Year Course Blog by Dan G
Maccabi Year Course - Part 9 (19/12/08)
This is the latest blog from Machon, possibly the last one from Machon and in Jerusalem ='(
I've moved house quite a few times now, the move from Liverpool to Manchester was pretty big, but it got me used to the idea of moving around, and when we moved house within Manchester I just learned to be less sentimental towards where your living. At least that's the mindset I thought I was in, living in Kirriat Moriah for 4 months may have accidentally opened up feelings I thought I left back in Liverpool. Is this a bad thing? no, of course not, it's good that I've developed a liking for this old place, the bad thing is I, like everyone else on the program here will be leaving in what's now six days on this the 19th of December, who knows how long it'll be by the time you read this, I may have already left, in fact factoring in leadership, Chanukah, and other events I may very well be into my next program by the time you read this...
Myself alongside my room mates did a massive clean up today in our bedroom, it was interesting to finally discover what that horrible smell was and I simply cannot understand how I didn't notice the amount of socks I'd lost that seem to turn up in the most unlikely place (If you can explain to me how exactly a sock can end up behind the sink please feel free to email dangyc08@cooltoad.com) I found myself also finding old work sheets and notes I'd gathered during my time here at Machon, every piece of papper I found brought back fond memories of the past 4 months.
How am I feeling? That's not an easy question to answer, and things have been so hectic recently I've not really had time to contemplate my feelings, but I guess nows as good a time as any to give it a try. I guess I'm starting to feel ready, ready to venture outside the comfort zone we've all made that is Jerusalem, but at the same time, I know it means leaving behind some very strong friendships I've made here on Machon, there are people here who I've come to rely on and who I like to think have come to rely on me, sadly this is, so I've come to notice, a pattern in my life, I tend to create extremely strong friendships with people but then have to, for what ever reason just have to leave not knowing when or if I'll see them again, it's not something that gets any easier but you it's for the greater good.
I'm taken back to those horrible few days before I flew out to Israel, when I had to say my goodbyes to close friends, one image comes to mind of someone I'd only recently become friends with who's family had taken me in in a time of need, I can't help but remember her face as I waited for her outside her school just to say goodbye, the sun smacked her eyes shining on her tears as she handed me a wrinkled up blue envelope inside which was a long plane letter I could tell was hard for her to write by the tear marks that smudged the ink, I promised her I'd be back and told her she was being silly writing me long letters, and that if she did think about me she should remember the good times we had and the laughter we made, essentially I was telling myself not to remember her crying but remember the good times, this has become a technique I've come to use when ever I have to move on to somewhere new and leave certain people behind...it's the most difficult thing in the world, and not a day goes by where I don't think about you Geri and how much I want to see you smile.
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger is the attitude I've adopted here in Israel, I've also used it as an excuse to try newer things but I feel at this point moving to another city, as exciting a prospect as it is, will be, quite frankly scary as hell, and having lived with the same people for the past for 4 months even more so. Certain people have become a very secure safety net, who I've just learned to do everything be it eating, sharing a room, hiking, sun bathing, procrastinating, planning, relaxing, gossiping, pranking, drinking, singing, dancing, complaining everything and just as it was when I left the UK I'm just going to have to learn to live without them because I have chosen to represent this crazy family known only to the outside world as Maccabi Great Britain.
I still get questions like 'What the hell were you thinking doing this by yourself?' and my answer stays the same, 'I love Maccabi to much to do this with anyone else'. I wanted to represent the family that's been so good to me over the years and so far I strongly believe I've been doing them justice, I also know I've got the support of all the 25 clubs spread up and down the UK alone.
It is my opinion and the opinion of a lot of people here that Machon, although amazingly innovative and unlike anything I personally have done before is very badly advertised.
I honestly had no idea what I was getting myself into, even after the intensive Machon orientation day I attended in London some months before I flew out I was almost oblivions to what exactly I'd be doing. So here is where I plug Machon for next years potential Maccabi Gap Year participants.
This is an intensive learning environment where all your knowledge of Zionism, Judaism, Ivrit (Hebrew), how to socialize, Hadracha (leadership), history of the Jewish people, as well as a wide variety of other topics and issues are intensified. What's that your saying? you don't have any knowledge about Zionism, Judaism, Ivrit (Hebrew), how to socialize, history of the Jewish people etc? Then Machon is just the place for you, as well as intensifying knowledge you also gain knowledge in all the above topics and more.
Machon allows you to learn, in a hands on practical environment about Israel and it's culture not just via outings to historical sights and hikes and residential trips, but also via a team of the hand selected teachers and leaders who are all experienced in their particular field and who all have amazing stories to tell that lead them to Machon themselves.
And that's it once again loyal blog readers, I honestly have no idea when I'll next be in touch, as I have a very heavy final 6 days left on Machon, me and a friend have been asked to run a Hadracha (leadership) lesson, and then of course winter break before I start my time in the beautiful city of Tzvat alongside the lovely amazingly friendly BBYO group who have agreed to adopt me for the next 3 months before I start the army course known as Marva.
I wish you all a happy and healthy Chanukah, and if you desperatly want to be in touch I'm on Facebook under the alias Daniel Goldman or you can email dangyc08@cooltoad.com
Be safe
Dan G
xxxxxxxxx
Maccabi Year Course - Part 8(28/11/08)
Excursions with furnitures
You know what? I like this place. You genuinely never know what's just around the corner.
In my last blog I briefly mentioned volunteering in Shlomi when Machon finished, the day after that blog was written I was called into a meeting with AJ6, our Madricha (AJ6 and Maccabi have the same Madricha this year) and one of the big wigs at the UJIA to discuss it and was told about another option that has opened up, after a lot of thought I have now decided three months of my year here in Israel will be spent volunteering in Tzvat instead of Shlomi. Now thats big, but what I'm about to tell you is bigger.
I didn't make my mind up in that meeting, far from it, in that meeting we (AJ6 and myself) were simply given the options, two hours later I got a call from the big wig at the UJIA asking me to go back to the office for further discussion about the issue.
I rushed my lunch and speedily made my way back, not wanting to keep him waiting.
Once I got to the office we chatted a bit more about the options, I was kindly reminded I am not, and I have no intention of ever becoming a part of AJ6, not for the next three months after Machon and not ever. (I would like to point out at this point I think AJ6 are an amazing organization, I am very friendly with both there members here in Israel and am very fond of the work they are doing here to improve the framework of the Jewish sixth formers both in the UK and in Shlomi where they have a massive connection, I am not anti-AJ6 I am just a very passionate Maccabi kid) I was reminded that this is my gap year with Maccabi and my choice should be my own and not influenced by AJ6 or anybody else. This wasn't something I'd thought about at this point as I was so ready to go and live with AJ6 for three months it just seemed natural we'd all make the same decision.
This wasn't the only thing I'd been called into that meeting for however.
"Now, I've done something you're either going to love me for, or hate me for"
I wasn't aloud to know how, or who, or why but someone had gone and done it. Some generous person had found out about my brother Nathans barmitzvah and the fact I wasn't going due to lack of money for a ticket, so they bought me a ticket straight to Manchester and back so that Thursday night I flew.
I told my dad almost the second I found out and he (after getting over the sheer shock) said he'd come meet me when I got in.
So, the barmitzvah, well....WOW AMAZING, Nathan was so good, was amazing seeing family, and yeah every other nice thing you can say really.
Spending time with family was really nice, and it was refreshing changing scenery for a couple of days. I got to talk to a lot of good friends who recently I've only had a one or two second conversations with due to the price to call the UK from good old J-town (or Jerusalem as you might call it).
The flight back was long and not very interesting, I watched a bit of Spongebob Square Pants before falling asleep several times and yeah....nothing too exciting.
When I got back to Kirriat Mohriah after about an hour in the taxi I was jumped on by several people some of them hugging me so hard I found it difficult to breath at some points. The reason people get so huggy when other people return after a trip is because each day here, not in a negative sense at all feels like a good three days because there is so much packed in, so it's only natural to be overly happy to see someone who you've not seen for the length of time I was absent.
I unpacked and passed around the photos I'd brought back with me and my toy monkey puppet (Grover The Appendix Bear).
After catching up on the gossip some hours later I truly felt at home once again as collapsed down into the couch which has now taken up residence in my bedroom, whats that you say? I never told you the story of the couch?
WELL it goes like this, (I'd like to point out just before I start that this was the result of one of the Netzer girls going on a trip to Poland for a week and leavening the rest of us BY OURSELVES, seriously now what did you expect?) myself, one boy for FZY and one boy from Netzer were walking through the streets of J-town when we spotted a couch, and as a little stereotypical Scouse joke I started fooling around suggesting we take it, but the other two wouldn't take me seriously so we just carried on walking, eventually we turned around and went back the way we came walking past the couch once again, and once again I started messing around with the couch. I then found myself lifting half of it up to which the boy from FZY started looking at me as if I was insane, but then he walked over to me and picked up the other end, so we're both now holding it, and the Netzer boy started laughing and questioned what we'd do with it should we bring it back
"We'll....put it in the dorm block at Kirriat, it can be our gift to everyone at Machon, it'll be great, and we don't have a common room with comfy chairs or anything like that" said a hopefull Dan G to which the Netzer boy said something along the lines of
"That's a really nice idea...but can we?...ok let's do this"
So the three of us are now carrying this really heavy couch through the streets getting some of the worlds most doggiest looks from passing strangers, occasionally we'd stop for a rest and swap possitions as we'd figured out it was easier to carry certain parts than others and if we swapped every so often we'd conserve energy.
Eventually we got to the road just before Kirriat which of course is uphill so we put the couch down and took a really long break while we talked about how exactly we're going to do this. We decided the best thing to do would be to get a fourth person to help carry it, someone we could trust, someone we could depend on, someone....from.... AJ6!! I was on the phone explaining to one of the AJ6 boys what we'd done and he came sprinting to get to us.
So with some real team effort we not only got the couch uphill, but we also came up with a name for it, the couch shall now and forever be named Deshon, a name made up of letters from all our first names.
D- Dan G
E- Eden
Sh- Josh
On- Simon
We were so proud of ourselves for taking on this mentally and physically demanding challenge simply for the sake of having a couch, we were coming up with chants for it, songs, nicknames, logos, slogans and all four of us really got into it and it all went really really well until... we had to try and get it through security.
This wasn't fun, myself and the Netzer boy went into the security hut next to the gate to ask them if they'd open it for us, but the response was negative and we were told if we want it inside we should talk to the head of security in the morning, and we were free to leave the couch outside the hut, so we admitted defeat and went to bed.
The next afternoon I had my meeting where I found out about the plane tickets, during this meeting my phone went off.
Dan G: Hello
Scared voice on the phone: DAN....YOU NEED TO BE OUT HERE NOW!!!
Dan G: I'm sort of in a meeting....what's wrong?
Scared voice on the phone that forgot how to speak in full sentences: JUST.... COME..... COUCH....PROBLEM...BE HERE GO NOW...GO!
Dan G: Is it in?
Scared voice on the phone that was getting a little be annoyed I wasn't running outside to make sure he wasn't in real trouble: YES NOW BE HERE NOW GO!
I hung up the phone and briefly explained to the big wig at the UJIA what happened last night, to which he laughed and when I got out the meeting with the worlds largest smile on my face I went outside to see Deshon very much inside Kirriat with a huge group of people gathered around it arguing.
It turned out that a group of girls from Noam and one from BBYO had persuaded the security guards to let them bring it in and they were now claiming it as there own. But of course the other boys that helped bring it all this way weren't having any of it, and were sitting on it in protest and yelling really loudly. I was thinking maybe I could sort this out rationally by maybe explaining to the girls our pan to share the couch and have it as the Machon couch, but there vision was very different to ours. They wanted it upstairs in there room.
Now, I don't really think they thought this one through, this couch weight a ton, and those stairs aren't just one or two stairs, even a group of them in my opinion would of struggled to get it up.
Eventually one of our Madrichim came outside to sort everything out, or so we thought. After brushing everyone off the couch he said one of the best quotes I think that will live on throughout Machon history, it's one of those quotes that should be on everyones facebook it was just that good. He said with the most serious look on his face:
'Guys, come on, this is ridiculous, this is awful you know what this is?'
I then noticed a little grin on his face that he tried with all the power in his body to hide and I knew exactly what he planned on doing, and as he did it I jumped onto the couch from behind as I heard him say:
'This is....AN ABUSE OF POWER!' and he lay himself on the couch with his head in my lap, as I got him into a head log and I started nuggying him (I rubbed his head with my knuckles).
Eventually however we got up and the Noam girls ran off and a group of us carried the couch straight into the bedroom block with no real idea of what to do, because we knew the girls would take it should we leave it outside.
So we are now in the bedroom block with the couch, theres about four or five of us carrying it and just as we deciding what to do with it I hear someone yell LOOK OUT THEY'VE GOT WATER!!
The Noam girls had brought water bottles down and were trying to drench the couch (and us!) as much as possible, I then hear someone yell 'GET IT TO DANS ROOM QUICK' Just then the AJ6 boy I'm in a room with, who helped us carry the couch in the first place (who had just come out the room himself) looked up and saw what was going on, so he ran towards the couch to help move it and slipped, holding onto the first person he could find and it just happened to be one of the Noam girls, so they both fell flat on the floor in a puddle of water, this was the distraction we needed to get the couch into my room and I'm proud to say as I'm typing this blog, the Deshon couch is safe and sound, with only the odd empty threat from the Noam girls bothering it, so as a precaution myself and my two room mates now keep the door double locked just to stop any anti-Deshon visitors wandering in.
The couch is a lovely addition to our already over cramped but family orientated room, it will be a sad day when we have to leave it behind before Tzvat, but who knows maybe that won't be the end, maybe it's only the beginning.
After that bombshell ladies and gents, it's now very late, I'm tempted to just curl onto the Deshon and just fall asleep right here, but then again I do have a nice warm bed waiting for me just a few inches away so maybe I'll move.
Either way I wish you all a goodnight and I look forward to hearing your reactions to my little adventure to the UK and the excursions with furniture
take care now
Dan G
xx
Maccabi Year Course - Part 7(21/11/08)
What's a hike? A hike, by definition is a long walk in the countryside or mountains, or that sort of thing. On our latest trip we had a six hour hike through the Negev desert up and down the crater shaped mountains.
On my way down the larger part of the mountain I found myself thinking a lot about what I'm doing on this trip. I've agreed to take a year of my life and devote it to tasks such as scaling this almost impossible mountain, and looking back I remember thinking, I just want this to be over before it had even began, these kinds of thoughts make me question my reasons for signing up to this Maccabi run program. But then when the hike was over I felt incredible, like I could do anything, I looked around and saw friends having the same feelings, all had massive grins on their faces and having massive adrenaline rushes.
The rest of the trip down south saw the Machon crew on a party boat, staying in a hotel with a swimming pool sign but no actual swimming pool, there was ultimate frisbee games in the desert, pass the parcel, mayoral election programs, dance offs, chant offs, flour in the face, DJ Dan G, one of our head Madrichim dancing to Queen, S Club 7, The Spice Girls, Fake Beatles music, we visited the kibbutz where they make the nicest chocolate milk and paid extortionist prices, bike rides, rooms with balconies, REAL Beduine villages (stress the word REAL!), Las Vegas wannabe style neon lights and just general craziness in, and I'm not going to lie here, not one of favorite places in the country.
More recently I, along with an Israeli member of Netzer ran a peer run session on the subject of love.
The planning was extremely spangled, we started a few nights before the trip down south then didn't talk about it again until the night before we were due to run it.
But all that aside, we did a pretty good job.
We manged to get some of our Madrichim involved, asking them to do a short Blind Date style skit at the beginning which then turned into speed dating, which we then discussed as well as ideal relationships followed by some brief meditation which rounded up the 45 minute program.
We had cheesy romantic music playing the whole time, which we both chose, a mixture of Buble, The Script and some cheesy French....stuff. There were rose petals on the speed dating tables alongside an array of other small props that always make a session like this that much more special.
I remember when I first started Maccabi leadership, back in the day when I was just a silly scouse foundation kid. We had to run a short sessions with people we didn't know that well and just bond as a team straight away, but, to use a common phrase here on Machon 'that's not how life works....fail!!!!'. I remember quite clearly at the time me and Lianne (my partner at the time) arguing like cat and dog, and the reason was because I'd not really planned a session before and didn't really understand the whole listen to other people...thing, and just thought I knew best. I look at the way I acted with my partner for this session and I can notice how different it is, and how I've grown as a Madrich. Maccabi played a huge part in the growing process I undertook, and to this day I'm greatfull to them, I can only hope I'm doing them proud out here in this strange, some might say over cultured, family-orientated country.
Here at Machon right now I've really noticed a small yet understandable change in peoples mood. You can tell it's coming to the end of our 4 month period here at Kirriat Moriah, and you can tell certain people are more upset about that than others.
How am I feeling about it? Well my mood tends to vary from day to day. Some days I wake up and I'm really excited to go to sessions to learn about the origins of Zionism or how the Jews as a people can relate to superhero comics, but other days I wake up, go to lessons and I'm sick of seeing the same people every day, eating in the same place having pretty much the same types of meals every day, with little (if any) variety. Don't misunderstand me however, because in my opinion it's good I'm having these feelings twards the end, and I know in the back of my mind I'll miss it here so much when I'm volunteering in Shlomi, but a change of scenery is something everyone can do with every once in a while. This program is awesomely timed, 4 months of living with such a large group of people is just enough time to make some amazing, life long friends and at the same time, you know you don't have to spend your whole year with them (unless there in your youth movement....but being the only Maccabi kid here, I'm safe)
I've said this in a earlier blog and I'll say it again, you could write a book on Machon but still you'd not be able to cover anywhere near everything people feel.
Before we brake into more psychoanalysis I think I'll end the blog here.
Hope you enjoyed reading, and we'll talk again soon
Dan G
xx
Maccabi Year Course - Part 6 - A Different Kind of Blog (19/11/08)
I never once claimed to be a real psychoanalyst. I tend to keep my minor, unimportant observations about other people to myself for fear I may be incorrect (and this probably is the case) however observations I make about myself I have no problem analyzing and relaying to others which is what I plan to do in the next few pages.
In a previous blog I talked about the structure here on Machon without really mentioning the psychological impact it has, once again I must stress that everything I write here is about myself and nobody else, I speak only for Daniel Goldman.
The first week of Machon scared me a little, as I was sort of thrown into a room full of people who seemed to all know each other really well, with only two people by my side who I'd only spent the previous weekend with getting to know. So I felt a little alone, but I quickly got to know people, faster than I could of imagined, and before I knew it I was engaged with fascination in pretty much all of my lessons, from Zionism to Ivrit and I was (still am) learning so much from not just my teachers but from my peers as well.
It's so interesting getting the views of same aged people who all have a story to tell. I found myself spending hours talking to new people late into the night about ideologies, beliefs, youth movement politics, British politics, American politics, Israeli politics, Polish politics, cultural divides, music, Zionism, nationalism, communism, films, parents, the idea of moving to Israel and the list goes on, and I was in this intense environment twenty four hours a day, seven days a week and..... you see where I'm going with this.
The first week of Machon your almost expected to just spend hours into the night having these conversations, getting to know everyone etc, but after that, maybe even a few weeks down the line, I'm even willing to say a month and a half down the line, this feeling wares off, and all you really want to do have the privacy you had back home for maybe an hour or so.
Privacy is unfortunately, I've found a rare thing and while some understandably thrive on the company on others, I find it relaxing to have my me-time and collect my thoughts.
With two very friendly, energetic funny roommates, you'd be forgiven for thinking I wouldn't want to spend time away from them, but this room is only so big, and there are only so many places to go before faces start re-appearing again, so sometimes it's hard, (a lot of fun, don't get me wrong, but hard).
One of the advantages (and there are a few) of having so many people around is you get a sense of security with some people, for example, you know who you can go to if you want to bitch about someone, and you know who to go to when you need cheering up after say, you've left your wallet on the bus or you've lost all your work for your movement you spent the past two months doing. And that's nice, by about two months in, everyone definitely knows the role they play within the group.
All the major clicks have formed at this point (some would argue this isn't a positive thing), and even if you're a self claimed "anti-click person" you find yourself in a click, and it may be more of a base than a click, it may just be a group of people you know you can go to if you need cheering up, or your homesick or whatever, and like it or not everyone to an extent has a group.
The average click is made up of people who are in the same movement, those of you following along at home will of worked out by now I may find this difficult being the only Maccabi kid on Machon but I am not ashamed to say I do have a base (made up of a group of like-minded people from various movements (controversially) and I appreciate them very much) and they know who they are and within this base people have their roles and responsibilities, that's not to say they get kicked out the group should they not fulfill them but it does sort of become expected of you, once you've taken it on, don't worry though, because chances are it'll be something that comes naturally and if you're clicks as tightly knitted as mine is, and you start to crack under pressure, you can vent and shout and cry as much as you want.
I feel I'm going into too much detail here though, so I think I'll lighten the mood.
Machon was once compared to me by a peer as "Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry" (for those of you who aren't Harry Potter fans, just skip to the next paragraph) Some close friends of mine here at Machon, and myself spent one boring weekend comparing various people to characters of the classic JK Rowling story, (including ourselves), we decided that certain people within the Machon group showed character traits similar to those of some of the more important and less important characters in the book. To give an example, there is one teacher here who almost everybody loves, respects and doesn't really take that seriously, he is compared to Hagrid, a character within the book who almost everyone loves, respects and doesn't really take that seriously. We then compared relationships to those within the book and decided that me and someone else had the platonic relationship of Ron and Hermione throughout the earlier books. All this may be a pointless analogy, but it really was an interesting way to spend a weekend.
I honestly think it's safe to say Machon has made me more vocal. I now feel a lot more comfortable standing up in a class or lecture and arguing with whoever just said something I deem moronic or just disagree with.
There have been moments on Machon where I've turned around and said 'I can't take this anymore' and just wanted to be back home, with my other friends, not having to worry about.... but then I realized I have nothing to really worry about on Machon, apart from social issues that aren't really issues and if they are there settled by the next day, there may be the issue of just annoying someone without noticing but everyone here is in that boat. It's not as if I've been given a massive amount of course work to be completed within the month or I fail and can't go to uni, the only slight amount of homework we do get is from Ivrit or the occasional Zionist piece of text to read but this is all stuff I want to do because I genuinely want to enhance my knowledge of all the subjects on offer here and if the teacher deems it necessary to give us optional (completely optional) reading to do in our free time then so be it.
I trust all the teachers here, I feel completely comfortable approaching any of them and saying what, if anything is on my mind, knowing full well they'll give me nothing but a positive response.
Homesickness does become an issue from time to time, and it's noticeable within some people, I try not to show it as much as I've noticed a lot of people do but it's definitely a factor. I have a collection of photos next to my bed and you can't help but wonder what certain people are doing at that time. Occasionally I'll just lie on my bed and stare at my photos of certain people who I know are having a big year for whatever reason and I know I'd do anything to be able to call them up and talk for hours on end, but it's so expensive, and even if I did call them up I'd feel kinda bad for not talking to my family. So I try not to think about it.
Other thoughts that often cross the mind include 'What am I wasting my time here for?' 'Did I really make the right choice coming as the only member of Maccabi?' 'If I'm thinking this now, what will I be thinking in a few months time when I'm doing something completely different?' etc, but then you find yourself socializing again and these thoughts go to the back of your head until the next time you're having doubts.
Don't think how ever I'm only socializing with the people here on Machon. There is an adjacent program called Etgar going on in Jerusalem which lasts around the same time as Machon, run however entirely by Netzer.
As I've become close to some of the Netzer people here I find myself socializing with the people on the Etgar program. There are also always opportunities to meet other people, mainly through other people, but you come into contact with different, interesting people all the time here.
It's getting late now, and I think that's all the psychoanalyzing that can be done in one blog.
To sum up we talked about relationships with other people here on Machon, dealing with frustrations, amount of privacy, Harry Potter, Polish politics, etc. But there is so much more to this place than any of that, stuff I couldn't begin to scratch the surface of here in one blog. I strongly believe you could write a book on this place and still not cover everything. People's emotions are very much maximized as we're in such a strange, intense environment where we are forced to get along with peers and create this almost surreal community made of people with different backgrounds, beliefs and ideologies, not to mention the youth movement aspect.
I hope this blog has taught you a bit more about day to day life here on Machon, and I'll close with a quote from the classic musical Blood Brothers 'The whole thing's just a game'.
Goodnight folks
Dan G
xxxxxxx
Maccabi Year Course - Part 5 - Sukkot Blog (27/10/08)
Ah Sukkot, that special time of year celebrated differently throughout the world.
Israel's customs on Sukkot were very alien to me, as a Liverpool Jew who grew up only going to the Sukkah at my Shul. So here as you can imagine was very interesting for me.
Kirriat Moriah is closed to English speaking Machon during Sukkot meaning we all had to make our own plans, most of which for me and the majority of people I'd chosen to spend time with, didn't go to plan.
3 Netzer people, 1 boy from FZY a close friend of mine who'd joined us from BA and myself spent the first few days of Sukkot on the beach of Tel Aviv 'camping'.
We spent the entire day there and slept in sleeping bags facing the sea, only to be woken up by the occasional fly or drunk old man wanting some change.
An enjoyable first night was followed by another lazy day on the beach. Me not being able to swim volunteered to watch our luggage, spending some quality time with George Orwell's 'Animal Farm' and my mp3 player while the rest of the motley crew went to mess around in the sea. A perfect setting right? Picture it, me on the beach, reading...in the sun.... (You see where i'm going with this?).
My entire chest, some of my upper arms and parts of my stomach were red raw! There was how ever a 24 hour shop just by the beach where I was able to get some Aloe Vera, so I was ok...after a few painful hours.
Our food budget was tight, everyone chipped in 25 sheckles per meal which is around £5 each so we bought bread, peanut butter, cheese, that kinda thing and managed to sneak into, none other than the Sheridan Hotel...Sukkah for some meals and I got to make Kiddush once or twice which is something I've never done in a Sukkah so that was nice.
That night how ever the heavens opened up to us (well....opened up...on us) when it starting raining, the immediate group decision was to....stand around and try and attain a group decision, so while the group argued I made myself useful and ran up and down the Tel Aviv promenade looking for hotels and hostels for us to stay in trying to find a cheap price.
Eventually I found a reasonably priced hotel not too far away from where we'd set up camp.
We got two rooms so split boys and girls and it would have been a really nice night's sleep...had I not been worried I'd just used half my Sukkot money on...ONE HOTEL!!!
So the next morning we decided we couldn't sleep there again. We wondered around Tel Aviv, went to the open market, found a small artists market which was full of old puppets, toys, sculptures, paintings, all kinds of stuff that would look really nice on my window ledge here at Kirriat but all so far out my price range I almost felt I was losing money just looking at them.
We sat down in a burger restaurant and had lunch while myself and the other boys rang all our leaders asking for either a cheap hostel we could stay in for that night or even a host family we could stay with, we all had our own plans for the next morning anyway.
Eventually Collin (the head of Engling speaking Machon) told us he knew an Australian couple who had done Machon a few years back who had just made Aliyah now living in Tel Aviv who were really close to where we were.
We got their number and I watched one of the Netzer boys make one of the most awkward conversations ever,
"Hi...hi...my names Josh...I'm with a group of friends...and we're sort of....stuck"
Two people from our group had gone away early so it was just myself, 2 Netzer people and the FZY boy staying in this really nice couples house, they welcomed us with open arms, I slept on the sleeping bag on the floor while the other 3 took the couches (A decision I made myself because I knew I'd sleep on the coach to Ranana the next day....or at least that's what I thought I'd do).
That morning we woke up and left the house after saying thank you and we were on our way in different directions.
I had decided to stay in Tel Aviv for a bit because one of my friends was staying in a hotel with her dad so I went to see her before I planned to go further north to see family. I then get a call from the FZY boy
"Urm Dan....I've got a slight problem....the poo has hit the proverbial fan"
He'd arranged himself a hike for the next few nights with another friend so when he rang him to say he might be late it turned out that he'd been trying to get in touch for the past few nights.
He'd been attacked by a wild boar and was lying injured in a bed somewhere in Jerusalem.
I told him to come to my friends hotel and we'd sort it from there, so he did.
He told me about the FZY hostel that he's allowed to stay in anytime he wants, but nobody else would be there because of the massive music festival happening near the Kineret.
So after talking it out rationally I decided to cancel my plans to go up north and spend the remainder of the holiday with him in the FZY hostel (for free).
I can honestly say I don't think I've ever had such a decent nights sleep in my life (apart from that time I snuck in the Maccabi FIVE STAR hotel during Tour 2008....but that's another story) Me and my friend spent most of that day watching films, generally mucking about then bumped into someone I knew from Manchester so we went out for an expensive pizza (the best kind).
I then planned to meet up with one of the AJ6 so we could go stay at our original host family's house for the night before Kirriat opened its doors to us once again.
All in all it was a very intense adventure, most of which was spent worrying about where my next meal was coming from, and where I'd be sleeping that night.
I learned a lot about myself as a leader and at the end felt a lot closer to the people I'd spent more time with and realized how much I appreciate the people I hadn't spent much time with and also how much I appreciate the stable, comfortable, beautiful environment that is Kirriat Moriah.
Sukkot is meant to be a time where we remember the Jews wondering around the dessert....I think I got a sense of that during my time away from Kirriat.
That sadly is it blog readers, I think my next mission will be to get some photos of Kirriat on the Maccabi website so all the people considering doing year course next year can see exactly what it's about.
All the best
Dan G
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Maccabi Year Course - Part 4 (16/10/08)
A Quick explanation of Machon
Hey guys, Dan G here, I'm sat as I'm writing this in the small laundry room here at Kirriat Mohriah on my laptop with not a lot to do so I re-read some of my previous blogs and realized I haven't really said that much about Machon itself.
For example, what is it? Why am I here? Do I have a choice to be here? How strict are the rules here? Are there rules here? all these questions and more I intend to answer as best as I can.
So what I'm going to do now is talk about a normal day here on Machon. Theres a few terms I'm going to use which you might not of heard before so heres a quick explanation.
Machon- The name of the main program.
Kirriat Mohriah- The name of the site we're on, often refurred to as just 'Kirriat'
Maccabi- My youth movement
AJ6/Noam/RSY/FZ-Y- the other movements doing Machon.
Hadracha- Leadership
KKC- Kids Kef Club
Kef- Fun
A typical day here at Kirriat Mohriah starts for me at around 7:20 when I get up for breakfast, we dont have to go to breakfast but I've learned I function a lot better if I had something to eat in the morning.
First lesson on a Monday is Israel update where (in my class) we go over the main headlines in the newspapers, within this we learn a lot about politics and how it works here in Israel.
As this is first lesson people are not looked down on if they arrive late, and the majority of people have just rolled out of bed and are still in PJ's.
We then get a nice half an hour break where we can get a bite to eat, shower (if we haven't already), run to the super market around the corner and that kinda thing.
Judaism would then follow from 10:00 until 11:45 with a 15 minute break in between.
In this lesson I have chosen to learn about the Jews as a chosen people, and what it means (if anything) to be a chosen people.
Lunch starts at 1:00, I'm switching from monday to wednesday so I can talk about lunch.
FALAFAL WEDNESDAY it's amazing, as much falafal as..... the cook will give you. This however is just once a week, a normal lunch is very meaty, like steak, burgers, chicken, rice, chips etc. It's never an amazingly filling meal, but it gets you through the day.
Hadracha starts at 3:30, this for me is run by a guy named Aron Lazarus (shortened to Laz) which is one of the most controversial, interesting lessons I think I've ever had in the subject.
He combines situations and scenarios making you think about exactly how to deal with it down to the last word.
This is followed by 30 minute break the peer-lead Hadracha where various members of the group (in two's) run a session for the rest of the group.
Dinner starts at 7:00 and this is usually a milky, light meal and then we get Monday night to ourselves, so we can go out.
And thats it, I'm doing similar stuff to this every day with some random trips around Israel thrown in for several days at a time which are always fun. Also on top of normal lessons I've taken on the role of making the new Maccabi GB prayer book (Check out the facebook group here ), I work on it once or twice a week and it's going really well so far. ALSO on top of this, me and 7 other people from other movements are planning the KKC which is due to start in a few weeks time which I'm really excited about.
And that's my week at Kirriat in a nutshell, I'm here for another 3 months and I'm loving every minute of it.
So if you have any questions, maybe you're thinking about doing gap year yourself and you want more information on anything I'm doing this year feel free to email me dangyc08@cooltoad.com and I'll do my best to answer you.
Take care everyone
Dan G
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Maccabi Year Course - Part 3
Maybe the most spiritual Shabbat ever!!
Friday morning I slept in until 12:30 because me and some others stayed up really late playing Risk the night before and we don't have lessons on fridays.
Friday night had one of the nicest friday night meals ever with just a small selection of the Machon group as the majority of them were still doing Rosh Hashona related things.
LATER on friday night, me and two friends went to the Kotel at 2:30 in the morning AND IT WAS AMAZING, so atmospheric, so raw, and quiet and poetic. I never really appreciated how beautiful the actual compound of the Kotel is and before that night never really had much of a spiritual connection with the wall itself, but that night was just something else.
Shabbat morning again I didnt really wake up until quite late, I had lunch with the same crowd of people which was really nice and then went to sit in a really nice park just outside the Kotel compound, it was really romantic, there were horses running around and no that isn't a typo there were actually horses running around!
We then spent a few minutes at the Kotel itself (yes again) which was nice, then we had a nice long walk home, on the way we stopped for a bite to eat at Burgers Bar where we saw one of our Madrichim from Machon which was....random, but also quite nice.
So thats my weekend in a nutshell
Hope all is well with everyone,
Be safe
Dan G
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Maccabi Year Course - Part 2
Four or five years ago, if you'd of said Dan, in four or five years time you're going to be in Israel representing the whole of Maccabi GB by yourself for an entire year, I'd of been very confused and probably started laughing at you.
Four of five years on and here I am!
This is now my reality. I wear the Maccabi logo around my neck (as a neckless bought by the lovely Kim Mather for my 18th) and I'm proud to say Maccabi has given me this incredible opportunity to do new, amazing things, meet new, amazing people, learn a lot more about myself, put myself in certain situations forcing me to find the solution and just become part of this massive tapestry that is Maccabi and allow me to make a considerable difference in the framework that is Israel.
So last time we left off we were camping at the foot of Masada.
I had decided to set up camp with the BBYO crew which was nothing short of jokes. We set up a camp fire, played some getting to know you games with the madrichim where we learned that one of them was once stung by a jelly fish (see that episode of Friends to find out why that's funny), one of them used to have a stalker and one of them raised an adopted child.
The whole thing was really fun and something that will remain in my mind for ever I'm sure.
The climb up Masada is also something that nobody here will forget in a hurry.
This was the second time I'd done this particular hike (the first being on tour in 2007) and I found it a lot easier second time around. This may have been due to the fact I knew exactly how long it really was and I remembered fairly well when it was coming to an end.
Now so far this is sounding like a fairly normal hike up a big mountain right? Well it wasn't mainly because of my atire, what was I wearing? A Beduine dress (obviosly). Why? Because THE LIST Phil made me demanded I wear a skirt of some description (to look like a Roman) while doing the hour long hike and this was the closest thing I had.
All in all it was a very strange few days but I felt a lot closer to a lot of the people within the group.
I could ramble on about other amazing things we've done so far if you wanted me to, I could tell you that within the last 3 weeks I've entered the Eurovision song contest as a citizen of Andora, I've visted the lowest point on the plannet, slept on the Jerusalem beach, slept on the floor of a hospital lobby started the Maccabi prayer book and so many other things it's just so difficult to keep track of.
But none of my experiences would be the same if it wasn't with the people I am with.
Here on Machon there is a massive mix of people from completely different backgrounds who you can't help but get to know. There are people from Leeds to Stains, from North to South London, from Israel to Poland to the States and back to the UK.
It really is a fantastic environment to be in if you want to meet new people and you can't help but learn other ways of life and ways of thinking.
That's about it for now blog readers.
Thank you for taking the time to listen to my ramblings, I'm sure we'll be seeing eachother again soon.
Shana Tova, have a happy sweet new year
Dan G
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Maccabi Year Course - The Beginning
So where are now? I was told to meet two boys from AJ6 at the air port, and the plan was to be there for 6:00 in the morning, and we were to get a taxi to the Rabin youth hostel for orientation with the BBYO people...
I met the two (YES TWO) AJ6 lads (Simon and Sam) accompanied by one of our leaders Michelle and we quickly got into the taxi bound for the Yitzchack Rabin youth hostel. Along the way we played 'Jew do you know?' (also known as Jewish geography or more commonly Do you know XYZ?) it turned out they both went to a Maccabi friend's new years eve party which is why I thought Sam looked very familiar and Simon turned out to be another Maccabi friend's first cousin....also a distant relative of more Maccabi friends!
They explained to me a bit about their background with AJ6 and I explained briefly my background with MGB. The three of us wondered around the hostel for about 2 hours before meeting up again with Michelle and none other than Mr P Burns! I was told that although Michelle is officially my Year Course leader, Phil will also be in contact with me and will be my running man should I ever want to talk to the Maccabi head office. I was also told a lot more about what Maccabi and the UJIA have planned for me this year, I'm gonna be volunteering in a place called Shlomi, and I was given more detail about Marva (the army program I'll be doing this year).
We also met the BBYO group that would be joining us on Machon (more detail on Machon coming later) some of whom I recognized from the Machon open day i went to a while ago in London.
They all seemed really nice, but I have to admit I felt a bit like a small fish in a big pond when it really hit me how outnumbered I really am here (That's a feeling I'm still getting, but now it's something I'm getting used to). That weekend was a lot of fun, I learned a lot more about both AJ6 and BBYO for example there both peer lead which is a completely new concept to me, it basically means everything is run not by office workers in a head office somewhere in London that no one really knows that much about, but its run by (and forgive the terminology) the kids themselves.
Saturday night me and the AJ6 boys went to Ben Yahuda street accompanied by Phil who showed us exactly where the best bars and clubs were, we then said goodbye to him and found a quiet bar right in the midst of Ben Yahuda. We then met up with some of the BBYO lot and went to a club. I then decided that I'd had enough for one night, and me and Simon headed back to base, we bumped into Phil who decided to come with us.
The next day Phil treated myself and the AJ6 boys to a tour around the Old City and more importantly the Kotel shortly after a very quick program he ran for the three of us.That day also Phil had given me what will go on to be massive part of year course for Dan G, he gave me a checklist of stuff he wanted me to do. Phil said there's a prize at the end if I can complete the list so we shall see where it goes, I will try and find a way of putting the list itself (which is simply being referred to as THE LIST) onto facebook.
During Phil's guided tour I decided I was happy to have a familiar face in touch with me should I need him, and I knew that he didn't have to do and it was his own choice, and no matter how alone I feel as the only Maccabi kid on year course, I know he'll be there for me =D
Once we got back to the hostel we said goodbye to Phil who had a long journey back to his kibbutz.
The Rabin hostel was a very nice place to start year course officially and I think it was important for me to bond with AJ6 right away if we were to be spending so much time together later on.
THAT NIGHT
We were put on coaches and were told we were simply going to a UJIA organized event, we didn't know what this meant or what we'd be doing but we had a rough idea who we'd be doing it with. On the way to the event we picked up Noam, who seemed like a fairly chirpy group (and yes by chirpy I mean keen).
So there was a minor chanting match going on on the bus to the event, and I'm proud to say that Maccabi was great... at one point, the whole bus was silent and it was me chanting 'WE ARE M A C C A B I', and to my surprise some of BBYO and Noam joined in (woo) I also managed to teach (with some success I might add) 'My Hands Are High, My Feet Are Low' so that was fun.
They seemed like a really nice group of people and more games of Jewish Geography were played.
We arrived at THE EVENT!! as did the other coach that had some other movements on including RSY Netzer and some American movements that I can't remember the name of right now. and to our surprise it was a very small surprise hike (surprisingly). Then dinner with Bedouins which was nice, and they lent us these 'genuine' Bedouin outfits that smelt oddly of lemon detergent but we played along anyway. The food was nothing short of awesome but what else would you expect from Bedouins? and after some more bonding games we were soon on our way back to our hostels eager to start the next day where we'd meet up with Noam and RSY again for the beginning of Machon (more details of Machon coming soon)
THE NEXT DAY
BBYO, AJ6 and Maccabi headed for Kirriat Moriyah and the start of our Machon program. Our coach had arrived early so after dumping our bags in a room the majority of us headed for the computer room to check facebook (obviously) and some others explored the campus. Once the others had arrived we played some more bonding games and were eventually split into smaller groups where we were told more details about the program.
Machon runs a variaty of programs from leadership to politics, all of which are studied but it's down to the individual how much time they want to spend learning about a particular topic. Its safe to say I want to learn as much hadracha (leadership) as possible before my return to the UK, I also wanted to learn a lot of Ivrit before my possible final flight from the UK to Israel (meaning I might consider moving out here) and I also wanted to do a bit of Torah study and study of politics.
THEN
We were told there was to be a trip out for a few days. We were taken to the foot of Masada where we camped with sleeping bags under the stars, there was a camp fire, funny stories and it was all very cheesy and no one got nearly enough sleep for what was to come the next morning
MASADA!!! (in a Bedouin dress)
TO BE CONTINUED