Contact: Hayley (in Cape Town) on 0820808023 or
Jarred (in Johannesburg) on 0723090149
Email: camp@netzer.org.za for more details and forms
Check it all out on our website: www.netzer.org.za

Hope to see you all there!

‘Nilmad ve na’ aseh – we will learn and we will do!’

It is because of the Progressive Jewish aspect of Netzer’s ideology that the Jewish Board of Education sees fit to exclude Netzer from equal access to the King David schools. While the other Zionist youth movements may run activities and promote their events in front of all students, Netzer has harsh boundaries that prohibit its members from doing so. At the beginning of 2008, the King David schools held an open day where institutions of higher education and youth movements could present post-Matric study and gap-year options. Shortly before this event, Netzer was uninvited on that grounds that it was a Progressive movement. Even after letters of protest from both Netzer and the South African Union for Progressive Judaism were sent to the Board and the schools, no response was given. Only six months later was a letter sent to Netzer, stating that its involvement in the Jewish Day Schools was to be limited according to the Board’s requirements. These requirements are still imposed upon Netzer’s activities:

Netzer madrichim (leaders) may run activities in a closed classroom, but this activity is for already-Netzer-affiliated chanichim (participants). Netzer madrichim may give Netzer chanichim flyers, but no posters may be stuck up around the school, and the movement is not allowed to promote its Machaneh in front of the school alongside the other youth movements. This is not the way to act in a country whose constitution stands for equality of all people, and the right to expression of religion, culture and opinion. Just as other streams of Judaism are allowed access to the King David schools, Netzer’s, too, should be fully included and represented.

For the past year, Netzer has abided by the Board’s rules, in an attempt to come to a reasonable understanding between both parties. However, an announcement made for “all Netzer children to go to classroom x for your activity” is ineffective; children are often out of the classroom during

announcements, and “non-Netzer children” (the Board’s label, not Netzer’s) disrupt the activity by coming in and out of the classroom, fetching lunchboxes and sports kits. Worse still is the fact that Netzer representatives are required to openly exclude any non-Progressive children by forcing them out of the classroom. It is a situation both impractical and upsetting.

Aside from the frustrating petty logistics of the issue, the fundamental elements of exclusion and discrimination are highly disturbing. South African Jewry cannot allow itself to be forced into a box with the label “Orthodox only”. Jews of Progressive, Conservative, Traditional and secular streams are alienated and made to feel illegitimate in their Jewish identities. In a community that is so vibrant and home to many different Jewish schools of thought, Orthodoxy cannot be considered the only “real” Judaism.

Before King David adopted its strictly Orthodox education policy, the school was a largely secular environment which incorporated lively and necessary Jewish aspects. No Jewish stream hatefully imposed itself on another. Today, however, the majority of the schools’ pupils and families are still secular (and possibly with Orthodox affiliation, but secular nonetheless) but the Board insists that Orthodoxy is the only legitimate means of education. We cannot stand for this.

A place of education should be one that preaches open-mindedness, tolerance and inclusiveness – in the spirit of open and democratic education – not one of closed-mindedness, bigotry and exclusivity. Even if the school chooses to adopt an Orthodox Jewish education policy, it cannot limit other streams of Judaism in its informal sector, specifically with regard to youth movements – the future Jewish leadership of South Africa. We are certain that no parent would want his or her child to grow up in an unconstitutional, discriminatory institution, being taught to go against the values of acceptance and care of others, which are so prominent in the Jewish faith.

We sincerely hope that our message is heard, and that the move towards pluralism in South African Jewry is a speedy and effective one.

The Netzer South Africa Tzevet of 2010

Please forward this letter to congregants and friends, collegues and family; people who will partake in an effort like this. We have chosen to ask people to send in an actual letter or email rather than a petition. We believe that constant reminders of the injustice of the situation sent to the necessary parties will be more effective than a once-off petition email with lots of names on it. We are aiming not to have 20 or even 100 letters – we’re expecting thousands. Change will only come about when there is mass action to create it – only if we show a strong presence and make enough noise will this effort be taken seriously.

The contact details of people to whom the letter should be sent are as follows:

Rabbi Craig Kacev (director of the South African Board of Jewish Education): sabje@sabje.co.za
Avrum Krengel (chairman of the South African Zionist Federation): akrengel@investec.co.za
Zev Krengel (chairman of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies): zev@africaspice.co.za
Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein: office@chiefrabbi.co.za
Jewish Report: geoffs@icon.co.za
Jewish Chronicle: mediawpzc@ctjc.co.za

Thank you so much for your support. We look forward to seeing tangible, meaningful change in our community.

Warm regards,
The Netzer South African Tzevet of 2010

It is one thing to claim to be a Zionist youth movement; it is something else to actually put it into practice.
Having a Zionist ideology for youth movements in this day and age is hard enough to contain. Zionism is no longer that fight to establish a state, no matter what the cost or what it would truly be afterwards. A century ago, that’s what the youth movements did, fought, protested, emigrated and set up kibbutzim, toiled the land, ‘made the desert bloom’ as it were. Their dedication was clear, their motives were clear and their actions were clear.

Today, with a state established and thriving, what role or agenda do us in the youth movements of the Diaspora have to ‘enhance ‘our track record of commitment to the Jewish State? Do we merely do our bit’ at community functions? , Sing Hatikvah every morning?, Count the number of Aliyot we have?, note the number of anti – Zionists we debated? But what happens if we disagree with some of these things? What happens if we don’t want to make aliyah or aren’t completely comfortable with advocating Israel?

One solution would be that our role has moved to purely educate. However this is to be problematic in a world where every Jew has at least twice as many opinions on the Zionist State and its actions as there are people within it. Within every madrich, (leader) lies the dilemma of, which streams and opinions of Zionism do we choose to educate and which ones of those are we biased towards.

Education is of fundamental importance to Netzer, thus the Leadership Body has taken the initiative to create various committees (Ve’adot) in order to research, refine and collate proposals of topical issues, one of them being the Israel Stance Committee, to be brought up at our annual Veida,(conference) later this year. Although this provides future leaders with a solid basis and direction for Chinnuch, (education) and policy making purposes, it still leaves us without a method of actually practicing Reform Zionism that works for us and more importantly makes a positive difference.

We hope you are all doing well.

This week was not an easy one. We all experienced Yom Azikaron- Israel Memorial Day for all Israeli fallen soldiers, and victims of terrorism. The shnatties attended a special ceremony organized by Masa.
The next day Israel celebrated is Independent day! 62 years for the state of Israel!
The country was painted with blue and white (the flag colors) and lots and lots of Israelis Travel throughout the country, having Barbeques (traditionJ), enjoy Aircraft Display, parties and fireworks.

Last Tuesday, as usual, we came together for our Yom Tnua discussing Israeli’s History, Weakness and strength, by Rabbi Rich Kirshen. Also a discussion on Netzer’s place in the world, lead by Maoz Haviv, the director of Netzer Olami.

Our beloved “Shnat” director, Lior Argaman, is still visiting London, while the volcano continue to erupts, and waiting for her flight home, along with 50 thousand people more. I’m sure next week she will be happy to write her experiences from her 10 days stuck in London. J

We wish all of you a great weekend!!

Rinat and the Netzer staff

Report from Etgar by Romi Olstein:

Hey everyone back home,
I’m sure you are wondering what’s been happening with us Shnatties… well I’m here to update you. We have had quite a busy and very interesting week, which has been both sad and crazy fun. Lia and Yoni left you guys at the end of our previous week just before the weekend so I’ll start there. This weekend all of the Netzer Southern Shnatties joined with Mechina for a weekend of fun. Mechina is an Israeli version of shnat where members of Noar Telem (Netzer Israel) take a gap year before the army and do similar stuff to us. So Machon and Etgar hoped on a bus and drove down to the Ein Gedi to spend Shabbat getting to know the Mechina kids… who are so nice and friendly. Davina, Emily, Lani, Gena and Roxy along with Mechina organised Shabbat services and programs for us all weekend and did an amazing job it was a wonderful weekend. Then we returned for one day of classes as both Monday and Tuesday were chofesh days. On Monday we had Yom Hazikaron, Israel’s National Memorial Day for the Fallen and The Victims of terror, so on Sunday night we attended services the girls and Dayne attended a MASA event where we managed to score tickets from the head of Machon Collin. The service was amazing and very touching. Others attended services at the Kotel and Kol HaNeshma and we all returned to watch a movie called Waltz with Bashir, an animated movie about the war in Lebanon. On Monday the actual day our Madrich Ady kindly took us to the service at his school, were the named everyone from that school who had died due to a war or terrorist attack. It was quite shocking for me to see pictures of 19 year-olds. I just kept thinking I’m 19 now. However the sadness was soon replaced with excitement and happiness as Monday night was the National night of parties as it was the start of Yom Haatzmaut. Some went to Tel Aviv and faced the crowded streets there; others stayed in Jerusalem but enjoyed themselves extremely. It was a night of street parties and live music on every street corner and people wearing anything and everything with the Israeli flag, in fact Noah found 6 flags and wore all 6 on the night and even had Hatikvah sang to him. It’s traditional during the day to BBQ and as we lacked a BBQ and money to buy meat, some bought picnic food and had a picnic; others attended family’s BBQ’s. I personally walked around the Old City with Maddie and some Machoniks. Today (Wednesday) we went for a hike in the Jerusalem Hills where we stopped by a natural spring pool and had a very long and deep discussion with the whole of Etgar where we could discuss how we felt and issues we felt had in the apartment. The atmosphere is so different and much happier and peaceful. And as I type this the rest are busy setting up for tonight’s theme night “Out of Africa”. So Dayne is cooking us African dishes…. but I’m sure you will hear more about it next week. Hope you are all well and having as much fun as us. It may sound like we are too busy to miss you but we really do. Much Love from me (Romi) and the Etgarniks.
Xxxxx
Report from Machon by Raya Epstein, Machon Mekasheret:

Dear Parents, Sniffim, Friends….
Tomorrow’s Friday – YAY! Shabbat Shalom! During this past week, the Machoniks had intense programming due to the special days – Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day) and Yom Ha’atzmaut (Independence Day), of the year 2010. Although they continued to have regular programming such as Hebrew, hadracha and tours (this time they went outside of the green line! And visited the road to Jerusalem that Israeli soldiers had to conquer in the war of independence), they also experienced ceremonies for the special days- both MASA hosted one, and the national ceremony at the big military cemetery of Har Herzl. Oh, and they had some chofesh (free time) too, to go out of Machon if they choose and roam the streets of Jerusalem\Tel Aviv! This upcoming weekend they’ve also got off, so I hope each machonik has something special planned
Enjoy your weekend, I’m sure we will!
Raya Epstein, Machon Mekasheret.

Report from Machon by Gena Riess :
Hello all!
I sit here today feeling somewhat exhausted, mentally and physically. After Yom Ha’shoa the week continued with its intense theme. On the Thursday us machonichim left for a very controversial and mind boggling siyur, where we crossed the green line… with permission of course!
We began our siyur meeting two women from a group called ‘Machsom Watch’, a left wing feminist group who personally go to ‘checkpoints’ and report any unjust behavior displayed by Israeli soldiers. Following from that we went to the famous city of Hebron, where we met a right wing extremist from the Hebron yeshiva. Although what he said angered several of the machonikim and the madrichim, it was very very interesting to hear this mans point of view on Israeli politics, which was pretty much get rid of the Arabs. Then to finish our day we met a man in the town of T’koa, he told us his story of his son who was killed by Arabs, this talk was very emotional, but it was also amazing see what this man took from his loss, and how he dealt with it all. His wife wrote a best seller on the family’s tragedy, that i must now go read when i have the time.

Once we arrived back at Machon, we had officially started our weekend! Differently to most weekends, where we all have endless freedom to choose how we spend it, we instead had a Netzer weekend with the Mechina (a group of Israelis on a shnat program before the army.)
As one of the madrichim of our weekend away with the Mechina, my experience was, i presume somewhat different to those of which were participating in the programs, as opposed to planning and running them. We planned two central programs, one about Yom Ha’shoa, then one about Yom Ha’zikaron and Yom Ha’atzmaut. They both were successful, being interesting and intense. Over the weekend we all bonded with the young Israelis, and personally by the end i felt to have made new good friends!
Because there were very minimal compulsory programs, we all spent most of our time hanging out in our Bedouin tent, becoming better acquainted with each other.

The weekend came to an end, which it always does, and although it was a shame to say goodbye to all our new friends from the Mechina it was obvious we would be seeing them again soon.
The next week started off with another siyur, where we hiked in the ‘footpath of warriors’ following battles of the independence war in Jerusalem. Later that evening we all went to a MASA takes (ceremony) for Yom Ha’zikaron. I, personally, found the takes to be very moving and well presented. It was in English, several speakers shared personal stories of those they had lost, there was live music, and the general feel of the night was although very moving, it was sad yet inspiring. We ended the night with Hatikva, it was breath taking to see over 5,000 people rise to sing the national anthem.
The morning of Yom Ha’zikaron we headed off to Mount Hertzel, which is the national military cemetery. The days vibe was depressing to say the least, old women were crying, families were mourning. However the strong sense of the Israeli community was, i found, stronger than ever that day. Seeing everyone come together to remember those who have sacrificed their lives was something I had never seen before.

SO! now you can obviously see as a result of all this, why i am now sitting here mentally exhausted. Proceeding this it will become evident why physically, i am exhausted too.

That evening Yom Ha’zikaron was over and Yom Ha’atzmaut had arrived. We all switched from one extreme to the other, now was the time for celebration! Some of us decided to stay in Jerusalem and see and join the festivities here, whereas others, such as myself, decided to party in up in the hip city of TEL AVIV!
Tel Aviv on Yom ha’atzmaut was twenty times more alive than i have ever seen it. The streets were filled with people, shops were open and people were having open parties inside them, shaving cream was everywhere, music was loud, and it was a whole lot of crazy fun! I am sure we all have our own individual stories about how our night panned out, so i will leave it up to us all to fill our parents in.
The day of Yom Ha’atzmaut was less crazy, still street parties were alive, but not to as great an extent as the night before. As an Israel tradition, some of us had a BBQ to celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut, but others just chilled with friends, slept in, ate good food, etc.

There you have it folks! Sorry this email was so long, but the truth is i tried to condense, but there is too much to say!! i guess that is always a good sign though.
I hope you all had a fabulous Yom Ha’atzmaut and i will see you soon…ish.
Gena Riess (jellybaby402@hotmail.com)

Israeli Movie Night

We’ll be screening “Noodle”, a great comedy-drama about foreign workers’ problems in Israel. Kids’ activities, popcorn and drinks will also be provided!

Date: Saturday 24th April

Time: 18:45 (for Havdallah)

Venue: Beit Emanuel

R40 adults, R25 children, all ages welcome!

Lag B’Omer Bonfire and Braai

Delicious food, good company, fun activities for the youth! (Don’t forget the yummy marshmallows!)

Date: Monday 3rd May

Time: 18:00

Venue: Beit Emanuel

]]> http://www.netzer.org.za/2010/04/145/feed/ 0 http://www.netzer.org.za/2010/04/netzers-shabbaton-shorashim-a-successful-discovery-of-our-roots/ http://www.netzer.org.za/2010/04/netzers-shabbaton-shorashim-a-successful-discovery-of-our-roots/#comments Fri, 02 Apr 2010 10:48:38 +0000 Gareth Hall http://www.netzer.org.za/2010/04/netzers-shabbaton-shorashim-a-successful-discovery-of-our-roots/ Three weeks after an incredible Hadracha Seminar, Gauteng’s talented Madrichim, leaders, put their skills into practice at Netzer’s Shabbaton Shorashim. The theme of the sleepover, Shorashim, meaning roots, provided channichim and madrichim with a diverse educational theme to discover. The Shabbaton began with Netzer Madrichim leading the service at Beit Emmanuel. The service was thoroughly enjoyed by all. As the weekend progressed, the amount of ruach and kef grew rapidly. The 18 channichim who attended the event were treated to a fun-filled, educational weekend, the Netzer way. Activities included peulot about Jewish/South African identity, a Parshat Hashavuah about sacrifices and peulot about Pesach. Channichim learnt more about their own identity and the meaning of Pesach in their lives.There were many fun games, delicious meals and unbreakable bonds shared by all. The huge success of Shabbaton Shorashim serves as a positive indication of the exciting year ahead that Netzer has planned. As madrichim, we aim to educate and inspire our channichim. The truth is that we are educated and inspired by the incredible channichim who attend this movemen. Netzer is not just a place where children come to learn. It is a place where we are inspired to harness our Judaism. It is a place where we are inspired by our leaders to become leaders. It is a place where friendships are made. Netzer is a home away from home… The perfect place for your children to be.
]]> http://www.netzer.org.za/2010/04/netzers-shabbaton-shorashim-a-successful-discovery-of-our-roots/feed/ 0 http://www.netzer.org.za/2010/04/women-of-the-wall/ http://www.netzer.org.za/2010/04/women-of-the-wall/#comments Fri, 02 Apr 2010 10:47:21 +0000 Gareth Hall http://www.netzer.org.za/2010/04/women-of-the-wall/ In recent Israeli history Anat Hoffman, member of the controversial group, Women at the Wall was arrested for performing a Torah service in the woman section of the Kotel(western wall)
A huge uproar from the Israeli and Diaspora progressive communities resulted protesting the rights of egalitarianism and gender equality within Jewish ritual practices.
As Progressive Jewish youth, Netzer has a tricky place in this debacle. Firstly it has an obligation to support the wider Progressive community at large (its parent body). Secondly, it has to defend its ideology of egalitarianism in Judaism. Thirdly it upholds the notion of social action, which in essence means we take a stand against injustices and inequalities both in Israel and Diaspora communities as well.
So why hasn’t Netzer South Africa or Netzer Olami spoken out? We were even given the opportunity to pray with The Women at the Wall group earlier last year. Well, to put it bluntly we are actually very much conflicted on our role.
Netzer is a religious youth movement, not a politically affiliated one. So it is also part of our jurisdiction NOT to take a stance on politicised issues, except this one is an amalgamation of the two. Anat Hoffman protested through prayer, she made her political statement of allowing progressive Torah services to take place.
There is another pressing issue, should prayer be used as a political tool? In my opinion, prayer is a very personal, sacred aspect of our religion and to use it to make a statement feels improper. Would it not be more sufficient to lead by example? To be a genuinely pious Jew would make you a passive ambassador of your beliefs and encourage others to follow your lead.
Then again, do we really know what happened there? After all none of us were present at the arrest and South Africa is very far away, leaving us to be on the receiving end of a broken telephone. Anat could have merely been expressing her spiritually in a non – provocative manner, which could draw into question who is at fault here.
So do we stand up and support her and all her beliefs like the rest of the Progressive world Jewry, do we criticise her behaviour or do we remain apathetic and Apolitical to it all?
This is a conflict that far surpasses the Anat Hoffman arrest. Netzer often has to ask the question, how do we take a stand? How or who do we support? Do we blindly support Israel in all her endeavours as a Zionist movement (which partially makes us politised) or do we allow ourselves some scope for debate, critique and even apathy?
We are a movement that pushes and fights for multiple agendas but what those agendas are or mean is often very difficult to articulate and define.
Lauren Kessler
Rosh Chinuch Cape Town
]]> http://www.netzer.org.za/2010/04/women-of-the-wall/feed/ 0 http://www.netzer.org.za/2010/04/an-interview-with-our-tikkun-olam-co-%e2%80%93-coordinator/ http://www.netzer.org.za/2010/04/an-interview-with-our-tikkun-olam-co-%e2%80%93-coordinator/#comments Fri, 02 Apr 2010 10:44:38 +0000 Gareth Hall http://www.netzer.org.za/?p=92 2010 has promised Netzer many dynamic and exciting changes. As our mazkirut body grows so does our wealth of ideas and even more so, our ability to put those ideas into action.
One of our major changes this year would be the appointment of our first Tikkun Olam co –co coordinator, Tali Mayson.
I sat down with Tal to get a bit of insight into this role and the big plans she has for the movement this year.
Q: What are your aims?
A: ‘’I suppose firstly to create awareness. So that our channichim can be exposed to and understand that there are different lifestyles and levels of privilege in this country.’’
‘’Secondly, I want us to make a sustainable difference within the communities and environments that we help. Not just playing with kittens for an hour as that isn’t really helpful but rather a more concrete , long-lasting impact such as planting a veggie garden that not only teaches skills but also helps others feed themselves.’’
‘’I strongly believe that because we are initiating the contact doesn’t mean that they are the only ones benefitting, it’s a sort of ‘mutual gaining’ where we get something out of helping others too.’’
Tal also wants to encourage our madrichim to take initiative. She wants to nurture this so that they come up with their own ideas too and take responsibility for implementing them.
Q: What is your process or plan?
A: ‘’ Well, I really don’t want to do once off stuff as that isn’t sustainable, rather projects that run throughout the year.’’
‘’ For the older channies/maddies we are working with an umbrella organisation called Work for Love which just started a playschool called Siyakhula in Masiphumelele township. Here we are helping set it up for now, like painting and planting flowers but soon we plan to run activates and take them on outings too.’’
‘’ With the younger channies I was thinking more along the lines of taking them on Tikkun Days throughout the year, exposing them to all the sorts of things you can get involved in. These days would try to be linked to Jewish festivals or National holidays to make them more significant and educational. They would usually be working with animal organisations, environmental initiatives and also generally a chance to bond with kids from other walks of life.’’
Q: Lastly, the words Tikkun Olam get thrown around, what do they mean to you?
A: ‘’It’s basically a statement to get people involved and doing stuff, motivates them to take action.’’
Q: Why though?
A: ‘’… because we are in the fortunate position to make a difference where we can grow from it and help others grow too. ‘’ ’’
This living, breathing, barefoot ideological being stresses an important point; that tikkun olam should be something pragmatic, something down to earth and tangible, not inspiring words lost in ideological discourse.
Written by Lauren Kessler
Rosh Chinuch Cape Town
]]> http://www.netzer.org.za/2010/04/an-interview-with-our-tikkun-olam-co-%e2%80%93-coordinator/feed/ 0 http://www.netzer.org.za/2010/04/jew%e2%80%90vision/ http://www.netzer.org.za/2010/04/jew%e2%80%90vision/#comments Fri, 02 Apr 2010 10:42:29 +0000 Gareth Hall http://www.netzer.org.za/?p=90 Eshed Cohen, a junior madrich of Netzer CT, has decided to investigate the controversial relationships amongst the complex array of South African Jewry:
Our South African Jewish Community has approximately 60 000 congregants. These congregants include Orthodox Jews, Secular – traditional Jews, Chabad, Lubavitch, Sephardic and several more. Each of us has our own way of practicing the same religion.
The Jewish population is spread all over the country, from Kimberley to Cape Town and from Witbank to Johannesburg. Progressive and orthodox Jews live in the same suburbs; send their children to the same schools etc. In Cape Town, one of the larger regions, I am exposed to the many different types of Judaism. Thus, it is not to say that the different communities are not exposed to and aware of the different types of Judaism, in fact, we are literally living next door to each other.

So what is the reason for some of the prejudices and parallel relationships that the different communities have? Why is there no regular interaction?
Why is there such a fuss regarding what adjective you have before the word “Jew”?
These are some of the questions that bother me about our community. We have such a wonderfully diverse and culture rich community but why is it that there is friction between the different people?
I wanted to find an answer, that’s why I choose to write this article. I interviewed Rabbi Ephraim Levitts, and also Rabbi Greg Alexander who are Orthodox and Progressive Rabbis respectively. I wanted to find out about the relationship between Reformed/Progressive Jews and Orthodox Jews. I felt that they expressed the two ends of the Jewish spectrum; the very liberal, to the very orthodox. Rabbi Levitts explained that orthodoxy has several issues with Judaism and that they do not consider the majority of Jews, Jewish. “Another reason for little interaction”, he says, “is because Reformed/Progressive Judaism and Orthodox Judaism do not share the same ground rules, therefore making it difficult to co‐operate.
Rabbi Alexander explained that he has no issues with orthodoxy, besides the prejudices and attitudes towards Progressive Judaism. He views Judaism as a spectrum, and it doesn’t matter where on that spectrum people find their inspiration: ’The most important adjective that should come before the word “Jew” should be “inspired”.’

After interviewing both Rabbis I learnt that the relationship between Progressive Judaism and Orthodox Judaism is mostly a parallel one, both groups caring for their own congregants and communities. Interaction between the two is not entirely non‐existent, but there are lots of opportunities for co‐operative ventures which have yet to be taken. Whether it is a good or a bad thing is not for me to decide, but in my opinion, it is a great pity that I cannot celebrate Simchat Torah with my orthodox friends as well as my reformed ones in a single environment, that, we have to be separated on the High Holy Days, and cannot celebrate the festivals under the holistic name “Jew”.

]]> http://www.netzer.org.za/2010/04/jew%e2%80%90vision/feed/ 0 http://www.netzer.org.za/2010/03/new-netzer-madrichim-shine/ http://www.netzer.org.za/2010/03/new-netzer-madrichim-shine/#comments Sun, 21 Mar 2010 18:12:11 +0000 Gareth Hall http://www.netzer.org.za/?p=63 On the 5^th of March, our fantastic new leaders of the Reform Community underwent a well planned leadership and training seminar. Our aims were to educate and facilitate the fundamentals of running a youth movement, being socially aware and active, being a figure in the Reform community and being a role model and educator to the youth that is there to follow them. Everyone was extremely enthusiastic and there was a general ‘GET UP AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE’ attitude as the seminar came to an end.

Below, Lily and Rosa Manoim explain their experiences on the Hadsem course.

We walked in as Channichim, learners, full of life, confused, in awe of the Maddies’ coolness, and walked out as Madrichim, educators, leaders, whose first priority will be looking after our kids. A big responsibility has been placed on our shoulders by the all the past Maddies around us, who had spent almost a year in Israel. They had also all started out as Channies, just like us.

Hadracha seminar means leadership seminar; Madrichim training, learning how to become better youth leaders and polishing up on our techniques. That doesn’t sound like your idea of an ideal weekend? Well if not, that’s probably because you have never been to a Netzer event.

The line-up for the weekend in early March included; leading the Shabbat service at Beit Emanuel in Johannesburg, games, Tikkun-Olam projects,  and a whole lot of ice cream and cake (for educational purposes of course).  We also got serious. All the basics a youth leader needs to know, was squeezed into one weekend.  Plus, of course, fun, excitement, and action packed courses, all to a point of a contented exhaustion.

The secrets of Madrichim were finally revealed; from the art of ‘maddie magic’, to the realisation of how much dedication had been the force behind their drive and passion. So how did such a big change come about? By learning of course. We had debates on indoctrination vs. education, stimulating discussions on the very relevant torah portion, where Moses, leader of our ancestors, dropped the Commandments, thus giving us a biblical view into the role of leaders.

Yet these invigorating discussions weren’t the only items on the menu. We did team bonding and unpacked ideas on the Netzer ideology and how to plan successful programs. That really proved to us, that being a successful madrich was more than just being older and having a title. For example, when a past Maddie and Netzer bogeret (Casey Wolfson) came to run a program on worst case scenarios, dealing with things such as smoking, drugs and, bullying. But as they say, what doesn’t intimidate you and throw you off can only make your bond stronger.

After an intense day of learning and noshing, being inspired and tired, bonding and just being a part of Netzer, we had a break where we all went off to watch the latest release of Alice in Wonderland at Monte Casino.

Our Social Action outing was to the Princess Alice Adoption Home, where we got to help out with the many incredibly adorable babies, feeding them, playing with them and putting them to sleep. Although some didn’t take to the idea of babies (and their various outputs and inputs), we all felt honoured to have spent time with such wonderful kids and helped out in any way we could.

After Sikkum, we all went home feeling exhilarated, educated, and incredibly, impossibly exhausted. But it was worth it.  –Lily and Rosa Manoim.

A thank you must go to all donations that were made to allow this great educational experience to happen and lastly to Jackie Maris, Mor Rubenstein, Jarred Durbach and Gareth Hall for running the seminar.

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