand
After skit, break up into kvutzot, and play…
-Charades: We give one kid a word and they act out the word with out talking, the rest of the chanichim guess what it is. Teach new words: Milk, cocoa, biscuits, sugar, butter.
-Each chanich that wants to have a turn will come up to the madrich and be given a word. The chanich will have to present the word, charade style.
Method: Scavenger hunt where chanichim learn skills to survive in the desert.
Scavenger hunt: Round Robin
-given letters to spell table and a picture of a pingpong ball. Must jumble letters to figure out…
-Ping pong table – ping pong thing with teams and running. Split in two groups on both sides of table one person hits ping pong ball and runs to the end of the line on the other side of the table. If they get 10 in a row, they get the clue!
-translation to spell basement Hebrew letter lines up to an English letter and spells Basement.
-Basement – puzzle with picture of basketball court
(clue from above)
-Basketball court – lay-up lines – pass the ball and next person shoots.
-coordination letters, spell out homework (Ask Sara about this clue, she wrote it down somewhere)
-Homework room – Build a fort with the pillows and fit everyone in it
”School Entrance”
-Entrance to school – build a human pyramid and sing the pasechet songà
Peula room – recipe
With each clue, you get a paper with an ingredient.
At the end, is the recipe. Make the balls together and eat!
Ingredients:
Milk – ½ cup
Cocoa – 6 tbs
Sugar – 1 cup
Biscuits – 1 package
Butter – 1 cup
Chugim #1:
Sarah and Shoshi: Cup Cakes: Symbolizing the manna the Jews had to eat in the desert.
Erez and zach: Science experiments:
-During the Israelites journey out of Israel, God performed many miracles. Our version of remembering this is by doing epic science projects.
Group peula #1:
-Tag: Chanichim/Israelites running from Pharoah.
-Regular tag. (Tofeset.)
-Partner/Link tag. (Tofeset Zoogot.)
-Chain tag: Two people start as it. Chase everyone, once you tag someone they add to the chain.
-Obstacle course with water guns: Create an obstacle course where the purpose is to make their way through the red sea.
-Singing contest: Break up into small groups. Come up with their favorite American song and present it to the rest of chanichim through dance, singing etc…

-Day one went better then we could have imagined. From the skit, to the peula, to chugim, to everything else, the chanichim worked as a kvutza and were engaged and excited, making it easier and much funner for all of the tzevet. Additionaly, it gave me a chance to step up and show that I am excited about being their madrich, so we spent a great deal of time together just hanging out.
Here was the seder yom for day 2:
Kvutza peula #2: Directions Peula; navigating through the desert!
Goals:
-Strengthen kvutza trust between chanichim and madrichim.
-Learn useful english words.
-Introduce values collective, and sharing.
-Keep the kids engaged and having fun.
Game to get them together: Sheep/I can see your teeth, roar like a lion, tofeset, achbar v' chatul.
List of words to learn: left, right, straight, backwards, turn, step over, pick up. MAKE CARDS WITH WORDS
Play Simon Says using these words.
Play the game with 4 shlavim – repeat and do as said,
Repeat and do opposite
Repeat and do opposite
Say opposite and do what was said
Method: Split into Kvutzot. Different floors in the bayit. Each location has bordered space with obstacles inside, including chairs, string, tape, etc. Split into pairs within the groups, and person A gets blindfolded. The goal is to get across the space to a “bayit dollar” under something. Person B
must direct person A, using words such as “left,” “right,” and “straight.” The idea is to work together to get 2 “bayit dollars” for the pair. After round one, the groups switch locations. Repeat with person B blindfolded.
Play the game with hitting each other! 2 teams. Blindfold. Winner gets a "bayit dollar."
Each group stands on a blanket. The goal is to flip the blanket while all standing on it. The group must work together to flip the blanket without touching the ground. Each group gets three tries. At the end, they get more “bayit dollars,” as a group (ex. 5 for 10 people).
Bring both groups together and show them a tray of cookies. The cookies cost the amount that the two groups have combined. They must figure out that they need to combine their money to get the cookies. In the end, each chanich will get two cookies.
-Chugim #2
Sarah and Shoshi: Cup Cakes: Symbolizing the manna the Jews had to eat in the desert.
Erez and zach: Science experiments:During the Israelites journey out of Israel, God performed many miracles. Our version of remembering this is by doing epic science projects.

Creation of Israeli Society Peula:
Goals:
-Get chanichim to “create” their ideal Israeli society, while incorporating their new English skills.
-Have chanichim gain an understanding that Israeli culture can only be created based on team work and group cooperation, one person cant create an entire Israel, as well as understand that it is the different roles, (tafkidim,) in Israel that make the society what it really is.
Trigger:
-Famous cats with a G, but the twist of the game is that they must have categories including tafkidim in society. Example: Famous singers, jobs, sports.)
Method: This is where chanichim are given the chance to create their society. Each chanich will be divided into four groups. Each group will have a certain tafkid.
-1)Scientists: Chanichim will need to come up with how they can use science to help add to the new Israeli society. With science project supplies from chuggim, and new supplies, chanichim will practice and learn new projects in the 30 minute period, and when everyone comes back together, we they will perform to the rest of the chanichim.
-Give chanichim a chance to think of their own ideas, and after a few minutes, the madrich of the group will give them the idea of doing science experiments.
-2)Active culture creators: (not sport!) This group will be responsible for creating some sort of active activity, and demonstrate, or play for the entire group when everyone comes together. (Madrich will be given an idea to help chanichim if they cannot think of one themselves, but they will!)
-3)Performers: Performance group is responsible for showing that its easy to create a culture of singing, dancing or acting. Group gets complete freedom to think of what they want. They can create an acting game, write a song, or perform a dance.
-When we all come back together, they can present and teach their song or dance, or they can play an acting game. (whatever they decided.)
-If chanichim cannot come up with something, the madrich will run games that involve acting.
4) Farmers: Farmers are responsible for showing that Israeli society needs to have people who make food. Idea is to have chanichim discuss ideas of how they can show farming is easy and fun.
-After a few minutes, madrich of the group will suggest planting things in cups, and show we have all the supplies. The group will do it, and be guided by the madrich.
-When everyone comes back together, the group will have a station set up where they teach how to plant a vegetable in a cup, and every chanich will plant their own vegetable in a cup.
-After all presentations, chanichim will see that they can have an active part in shaping Israeli society.
Sikkum: Eat ice cream to celebrate what they learned.
-Supplies: science supplies, ice cream, dirt, seeds, plastic cups.

-The second day was a bit more hectic More fights were present and kids had a difficult time staying engaged. Perhaps the peulot were not flexible enough to have a plan to suite chanichim who are restless. However, in the end all peulot were ran and chanichim really did enjoy them. In the final peula, they really got interested and took responsibility for their tafkid.
In the end, the Pasechet went really well, better than expected.\
Tzevet Karich, (Cholon,) became much stronger. The Workshop madrichim felt very empowered, and the relationships between madrichim grew stronger and stronger.
Chazak Chazak l Cholon!