July 10, Friday – “Israeli Day”
The wake-up music for today was specially chosen Israeli music. This lasted for 50 minutes and was a good start to what turned out to be a good day.
The girls were on kitchen duty the entire day. This means setting the tables, serving during the meal and at the end of the meal, clearing up. Prior to dinner, the girls set-up the dining room with flags in every possible place. At the same time, Yuval was busy preparing the songs for the final program – the Concert.
The morning program was not connected to Israeli Day. The groups continued to work on and prepare the films that they began the day before. The girls went out into the forest to pick flowers to place on each table for Kabbalat Shabbat.
At 16:00 the camp was divided into 6 groups and each group started at a given point – 6 places where our group were running fun activities (Hora Dancing; Learning a song, “Hakova Sheli”; Israeli Trivia; Self- defense; “Plonter” – where two people have to stand on certain points on a board, bending over each other; and “Dag Maluach”, Herring – a game similar to catches. There was a buzz of excitement in the camp, total joy with everyone, young and old participating and having fun.
The team started to set the dining room for a “Kabbalat Shabbat” ceremony and dinner. Unlike all the other meals, the camp entered the dining room and took their seats waiting to see and learn about “Shabbat”. Shabbat candles were lit, Ben led the prayers – the blessings for the bread and wine, and then the meal was served (nothing special). While everyone was eating, Batia and I (Avi) handed each person a small pin that carries the flag of Israel next to that of Poland. Incredible to see how such a small item can bring so much thanks.
The evening program started at the camp-fire with the usual Polish songs. Ben was asked to perform the song from the afternoon’s activities which went down well and it was a very good beginning to the night program. At 23:00 whoever wanted to attend the Israeli Concert held in the “Korzonek” the Roots Room. Under the canopy of a camouflage covering, tens of candles are placed and then lit on the dried root stumps, setting the perfect atmosphere for a concert.
Seven songs, each song chosen by individuals in the group were played to those who attended. First a short explanation why the song was chosen and then the performance. The final song was Leonard Cohen’s “Halleluya” translated and sung in Hebrew by the IDF (Zahal) Education Troupe and it was the only song that was shown as a video clip. It was important to portray the cultural side of the army and to convey the feeling of peace that we yearn for.
We got to bed tired but pleased at midnight.
