Our blog series "Hadracha Highlight" features members of our amazing Hadracha, sharing their experience in Hashomer Hatzair and a bit about themselves.  

This Hadracha Highlight features 
​Maayan Aviv, from Kvutzat Galon!  ​

My first summer at Mosh was in 2013, as a chanicha in Chalutzim Aleph.  I've been coming back every year since then!

Outside of Hashomer Hatzair, I go to school and I work at a bakery.  

I have so many memories of being a chanichol, I honestly don't know how I could possibly choose JUST one.  

This answer is much easier!  The best part of being on Hadracha is being able to pay it forward, and getting to provide meaningful experiences for a new generation of chanichimot. Just like what the Hadracha did for me when I was a chanicha.

Hashomer Hatzair has made me a more aware and conscious individual.

I've given it some serious thought... and I'd have to choose "Valerie" by Amy Winehouse.  

While all the culinary experiences at mosh are unique and special... I have to say that I'm a big pizza bagels fan.

I'm definitely looking forward to getting together with the community IN PERSON!

Our blog series "Hadracha Highlight" features members of our amazing Hadracha, sharing their experience in Hashomer Hatzair and a bit about themselves.  

Our first Hadracha Highlight features Yonni Gabriel, from Kvutzat Barkai!  

​I only started going to Mosh in 2017 at the age of 15. My parents wanted me to be a part of a Jewish community and my friend Rotem’s parents wanted him to go to summer camp. Rotem's sister went to Mosh and she thought Rotem would love it. Because it was a Jewish space, my parents didn’t mind me going there as well. I had never heard of it previously but my goodness, the way it impacted me as an individual...  

​Outside of Hashomer, I have a very boring life. I’m a pretty simple guy who likes to go with the flow. I have been working full time for the past 5 months, I try my best to stay physically active by playing sports (mainly basketball) and I’m also trying to teach myself how to play the drums. 

​ It’s hard to pick a favourite memory based on all the good times I’ve had like pulling pranks, Peulot, Mesiba, Shira, Tiyul, Yedid. But what always stays with me is the bond that was created so quickly with my kvutza. 3 weeks with strangers that I have never met before and by the end we were a family. We still are a family. It’s a different kind of feeling than just a usual friendship. You’re connected on an intellectual, physical and emotional level. It sounds super intimate but it’s oddly normal. 

​ My favourite part of Hadracha is definitely having an impact, influence and being able to educate the chanichimot. One of the most validating feelings is when you are able to teach a younger generation. I also love spending time with all the kids. I’m a kid at heart and always will be so I like messing around and playing with all the kids.

​Hopefully by 2021, COVID will be on the come down and Mosh will be on the COME UP!!! I’m super excited for all the opportunities that are gonna present themselves. I’m excited for new experiences, school, camp, friends and family. 

​If I wasn’t a part of Hashomer, I would not be the same person I am today. I know that sounds corny but I do believe this to be true. Hashomer has taught me so many things about myself, about the world and about the people around me. It has helped me discover the person I was, the person I am and the person I want to be. 

​Easy! Replay by Iaz. Shawty like a melody in my head that I can’t keep oh got me singing like!

​Shnitzel. No doubt. The golden look of it, the crispy tender chicken. Dipped in just the right amount of ketchup and mayo. One could say  a symphony for the mouth. Plus the shabbat dinner behind it all. Absolute classic!

​Shalom Chaverim*ot!  We’re so excited to introduce you all to the latest addition to our Year-Round Team, our new Office Administrator, Sasha Wittes Libin. We asked Sasha a few questions to help our community get to know her. Have a read below, and we can’t wait for you to connect with her at some point throughout this year!

​Tell us about your education and work experience:
I believe so strongly in the value of education, which is something that has shaped my whole life.  After finishing an undergraduate degree in History, I received a Bachelor of Education to teach at the High School level.  From there, I went on to get a Master of Education in Educational Policy Studies.   

​I have worked in both informal and formal education for 12 years, as a classroom teacher and in non-profit facilitation.  For the past six years I have worked as the Education Coordinator for the March of Remembrance and Hope, an educational leadership program whose purpose is to teach students of different religions and ethnic backgrounds about the dangers of intolerance through the study of the Holocaust, and to promote better relations among people of diverse cultures.  As the Education Coordinator, I have had the privilege of leading the MRH to Poland & Germany three times.  

​Tell us about your camping background:
Growing up, I spent 8 summers as a camper at Jewish overnight camp in the Canadian Young Judaea movement (Camp Shalom, Camp Solelim, & Camp Biluim).  I also worked as a counselor at Camp B’nai Brith Perlman (in Pennsylvania) for one summer, and at a day camp in Toronto as a swim instructor for 4 summers.  Camp was where I spent some of my best time, building life-long friendships.  I loved having the space and freedom to discover those relationships in an open and unstructured space.  Being given the opportunity to explore my identity, Jewishly and otherwise, was integral in my development.  I am so happy to be working in an environment where camp is so important!

What do you do outside of your role in HH?
In addition to the work I do here, I am also a teacher at CHAT.  This year, I am teaching Career studies and Geography. 
​
Outside of work, I spend my time with my family (my husband Brad, and our 17-month old son, Jake).  Though COVID-19 has made it harder, I try to spend as much time as can by the water – my favourite place to be is near or on a lake or by the ocean.  As a family, we spend time every summer in Kelowna, British Columbia.  I also love going for nature walks with my friends and family.  I am a huge baseball fan, and like experimenting with new recipes (both cooking AND baking!)  

What is your favourite camp activity?
That’s easy!  Free swim!  Oh, and jumping on the water trampoline!

If you had to sing Karaoke – what song would you sing?
Well, I have a terrible singing voice, so I’m not sure anyone wants me to sing karaoke.  But if I HAD to, I would sing “I want to grow old with you” from the Wedding Singer. It was my wedding song!

What’s something people might not know about you:
I lived in Western Canada for 7 years – in Edmonton and Calgary – and I have been to the Calgary stampede 3 times!
 
We are thrilled that Sasha has joined our community.  She will be the friendly voice on the other end of the phone if you call our office!  Feel free to welcome Sasha with a phone call or an e-mail at mail@campshomria.ca.

My Savta, since the first meeting her Kvutza held secretly in a house in Warsaw, and for the rest of her life, was a part of a group of people who shared the same ideas, the same vision and the same humanistic, social justice values. These all were at the base of establishing my home Kibbutz- Haogen, in 1947.

Growing up at Hashomer Hatzair Kibbutz, I experienced the best a life can offer to a child: surrounded by my Kvutza members almost 24 hours a day, exploring nature and our collective identity, and at the same time growing up and developing as a unique individual, were all the things who build who I am today.

When my Kibbutz reached out to me in 2008 to open an after school  program for 17 kids between the ages of 6 to 12, I wasn’t confident that I had the knowledge to do so, but I was 100% ready to do whatever I could to provide these kids some of the life experience I experienced growing up on a Kibbutz.

After 9 years running a program 6 days a week for 250 kids at the age of 6 to 18 from all over the geographic area of the Kibbutz, I felt it was time for me to move on. I also knew that we had established a sustainable informal education system, with values and practices that would last forever. 

Then I thought, why not bringing the magic of “Chinuch Kibbutzi” outside of Israel? I applied to be a Shlicha, naturally through Hashomer Hatzair.

When I first arrived for a visit at Mosh at the summer of 2018, I started to cry - tears of happiness and longing. I couldn’t believe that everything I loved in my childhood at the Kibbutz existed somewhere else in the world! … And the people…. OMG!

I got to know Canadian Kibutznikim VeKibutznikiyot, just like my friends back home over the ocean! People who are driven and motivated by the same values, people who think of the collective before thinking of themselves, people who are spiritually and physically connected to nature, young people who are leading and educating in a revolutionary way, who are not afraid to challenge themselves and ask hard questions, people who allow themselves to be vulnerable and to react to a changing reality with strength and courage.

Every day I am thankful to be a part of this community.  I feel honoured to continue to teach, learn, and grow with these leaders and future leaders.

Chazak VeEmatz Chaverimot!
Yours always,
Reut

​The summer before my sixteenth birthday started like all of my summers for the past four years had—at camp. But in my final year of being a camper at Camp Shomria, I was as a part of the Yedid kvutza (group).  Yedid is the equivalent of other camps’ Counselor-in-Training programs and consists of a vigorous three-week education program at camp, followed by a trip to a European country for a weeklong seminar with members from other countries in Hashomer Hatzair, before culminating with two weeks in Israel-- all of this designed to prepare us for Hadracha – to be youth leaders in our movement. 

Our educational process at camp was an eye-opening one. The Jewish community tends to treat Israel as a haven of democracy, and my whole life I had considered Israel to be a ‘good’ country-- one that I was proud to call a Jewish state.  However, as I learned more about Israel within this social justice framework my idealism was shattered. This was a lesson in critical-thinking I didn’t know I needed.

On Masada, the neverending climb comes to an end. Once we are all atop the mountain we gather into a small semi-circle. I stand beside my closest friends with stinging feet, aching legs, a confused heart, and a nostalgic mind. We are called upon to take an oath pledging to live a life true to the values of Hashomer Hatzair, and while I step forward to say my oath, I really have no idea of what it signifies.

It is now two years later, and I can see that I was taking a step forward not only as a leader but as a person. My first proverbial journey concluded, yet a new one began. The skills and growth that I gleaned on this Yedid trip prepared me for real life. It prepared me for the messy world we live in; a world filled with partisanship, propaganda, and bigotry where more than ever, the ability to think critically is paramount.  And that is what I gained. Through experience and connection, I was able to learn how to think for myself. I can’t help but see the parallels of that trip and my life today.
​
As a first-year university student, I recognize that where I once stepped into hadracha, I now step into adulthood, in the disheveled, and complex post-COVID world. I know that as much as I have matured and grown over these past years, there is no mistaking the room left to continue. I hope to grow into a leader in this world, standing up for marginalized people, and leaving an impact. After going halfway around the world, seeing people, places, and things I will never forget, I am ready to repair myself and repair the world.

​Shana Tova, everyone!
It is officially Fall – the air is crisp and cool, the leaves are starting to change, and the warm tasty beverages are abundant! The arrival of Fall also means the start of the Hashomer Hatzair 2020-2021 programming year, which is the most exciting of all things Fall. We have got an amazing year ahead of
us, with a combination of virtual and in-person programs; incredible opportunities to stay connected, build meaningful relationships, and engage in important and explorative educational processes.

We hope you'll join us in making the most of this year as a community!
To stay connected, be sure to sign up for our bi-weekly newsletter through the button below and consider joining us at the Ken! 

​Chazak Ve'Ematz!

​Our Hadracha has been working hard to learn and improve our Israel-Palestine education in partnership with the New Israel Fund of Canada for the Summer of 2020 and beyond. 

​The focus has been on three core skills: holding multiple narratives, values-based inquiry and normalizing complexity. 

For more on our combined programming, check out the full reflection below.

​Hashomer Hatzair and New Israel Fund of Canada have partnered to enrich our existing Israel education with a wider array of perspectives on civil society in Israel. This partnership is based on the shared values of our two organizations.

As the Madrichimot and Chanichimot embark upon this new learning this summer, we want to invite partents/guardians to experience some of this curriculum and participate in these important conversations

We are offering three free Zoom sessions.
Feel free to register for one, two or all three sessions!

Click HERE to sign up!

We hope you're as excited as we are, because virtual Kenim will continue to run up until June 27th! 
Stay in the know about all upcoming events by signing up for our newsletter and checking out of Facebook and Instagram pages!