Our final workshop before the Israel Summer Seminar took place yesterday, June 28th. To prepare for our upcoming ISS trip, we split up into groups for our community week in Yerucham. Each group is in charge of planning a day during our trip. It has been very interesting planning an entire day in a city that is not only across the world but also a city that many of us have never visited before! We are so excited to see Yerucham and experience all that it has to offer!
We also picked Moshes for every day of the trip. Moshe is an acronym for the Israeli words Manhig Shel Ha'Yom, Leader of the Day. Moshe was also an important figure in the Torah who lead the Israelites to Mount Sinai. Each Moshe will plan out and execute their own activities for the day and make sure everything runs smoothly. As the Moshe, we will be members of the staff, which is both exciting and a little nerve wracking too! Every night, the Moshe will be writing a blog post about the activities of the day.
During our workshop we also worked on our 90-second introduction. Every North American community is preparing a 90 second introduction that they will present at the start of Kennes. Sandra, Cat, Hannah, Justin, and Jonathan worked hard on our introduction and we cannot wait to present it to the North American and South African communities. We will be sure to post a video of it on the blog!
At Congress, we will be given opportunities to pray in many different ways. Each Diller community is given the chance to lead a service in a style they feel comfortable with. Some of the styles include a traditional Orthodox service, a Camp Shabbat, and Meditation. Abby, Lauren, Sammy, and Michael have chosen to lead a Yoga Minyan on Shabbat morning. During our workshop, they decided on a name for the service, M(iami Y)oga (pronounced Moga), learned about the Parasha of the week, and outlined what yoga moves they will be doing and how they connect to the Parasha. This will be a really cool opportunity for Miami to show off a unique skill that we have!
We are excitedly awaiting our visit to Yerucham so we can reunite with our partner cohort. Our schedule is very exciting and full of incredible speakers, activities, food, and more. We can't wait to see all of our plans come to life and have an incredible and memorable experience on our Israel journey. Look for more blog posts leading up to our trip and while we are in Israel!
-Adina, Ali, Lexi, and Rachel
