Summer 2020 is a unique one in Habonim Dror North America history, with machanot meeting virtually or for day camps during the coronavirus pandemic. We’re asking our dedicated madrichimot what it’s been like to continue to #LeadTheHaboWay during this unprecedented time. 

Why did you choose to be a madrichol during the summer?

I chose to be a madrich this summer because I wanted to continue the traditions of camp through the pandemic. I wanted to make sure that machaneh existed as a space for my chanichimot in the same way that it existed for me.

How does it feel to meet chanichimot during this specific summer?

It is always an amazing experience meeting my chanichimot during the summer. This year despite all of our interactions taking place virtually it was still very exciting meeting my chanichimot.

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Summer 2020 is a unique one in Habonim Dror North America history, with machanot meeting virtually or for day camps during the coronavirus pandemic. We’re asking our dedicated madrichimot what it’s been like to continue to #LeadTheHaboWay during this unprecedented time. 

Why did you choose to be a madrichol during the summer?

Honestly, I was not that excited to work with kids this summer. I was planning on being Techni and spending most of my time in front of spreadsheets, so when I realized I would actually be spending most of my time planning and running programming, my brain had to do a bit of a switch. Even when I got used to the idea, I wasn’t confident that kids would be enthusiastic. How much fun can you really have over zoom? But I have been so so amazingly surprised. I’ve found that the kids have a genuine desire to be there and engage with the content we are bringing them in a way that makes all the work and screen time worth it.

Describe a peula you ran where you felt like you were making a difference for the chanichimot.

I ran a peula for bonimot (9th graders) zman kvutsa where we played a dungeons and dragons type game in which the kids’ quest was to get elected president. When we planned it, I wasn’t sure how much they would get into it. It demanded a lot of creativity and silliness to actually be fun, but they totally rose to the challenge. One chanichol was a hotdog who turned out to be a hamburger, but was able to recover her campaign through an instagram live, and another came up with the genius slogan “a vote for me is a vote for me.” I laughed the entire time. 

Summer 2020 is a unique one in Habonim Dror North America history, with machanot meeting virtually or for day camps during the coronavirus pandemic. We’re asking our dedicated madrichimot what it’s been like to continue to #LeadTheHaboWay during this unprecedented time. 

Why did you choose to be a madrichol during the summer?

Last summer was my first summer being a madrichol, and it was such a rewarding experience I knew I wanted to do it again. Then going on Workshop solidified how much I want and love to be a madricha, and how much I thrive off of helping others and giving back, just like my madrichimot did for me. I wanted to create an environment where even though obviously we’re not at Tavor this summer, we could all get together and support our community together. I was still be able to be a madricha with all the new things that I’ve learned on Workshop, even though it wasn’t the same as if we were at Tavor.

How does it feel to meet chanichimot during this specific summer?

It was really cool to try something new and be online and run different chuggim for kids. It didn’t feel exactly like it always did at machaneh. It was a cool challenge to try something new and be creative and still be able to talk to chanichim and have a relationship with them and catch up from wherever we left off last year.

Describe a peula you ran where you felt like you were making a difference for the chanichimot.

I ran a chug with another girl called the Tavor Turnip where we invited chanichimot every Wednesday to come and write satirical news articles. So some we’re like writing about their experiences at camp, or a survey about what do you like more, the chof or the brecha, things like that. Over the four weeks we were able to make a newspaper that’s coming out hopefully very soon. That gave them a purpose and made them feel connected, and it was really sweet. There were a bunch of young chanichimot who were really excited that they were like doing three different tafkidim all in one hour of when we were meeting. It was very interesting to catch up with them.

Summer 2020 is a unique one in Habonim Dror North America history, with machanot meeting virtually or for day camps during the coronavirus pandemic. We’re asking our dedicated madrichimot what it’s been like to continue to #LeadTheHaboWay during this unprecedented time. 

Why did you choose to be a madrichol during the summer?

I chose to be a madrichol during the summer because for so many years I was fortunate enough to have the most incredible experiences at machaneh due to my tzevet, and I wanted to be able to pass that onto the chanichimot. I felt that it was especially important to be a madrichol during this specific summer, because although we are not able to be together in person, I want to make sure that the chanichimot never forget the magic of machaneh and kvutzah no matter how far apart they may be. 

How does it feel to meet chanichimot during this specific summer?

Meeting with chanichimot this summer has truly been a unique experience. Although at first it felt weird not to be together in person, our virtual check-ins, activities, and peulot very quickly became just as meaningful and fun as they would have been at machaneh. Every time I have a call with my chanichimot, I can feel the ruach and love through my computer screen and it always leaves me smiling for hours.

Describe a peula you ran where you felt like you were making a difference for the chanichimot.

I recently ran a virtual peula for my chanichimot where I tried to help them cope with their feelings of missing machaneh as a physical space. I had noticed many chanichimot feeling sad about this and I wanted us all to work through it together. For this peula, all of the chanichimot had the opportunity to draw pictures of their favourite places and/or memories of machaneh and then present them to the kvutzah. This activity allowed them to use creativity as an outlet for any feelings they were having towards the lack of our in-person summer in a positive way. I was able to aid the chanichimot and myself in turning sad and nostalgic thoughts into happy memories and excitement for the future. 

Summer 2020 is a unique one in Habonim Dror North America history, with machanot meeting virtually or for day camps during the coronavirus pandemic. We’re asking our dedicated madrichimot what it’s been like to continue to #LeadTheHaboWay during this unprecedented time. 

Why did you choose to be a madrichol this summer? 

Rachel, Shani and I chose to be madrichimot for the madatz at Miriam in a summer that we thought would be ideal and normal. These choices kind of seemed natural as the next steps we wanted to take in the movement but the harder choice that we didn’t think we were making when we signed up to do this, was to be madrichimot during a crisis..This required a second choice to reaffirm ourselves to not only choose to be madatz madrichimot but also to try and be madatz madrichimot without knowing exactly what the summer is going to look like…In the end we chose it and we chose it because we knew that specifically at Miriam we had a huge opportunity to create an experience for our chanichimot that not a lot of other machanot in the movement were able to create. 

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Summer 2020 is a unique one in Habonim Dror North America history, with machanot meeting virtually or for day camps during the coronavirus pandemic. We’re asking our dedicated madrichimot what it’s been like to continue to #LeadTheHaboWay during this unprecedented time. 

Why did you choose to be a madrichol this summer? 

I chose to be a madrichol this summer because I felt that it was super important to create a way for chanichimot to feel connected to and supported by their Mosh community. Growing up as a chanichol, going to Mosh during the summer was vital for me: I looked forward to the summer all year. I wanted to ensure that chanichimot who feel the same way I felt are able to still connect with their peers and the Mosh community as a whole this summer, despite our inability to physically be at Mosh. 

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Summer 2020 is a unique one in Habonim Dror North America history, with machanot meeting virtually or for day camps during the coronavirus pandemic. We’re asking our dedicated madrichimot what it’s been like to continue to #LeadTheHaboWay during this unprecedented time. 

Why did you choose to be a madrichol this summer? 

I chose to be a madricha during the summer because it felt to me like it would be a really meaningful time where things were happening. It felt like a moment in which we actually got to choose if we want to engage in a radical process of living by our values, or in this time of hardship, are we going to say it’s hard and give up. For me, giving up didn’t seem like an option. It felt way more vital that now is a time to step up and demonstrate the power of the movement. 

We talk about youth autonomy and youth empowerment and this summer we got to build camp entirely from scratch and fully take ownership over it in ways that we don’t usually get to in summers and so it especially felt like a time to advocate for youth autonomy.

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