תיקון ליל שבועות

Tikkun Leil Shavu’ot

We hope you will enjoy reading our student reflections from our recent Year 11 Tikkun Leil Shavu’ot – a night of study, discussion, debate, song, activities and our students enjoying each other’s company. Rabbi Daniel Siegel

Tikkun Leil Shavuot was such an interesting and enjoyable night! Throughout the night we were involved in various engaging programs of our choice, each having a different theme. These topics included: Understanding what God is, Justice and Terrorism, the Importance of Empathy Capitalism, the Jewish community and many more, from the perspective of our Jewish tradition. We were also privileged to hear from a variety of different guest speakers throughout the night which all gave us a new perspective on many different topics.

Between programs, many of us sat around our makeshift bonfire singing songs and playing music, which was definitely one of the highlights of the night for me as it was such a remarkable feeling to be able to spend quality time with the majority of our Year once again, like Machaneh Ayekah and Chavayah.

After the programs, we played games and laughed until the early hours of the night before the majority of us headed to “sleep” in the music rooms for a minimal amount of time.

Later that morning, we were woken up at a more reasonable time of 6.15 am and after packing up, headed onto the rooftop to watch the beautiful sunrise. Watching the sunrise in silence, like many of us did nearly 6 months ago on Masada in Israel, on Chavayah, was a very special experience. We returned back downstairs for breakfast before heading home.

A massive thank you to all the teachers of the Jewish Life Department for organising this incredible experience which will not be forgotten! By Rachel Turtledove

Our Tikkun Leil Shavu’ot sleepover at school was both fun and educational. All of the seminars presented were extremely interesting; ranging from discussions on the existence of God, to our dreams and how they might relate to the Torah. It was very nice to spend such an interesting and enjoyable night at school with our friends and Jewish Life staff. Special thank you goes out to all the teachers and community guests who ran the seminars and planned such a great night. By Daniel Van Sluys Erlich

The Tikkun Leil Shavu’ot sleepover was truly the highlight of my year. Since Chavayah, our Year needed to revive its connection, but that night brought back the spark we each felt 6 months ago. Singing songs around the ‘bonfire’, eating cheesecake and staying up all night learning was the perfect way to calm the nerves of Year 11. We had the privilege of learning about Shavu’ot from rabbis, Israelis and teachers. I can safely say that Tikkun Leil Shavu’ot and the various activities brought so much joy to each student and that was reflected through everyone’s smiles. By Nina Brown

Imagine sitting outside at midnight in the cold, under a sky full of stars, sitting around a cozy bonfire, with some beautiful chilled out guitar music in the background.

At the Tikkun Leil Shavu’ot Sleepover, the stars were covered by clouds, the toasty bonfire consisted of a garbage bin filled with orange coloured paper and some phone torches and the music came from a couple of out of tune guitars that were available to us. But, somehow that moment felt so much more powerful than anything I could have described before.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, none of that really matters because at the end of the day what is important is who you surround yourself with. And let me tell you, at that moment, I was surrounded by so many amazing people, a group of friends unlike any other I will meet ever again in my life. Whilst this was probably the highlight of the night for me, the sleepover held so much more than just this.

Over the course of 4 sessions that night, I was guided by many different people in the Jewish community to discovering even more about Judaism and life in general. From spiritual beliefs about the angels to the stories of the deceitful predecessors of King David and even discussing the importance of a seemingly shallow and comedic episode of Friends, the sleepover opened my eyes to another world of ideas I never had thought about before.

The night brought back so many amazing memories from both Machaneh Ayekah last year and of course Chavayah. I really want to express just how thankful I am to the Jewish Life team for making the sleepover happen and for creating such a moving atmosphere that I will never forget. By Joshua New

The Tikkun Leil Shavu’ot program was an excellent opportunity to grapple with complex topics within the Jewish religion. The discussion circles and guest speakers gave us an insight into the thoughts of those who better understand our religion. The talks transitioned well into the rest of the night, where we spoke and played games while bonding with other members of our Year Group. Despite a large lack of sleep, it was a great night that I hope we get to do again sometime before we graduate. By Dylan Herdan