This morning's destination was the Moshav (collective settlement - like a kibbutz) of Shorashim. Shorashim is located pretty much in the dead centre of the Galilee. This morning, we had a lecture by an American bloke, who was one of the founders of Shorashim, back in the 70s or the 80s.
The lecturer began with a breakneck-speed 3000-year timeline history of the Jews in the land of Israel. The biblical and Greco-Roman history was particularly interesting for me, as my knowledge of early Jewish history is hazy at best, and full of many holes. I was very impressed with his objectivity when he went through Zionist history - for someone living on a Moshav in the Galil, he told both sides of the story, and was surprisingly well-balanced.
This guy also taught us a bit more about the Galilee area. I had no idea that before the '48 war, the Galilee was 99% Arab, and that it's 80% Arab to this day. I always thought of it as a very Jewish part of Israel, for some reason. He also told us a bit about Shorashim, why and how it was set up, and how it was part of the bigger picture of trying to make the Galilee more Jewish.
After the lecture and a short break, we came back, split up into groups, and did an activity. Each group was to be the committee of founders of a Moshav. We were given a whole lot of "values" that our Moshav was to hold most dear, and we had to pick from them our 5 key values. Our group chose: health; education; peace; Jewish tradition; and fairness. I also wanted family, and community life, but I was overruled by my peers.
Getting in touch with my childish side at ShorashimFollowing the activity was a nice, long lunch break. We had a really shitty pack lunch of rolls and fruit. It was really funny when Ari complained that he wanted another cucumber, and I overheard him, and arranged for him to receive mine: "a present from his angel". He realised that his angel must have overheard him; but I don't think he guessed it was me.
There was a playground where we were eating, and Nim was showing off his fitness by doing some cool stuff on it. He did this awesome rope-climbing trick where he hooked the rope around his feet, and then pushed himself up with his legs. I tried it, but couldn't quite get the hang of it.
Our afternoon activity was meeting Arab kids from a nearby village across the valley. These kids all go to Arab schools; and although they're meant to learn English at school, they didn't speak nearly enough to communicate properly with us.
Once again, we split up into groups, and each group had 2 or 3 Arab kids to talk to. Luckily, we had Asher with us, and he was able to translate what they said in Hebrew.
Academy 2 chics, interspersed with the local Arab chics, at Shorashim.The Arab Israeli youth are not as well educated as Israelis. They seem to be brainwashed to believe that Sharon is "a bad man" (not far from the truth); they have no sense of allegiance to Israel (almost none of them knew Hatikvah, and they all wanted to change both the anthem and the flag); and some of them even believe that suicide bombing is a good idea.
In principle, it was a good idea to introduce us to the Arab kids; but in practice, we can barely communicate with them; and when we could, we realised just how very different our two peoples are. Getting together with our Arab brethren, for us, did nothing to improve the peace process.
The valley of olive groves, as seen from ShorashimBy the time we'd finished our discussion with the Arab kids, the day was basically over. We left the beautiful Moshav Shorashim, which, by the way, is on a hill facing west, with a view of a beautiful valley filled with olive groves. The olives in this area are apparently some of the finest in Israel, and in the world. The valley gives way to the coastal plain, and on a clear day one can see all the way to the Mediterranean, and to the promontory of Haifa, from the slopes of Shorashim.
Tonight's activity [at our hotel in Nahariya] was basically a big AUJS promotion. Simon Ezekiel told us all about AUJS: the campus, regional, and national levels of involvement; the educational, social, and political activities; and events such as parties, forums, the winter conference, and of course the Israel programs. The general gist of this activity was: "get involved in AUJS at Uni this year".
We also did a little celebration, since today was Yoni Sonnabend's birthday. We had some cake, did the candles, and sang a few songs for him.