What is Ofek?

This year, we are excited to announce a new addition to the Workshop tochnit (program)! Ofek (horizon) is a chance for the chanichim to explore Israel and Israeli culture while developing an area of their own interest. Each chanich will choose from three options, each one designed to enhance their ability as madrichim by giving them tools to use their experiences and new found knowledge to strengthen their educational capacity. This year, Ofek will take place from December 7th to December 17th, and the three options will be a tiyul, a Jewish study, and an agricultural work placement.

Tiyul - The tiyul will be a chance to develop their skills at planning and leading tiyulim (hikes), while completing a more challenging tiyul. They will spend several days preparing for their tiyul: planning the menu, shopping, learning about the path they will be hiking and the geography and history of the area. Each chanich will plan small hadrachot (lessons/explanations) of the area where they will be hiking. They will be backpacking for five days in the South of the country. The sikkum will include projects/ideas for how to improve tiyulim at their home machanot.

Jewish Study - Bina, the Center for Jewish Identity and Hebrew Culture, is a secular yeshiva located in the heart of Tel Aviv. In their own words: "the Secular Yeshiva aims to cultivate a new generation of secular Israeli leaders who possess in-depth familiarity with the Hebrew cultural past and present, and who embrace social activism and Jewish study as central values by which to live. The Secular Yeshiva is a home where young adult students experience intensive learning, encounter varied approaches to Jewish life and embark upon on a fascinating journey." You can read more about Bina here. Workshoppers will be taking several courses a day, for example Jewish ethics and philosophy, or Shabbat and Chaggim, and getting a chance to learn more about Jewish ritual and morals through films and siyurim (tours). They will take this knowledge back to HDNA, to strengthen and enrich their ability to be Jewish leaders. Workshoppers will be living in the Kaveret house in Rishon Letzion and travelling to Bina every day.

Agriculture - Living on Kibbutz Ravid, the chanichim will be working every day in the mango, olive and grapefruit fields. This is a chance to develop their connection not only to the land of Israel, but also to the history of Habonim as an agricultural kibbutz-building movement. They will be discussing and learning about HDNA's relationship to farming, including the development of the gan/chava (small farms) that exist at many of the machanot.

Guest educators visited from Bina and ran an activity to explain more about Bina.

Debating if studying or learning is more important.

Learning in chevruta, the traditional Jewish form of text study.

Spread around in their chevruta pairs.