Shalom from the Hebrew Madrichim
Le’hitraot Emanuel!
Shalom Emanuel community!
We are the Israeli Madrichim and we would love to say a few words about our experience at Emanuel School:
In the beginning, we didn’t know what to expect. How it would be to talk about Judaism and Zionism, in a place that is so far from Israel. As we ran activities for different Year Groups, led camps and joined in on campus, we saw how unique the perspective of Emanuel is on Judaism, as well as its educational attitude – how the School educates the students to find their own way to connect to Judaism and to see the variety within it.
Our highlight of our Shlichut was Machaneh Ayekah with Year 10. During the camp we watched the process that the students go through – from the discussions about Jewish values and Israel, to self-reflection and connecting to themselves and each other. We were amazed at how the students opened up and were so supportive and accepting of one another. We think that the School has a huge part in this and educates the students to accept each other without judgement.
We also really enjoyed running the Mifgashim (Years 7-11 Experiential Learning Day), Machaneh Krembo (Year 8 Hebrew Camp) and Machaneh Bisli (Year 5 Hebrew Camp) with the staff, as well as all the chats with the students at lunchtimes.
We also went on our own journey during our time here. We now understand that there is a very different perspective when seeing Israel from the outside and when being Jewish and living Jewishly away from the Jewish State, and how being Jewish in the Diaspora makes “Community” such a strong value that most of the students want to be part of.
We especially want to mention the Jewish Life team, who put so much effort into informal education within a formal education setting. This was very special for us to see as this does not exist much in Israel.
We want to thank everyone who gave us a warm welcome, and especially Kobi Bloom, who guided us throughout our time here and trusted us to create and share our own content.
We would like to say the last “Todah Rabbah!” to our host families who opened their houses and their hearts for us and let us feel at home.
שנה טובה ולהתראות בארץ! Shana Tova and see you in Israel!
Omri, Yohay, Or and Ella.
עמרי, יוחאי, אור ואלה
