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| Fun in the snow on our shabbaton at Camp Papillon! |
Thursday April 3rd 2014
As
months went on, the Montrealers were eager for this day to come, the time when
our Israeli pen pals were officially arriving in Canada. We left the YM-YWHA and went to the airport at 9pm. As we waited patiently for our new friends to walk through the gates, our faces went from smiling with no teeth to
smiling with teeth; the excitement was huge. From the airport, we started our North American Seminar journey with a shabbaton at Camp Papillon.
Friday April 4th 2014
Morning
came; the sun rose and we all ate breakfast. We started off by playing
some icebreakers so we could get to know one another and start the friendships that we know will last a
lifetime. The programs on this day varied from indoor to outdoor activities. In between activities we had 10-15 minute breaks which gave us
time to talk to our friends and EAT!! The weather was great, although the
ground was a tad slippery. The Jewish
programming led to many discussion topics about the differences and
similarities between Be'er Sheva-B'nei Shimon and Montreal.
As
Shabbat came, we had a meaningful service. We started off praying altogether,
and shortly after all the girls lit the candles and shared the moment together.
Then we sat down at the Shabbat table and we did a wonderful Kiddush and had a
fantastic meal.
Saturday April 5th 2014
It’s
the next morning...BEEP BEEP BEEP (the alarm goes off) it's 8 am and we all wake
up to get breakfast. We start the
day with a leadership activity that got us working together in our different
groups to trust one another. Shortly
afterwards we had our lunch, and a long break for those who needed their
“Shabbat rest”. Following our break, we had two programs: one that started
to get us thinking about what are goals were for this summer as a group, Is
friendship more important than respect? Is Jewish programming better than just
fun programs? Our discussion really varied depending on the person in the group
and their explanation. Our second program was made by our wonderful JC’s, which
was the most fun Disney race ever! As Shabbat ended, we did Havdallah followed
by our separate Maagals which led to a super fun evening dance party DJ-ed by
one of our fellow Diller members - Matthew Steinberg.
Sunday April 6th 2014
The
last day of our shabbaton ended with an excellent program with Tal
Gale from Diller North America. She spoke about things that
made us think and question, we were all really happy she came because we got to
meet and have fun with someone just as important as our coordinators. Followed
by that we had our last program which was the feedback, it was great we were
all honest. When we arrived back in Montreal, we did some community service at MADA, peeling vegetables for Passover baskets. From there we each
went our respective houses and started our hosting!
By Jamie Wajcman
By Jamie Wajcman
