By Cantor Vicky Glikin, Congregation Solel in Highland Park, IL, Gesher Segel
Gesher is off to an amazing start! This morning our song-leaders together with segel led beautiful T’filot in which we talked about the difference between keva and kavannah. Both have a place in prayer and are important. Keva refers to the words we say and our desire to say them correctly. Kavannah refers to the feeling that we bring to our prayer experience. Kavannah without keva is not rooted in tradition. Keva without kavannah is boring and uninspiring. We are able to have meaningful prayer experiences when we have both, keva and kavannah. It was truly amazing to discuss these complex issues with 7-9th graders in my unit, who contributed in deep and meaningful ways.
All of the chanichim participate in limud , which is taught by the madrichim and segel. Our unit is learning about Israel and we are lucky enough to not only have Israeli madrichim, but to also have two Israeli chanichim. Today, the Israeli chanichim shared their families’ stories of aliyah, which were very different and interesting. One of the girls’ families moved to Israel from Mexico, while the others’ roots lead back to America and Holland. Israel is made richer by the different cultural backgrounds that make up its demographics and we were fortunate to learn directly from Israeli teenagers.
In addition to Jewish studies, chanichim also participate in the learning of Hebrew as a spoken language. You will have noticed my use of Hebrew terms throughout this blog entry and this reflects the language of the camp, where there is a consistent effort to infuse the day with Hebrew words and terms. It is incredibly impressive and inspiring to see how much Hebrew the chanichim have learned from their years at camp. It is also exciting to think how their Hebrew will improve over the coming weeks!
It’s not all Jewish study and Hebrew, however! Chanichim also get to participate in sports, swimming, and chugim. The list of chugim is truly exhaustive! From journalism to media production, from silent reading to improv, from leadership to programming, from dance to drama, from krav maga to yoga, the list goes on and on… It is very exciting to see the chanichim learn and have fun in small groups, as well as create community. It is also exciting to see how Jewish identities are formed right here, in Oconomowoc, WI!