Aviv Community Program: Last Week in Ra'anana

The final week of community program could not have gone quick enough for some as the most frequently used terms in the Ra’anana camp somehow managed to be “anxiety” and “I’m done” by a long haul thanks exclusively to the females residing there. As the countdown to our final volunteering session at Leket pushed into overdrive the excitement to move on to an exciting new chapter of the program peaked, for some, Ra’anana had transformed from the world’ greatest location into a never-ending hellhole. Sunday was Yom Hashoah, the day in which Israel nationally recognises and mourns the 6 million Jews who perished in the holocaust, Ra’anana’s commemoration was nothing short of remarkable as almost the entire population turned out in Yad Levanim, the town centre, for a moving service. Despite it being conducted entirely in Hebrew it was still unbelievably relatable and emotional.

Monday Tuesday and Wednesday all began in the same way, featuring volunteering at Leket dividing various fruits into their places and divvying up orders, following this we headed back to the Mircaz Klita (absorption centre). Monday night saw our first peula in the lead-up to our impending trip to Poland in which we addressed some harrowing statistics about the holocaust and discussed our thoughts and feelings about Poland and the holocaust itself. We were also assigned the biography of a real person whom we could relate to throughout our emotional journey. Tuesday was a special day in which the madrichim treated us to a lavish lunch at Bleecker Bakery at the Raanana Mall, food which plainly and simply made the food which we had been making ourselves seem like complete and utter tasteless filth; later that night we were further treated to a movie. Wednesday night, our last in Ra’anana featured a peula run by Amir about the Israel’s history focusing mainly on its many wars and their effects on Israeli society.

When Thursday finally arrived the girls could hardly contain their excitement, our final session of Leket was over before we knew it and the excruciating task of packing up our apartments came and went; until finally we were allowed our final leave of absence. Some headed to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem whilst others dispersed to various other destinations across the country, as the curtain closed on a great month in Ra’anana on community program.

I don’t usually share the nuisances of my own personal free weekend however I have chosen to make an exception this weekend due to the unbelievably amazing surroundings which I found myself in. Myself and three school friends (Sam, Eli and Haim) from Sydney managed to find accommodation smack bang in the centre of the old city of Jerusalem, a 5 minute walk to the Kotel, which I found myself attending at each and every opportunity including in the middle of the night. Friday night was particularly special as we found ourselves joining in dancing and singing with soldiers at the Kotel before participating in a kabbalat Shabbat service with many other Australian gap-yearers, Shnat people, IBC and many others; as we looked around at where we were I was absolutely struck by the amazingness of my surroundings, the kotel, a place of ground-breaking spiritual gravity. We had arranged to be sent to a Shabbat meal at a family following our visit to the kotel, and soon found ourselves at a dinner in the middle of Mea Shearim (Jerusalem’s most religious neighbourhood) alongside a rabbi, his family and roughly 20 yeshiva students. At first, I was quite uncomfortable in such a foreign environment but quickly enough we got into the conversation and soon found out these were just people like anyone else. It was an amazing experience and an awesome weekend, one which I simply felt I had to put into writing and share.

Another awesome week down, 56 days to look forward to!

Thanks for reading!

Jake