This is really a blog for yesterday (Thursday), but also for the early hours of this morning. Yesterday was an interesting, varied day, with lots of different things happening and lots of ice cream (mmm.... biscuit cornetto).
In the morning (after Shacharit (morning prayers) and breakfast), we boarded the coach in "messy" clothes (or clothes we didn't mind getting dusty or "a little muDDy" (which seemed unlikely to me- the mud, that is- since there is little rain and little water in Israel as it is)) and headed off to a set of caves (which I don't remember the name of) where we were told the mysteries of the chalk quarrying caves and the Rav Mitch told us a scary story ("When the log rolls over, we will all be dead!"). We were then led on our hands and knees through a teeny weeny pitch black tunnel into a relatively tiny cave(well, it seemed pretty small with 30 or so of us in there anyway. We could barely move around in there), where we had the most amazing ruach (atmosphere- raise the roof singing type thing) which I loved. (And the girls did join in, boys. Just 'cause there are more of you. :P)
After that, we were supposed to go to more caves and tunnels but unfortunately (or fortunately for the claustrophobes) we didn't have time. However, we went to Tel Azeka (where the story of David and Goliath in the Bible happened) and Rav Mitch told us what he normally does with groups there (but we didn't have time) re-enacting the story a bit, admiring the view (which is absolutely amazing) and took a group photo (which is tradition at Tel Azeka, or so it feels). Anyone who has that group photo digitally, please send it to me. I forgot to take my camera up there with me. :S
In the afternoon, the boys went to Yeshivat Hakotel and had chevrutot (one-on-one learning) and a shiur (a text based learning session) with the Bnei Akiva (the youth movement I belong to) Rav Shaliach (Rabbi who comes from Israel to England for two years) who has just returned (we had a farewell party for him during pre-camp), although I think it was one or the other that they went to, as we were all running late and they didn't have time to go to both.
Meanwhile we (the girls) went to Nishmat (a seminary in Bayit Vagan, a suburb of Jerusalem), where we had an excellent shiur on the three parts of the Torah- the mountain, the field and the house. The Rabbi giving the shiur managed to connect this into various things, including the Temples, our forefathers and the studying of Torah. However, the shiur only lasted 45 minutes, we weren't given a tour of the campus (we saw one room and the toilet, although the room we were in was quite nice I thought) and we had an hour and a half to kill before the coach returned with the boys. So we went for a walk, bought ice-cream, walked a bit further and arrived at another shop where three girls randomly decided to buy dummies, which was rather funny. Charlie and Tamar drove past at one point, saw us, turned around and came to chat for a bit, which was fun and probably one of the highlights of our hour and a half of nothingness.
Tonight (it finished about an hour ago) I went to an optional shiur given by Benjy Myers about humility; asking why anybody has the right to stand up and tell someone else what to do. (This seemed particularly relevant as everyone here has just taken camp and so been in such a position.) I thought it was a good shiur, although it was rather long (it started at 11.30, and finished at 1.50)- I had two cups of Arabic/Turkish coffee. :) We were given two sources- one showing humility to be a good thing, and one showing it to be a bad thing. We had lots of discussions, and, fortunately, not everyone in the group was of the same opinion (although I suppose that is why the shiur lasted so long. But I like discussion :) ) and we had great ones about what humility is and the like.
Since then, everyone has been hanging about chatting etc. outside the building with our rooms in, which is fun, but I was growing tired, hence coming in and writing this. Anyway, enough for now- I need sleep!
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