I have a hunch thats plaganim lunch.
Coming to this years Macheneh Aviv, my 10th LJY-Netzer camp, was a bittersweet experience for me. Of course I was going to have a fantastic week, as I always do on LJY-Netzer events, but I also knew that this would be my last LJY-Netzer event on main site! So, I subsided the tears, and enjoyed what was one of the best LJY-Netzer events I’ve ever been on.
Upon reaching Cottesmore Boarding School, we all sang songs and played games in classic LJY-Netzer tradition. Then, as always do on LJY-N events, we watched a film on the first night. If a passer-by observed the first night of this particular Mechaneh Aviv, I wouldn’t have been surprised if they thought that this was a camp for fanatics of the newly released Disney animation – Frozen. As a whole camp we watched the film, and every single person in the room, regardless of age, was reduced to an eight-year-old child, singing and screaming their hearts out. From that point it was clear that this year’s Machaneh Aviv was going to have lots of ruach (spirit) !
The myth was no legend… there was an actual Lion on camp!
After a tour of the site and people had introduced themselves to one another, we were immersed in our first full day of activities. We were also presented with our educational theme of the year – Ani V’atah Neshaneh Et Ha’olam (You and I Shall Change the World). Lets get political! This is a timely and relevant theme that engaged chanichim and was a source of constant debate (in and out of sessions). We learnt about the ideological differences between the right and left wing and we also had many sessions about the ever-growing political differences within the Israeli Knesset. But, for me, more importantly what we did was not only learn the ideas presented by the different political parties but was actually tapping into our own political ideologies and crafting more of our own opinions. As a social action movement, we should constantly be aware of how we can put in place our principles into practice and we learnt exactly what we can do to create a more just, equal and tolerant society.
Quidditch. They actually flew straight after this picture was taken…
All these fantastic sessions were interspersed with lots of brilliant kef (fun) sessions. These involved activities like playing real life Mario-kart, solving murder mysteries and being taught quiddich by a semi-professional quiddich player!
The wide game in full flow (see what I did there…) Also someone soak those movement workers!
Lots of varieties of sport could be played every day such football, tennis, swimming, basketball and rounders. Maybe us Jews have never prided ourselves on supreme sportsmen but with the amount of sports played on camp we’re bound to produce the next Yossi Benayoun! And of course it wouldn’t be an LJY-Netzer event without the Wide Game – a game that involves all chanichim having a water fight for hours on end in the beautiful fields on offer at Cottesmore School. It’s an LJY-Netzer classic.
As with all LJY-N events, the camps would never be run so smoothly, efficiently and enjoyably without the monumental effort put in by all the leaders, catering staff and, of course, the movement workers. So I would like to say a huge thank to all of them for making this camp so enjoyable.
By Gideon Liebowitz
Thinking that all that sounds amazing!?
Thinking that wouldnt it be great if it was 2 weeks long, set at an even bigger and more beautiful private school, and ran from the 14th to the 27th of August!?
Then look no further – Machaneh Kadimah is for you. LJY-Netzers flagship camp is filling up fast so book now to avoid disappointment. Find out more here, or if you already made up your mind, then sign up here!
Got any questions? Dont be afraid to get in touch with either Graham, Bethany or Tom at graham@liberaljudaism.org, bethany@liberaljudaism.org, or tom@liberaljudaism.org. We would love to hear from you!
Spring Camp says ‘Wassupp!’ …(a carrot!)