NAS Shabbaton!!!

Fun in the snow on our shabbaton at Camp Papillon!

Thursday April 3^rd 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 4^th 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 5^th 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 6^th 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