Our First Shabbaton: Swag

[Prologue]

Dear Parents,
No need to worry about asking your teens what’s happening in Diller. Daniela, Coby, and I, (RB) are the Blog Committee and we are here for you. This blog is dedicated to discussing our activities and expressing our opinions on the latest news and events in Diller. Enjoy, discuss, and feel free to message us if you’d like to know more. :)
Sincerely,
Daniela, Coby, and RB

Our First Shabbaton: Swag

We’re Jews. We’re teenagers. We’re stuck together for a weekend. And none of us could’ve imagined the relationships we’d form in just forty eight hours.
After an awkward hug goodbye to my mom, her parting words of “don’t do anything stupid”, still ringing in my ears, I enter a bus full of kids, most of whom I’ve only known for about five hours. I’m greeted by friendly faces and shouts of “Hey! I’m so excited for this weekend!” quickly followed by whispered questions of, “I’m sorry. I’m so bad with names. What’s your name again?” Shortly after our mini reunion, the bus pulled away from Metrowest, officially beginning our first Shabbaton. We talked amongst ourselves, and I soon realized that this wasn’t an average group of kids, and I wasn’t going to have an average kind of weekend.

Upon arrival to Wickipeck, the bunk we’d be staying in for the weekend, we all helped unload the massive amounts of suitcases that took up more than half our bus, (someone tell me how I’m going to bring just one suitcase to Israel?!). We chose our beds and settled in our stuff, but there wasn’t much time for talking as we all needed to get ready for Shabbat dinner and prayer!
Dressed and ready, we made ourselves comfortable in the common room, (which, by Saturday night, we’d be begging to return to), and, after walking to where we’d hold almost all of our activities for the weekend, we were finally given our first opportunity to truly bond with each other.

Leah, prepared with prayers galore, (we’d soon learn that, despite massive snow storms that knock out power, Leah would be planned and prepared for just about anything), gave each of us a chance to choose our favorite prayers to sing to. After some shuffling through prayer books, someone picked a song that most of the group knew. And, after singing, we sat down the Shabbat table and went around by index cards, discussing how we observe and how we do certain customs, if we did them at all.

At first when asked, my group fell silent in answering questions about religion and customs. Personally, I felt completely unsure of what to say. I definitely consider myself observant, I mean my family and I observe each holiday and practice ‘normal’ customs of these holidays, but compared to the kid next to me, who attends Shabbat every Friday with his family, I must seem completely ‘un-Jewish’. But, despite all these thoughts flying through my head, I said something anyway. And as soon as I said something, it was understood, and then it was someone else’s turn. Simple. What had I been afraid of? Judgement? If there was one thing I was going to learn that night, it would be that in Diller, there’s no such thing as judgment.

And, as soon as I’d thought that I had figured out this no judgment thing, I was able to confirm my belief. Leah and Max gave each of us something that I personally find amazing. Wait, I’m kidding. Diller 4 gave us something truly amazing that, I’m sure throughout this experience, we will all keep close to us. On their way back from Israel, Diller 4 wrote us letters, specifically, letters of advice. My letter gave me three pieces of advice:

1. Speak your mind: He talks about being shy at first, but in Diller, he learned that no one judges you.
2. You will become one big family: At first, he said he felt that they were “cliquey”, but by the end they were in fact, just one big family.
3. Enjoy your time during the North American Seminar: He says to take complete advantage of the time I spend with my Israeli while they are living with me here.

Oh, and he told me to tell Coby Levine “Hi” from him, which, don’t worry my Diller 4 friend, I most definitely did.

Friday night, we became this “Diller family” that my Diller 4 friend had described in his letter. Of course, we most certainly will grow even more as the year goes on, but that night I, along with all my fellow Diller 5ers, got a taste of something much bigger than ourselves, and something I had not expected to feel. I felt okay. I felt like nothing was wrong in the world. And I felt like I was surrounded by amazing people who I could trust, and grow extremely close to.

Saturday morning, we woke up and managed to get up, get dressed, and meet in the famous common room. We began our day with “Meditation with Max”, led by one of our great Junior Counselor’s, Max. After this, we went outside and did outdoor team bonding... in the flurries. Despite the freezing temperatures and the loss of feeling in my hands, we all looked back and thought, “Wow. I can’t believe we did that.”, because without each other, we wouldn’t of been able to complete anything.

Sadly, during free time the power went out, as in most of New Jersey, and stayed out for the duration of our time on the Shabbaton. And there was also a good foot of snow on the ground. We sadly had to move bunks to one that was powered by the generator. So we schlepped the things we needed for the night across camp into our new bunk. The cabin was warm, but it didn’t feel like ours. We spent one night in Wickipeck and felt totally fully tide to it, so leaving was sad.
We then all decided to have the bonfire that was planned for the night despite the snow and cold. We told some bonfire stories, sang some bonfire songs and roasted some marshmallows. We all then returned to the warmth and sat by a fireplace. We sang, we danced, we played, and overall, we had a great last night.

And then we had to leave. And our first Shabbaton was over. And all of us couldn’t stop telling each other we were going to miss each other. We even joked to have a Diller reunion in the next two hours, but as our parents pulled up to get us I was wishing that it wasn’t a joke and that we actually were going to see each other two hours later, and not two weeks later.

It was forty eight hours that truly made me fall in love with this program, and everyone in it. I absolutely can’t wait for every event coming up if it means I get to be with these people and do great things, like what we did last weekend. On behalf of all Diller 5, I’d really like to say thank you to Leah and Max for dealing with our craziness the entire weekend, I’d like to say thank you to all the kids in Diller 4 for their wonderful words of wisdom, and I’d like to say thank you to Aliza and Noga, who, although unable to attend, left each of us with gifts on our beds on the first night to help us feel more comfortable, (we missed you two!).

I’d also love to take this time I have to thank the rest of Diller 5. Without you guys, this trip wouldn’t have been the same. You all keep me laughing and it’s a sure thing that when we’re together we’re going to have a fantastic time. In the spirit of taking a journey together, I leave you all with a poem about journey, and I can’t wait until we see each other again.

Journey to Be
I think I’ll journey out some day to wondrous lands afar,
Or even chart a journey to a distant blazing star.
But rest assured that when my journey begs to take its cue,
Always know that when I go, this journey takes you too.

We’ll start our journey out from here by horse and cart of old,
The seaside docks - and journey pauses - where we shall behold
A noble schooner for the journey primed to launch as planned:
To sail with dolphins cross the seas then journey back on land.

And so our journey goes by foot to conquer mountains tall:
A chapter hence the journey reached, with scenes that should enthral.
But when we tire, let's rest our journey, stretched in fields of flowers,
And bathe atop the mountain from the journey – autumn showers!

Refreshed, our journey takes a turn - we'll venture back for home,
But first we'll let the journey take a tangent just to roam.
And in the winding route, this journey's bound to bide content,
But most of all take heed - let's make our journey life's event.

Love you all,
RB