...we're mighty glad you're here! We'll send the air reverberating with a mighty cheer! We'll sing you in, we'll sing you out, for you we'll raise a mighty shout! Hail, hail, the gang's all here, Camp Tawonga welcomes you!

These are the first words, the first song, the kids hear as they get off the bus and set foot at camp. The Session 4, Session 4 Carmel, and Sports Program kids cheered along, excited to finally be at camp! After meeting their counselors and having dinner, the entire community joined at the stage for the opening campfire.

Shabbat is a very special time at camp in which campers celebrate Judaism through songs, dinner, conversation, dancing, and a beautiful Saturday Torah service. Shabbat begins on Friday at about 5pm when songleaders and staff stroll to all of the cabins and pick up excited campers who join in their singing and strolling. The Shabbat stroll ends at the doors of the dining hall where campers await their tasty Shabbat dinner. Session 3 Shabbat was wonderful - campers and staff both enjoyed strolling, singing, eating, and dancing with their friends.

Shalom from Kibbutz Lotan in the southern negev! We are all doing really well and thrilled to be here at Lotan, which is an amazing place. Each day is very full and rich, and it actually feels like many weeks since we've been here because we have done and seen so much.

The mifgash (encounter) with the Israeli teens was fun. The home stay shabbat was a highlight for everyone, not just because they got to sleep in real beds, do their laundry, and get to know Israeli families, but mainly because it gave them a taste of what "real life" is like for their Israeli friends with whom they developed a real closeness. The teens organized a party for Friday night which the staff attended (sat in the corner trying to be unobtrusive), and they seemed to have had a blast together dancing, laughing, and showing each other the ropes of how each group spends fun time together. When we reconvened at the end of shabbat, the teens reported that shabbat itself (Saturday) had been spent doing things like blueberry picking, swimming, touring the kibbutzim or villages where the Israelis live, eating a lot (!!), and catching up on sleep and relaxation. When we said goodbye to our Israeli friends there were many hugs, a few tears, and many a commitment to remain in touch and gather again, perhaps at Tawonga!

On Sunday morning we headed south and spent a good part of the day on the bus making our way from the northern tip of the country to practically the southern tip. Along the way we made a stop in Jerusalem where we had a picnic lunch at the park outside of the knesset (the Israeli government) where a group of Bedouin we were meeting with had set up a small tent city where they were demonstrating against the policies of the government which has refused to recognize and provide services to many of their villages. Their signs said things like "demolition is not democracy." The Bedouin are by nature nomadic, and they prefer to live on the land in villages, and yet the state of Israel has refused to recognize some of their villages as legitimate, which means they are given no electricity on the national grid, no access to water through pipes, no representation in the government, and none of the amenities that other groups, even most other Arab groups, enjoy. In some cases their villages are simply demolished. We heard from Mustafa (his words translated by our Israeli staff member Reut) about the plight of his people and learned about the nature of the protest. The teens had many great questions, and it exposed us to sides of Israel that brought up more of the complexities of life here.

We then were able to contrast what we learned from the Bedouin from the unrecognized villages to another picture of Bedouin life when we stayed overnight in a huge Bedouin tent village designed for groups and tourists. There we rode camels (the teens LOVED that, especially the hilarious grunting noises the camels made for the rest of the night), and the host Bedouins made us tea, showed us how they grind and make coffee, cooked flat bread on the fire, played some Bedouin wedding songs on the oud, and introduced us to the positive and very interesting aspects of Bedouin culture. It was a great source of learning to have had two completely different experiences with the Bedouin, and the teens are thinking crtitically and able to ask provocative and thoughtful questions to help us all learn more.

We woke up in the tent at 4:00 a.m., and bleary-eyed but enthusiastic nonetheless, climbed Masada to see the sun rise. At Masada we got a tour led by Reut and Aaron, who led a great discussion on the controversy around the issues of suicide (or, in the case of the zealots, what was more like "noble death") in Judaism. The teens grappled with what they might do in a situation like the one the zealots had to face....would they choose to live but be captured like slaves and be forced to surrender their culture and values, or choose to die, even if by their own hands - forbidden within Jewish tradition. Another tough issue and a great discussion.

After Masada everyone enjoyed some free fun time at the Dead Sea, swimming both in the sea and in the pool at the hotel where we had lunch, putting mud all over them for a mineral bath, and just plain old play time. After that everyone fell fast asleep on the bus, and we had to wake them up when we arrived here at Lotan.

Lotan is an incredible place. The whole kibbutz is based on a permaculture, eco-village model. All the buildings and play areas are made from mud bricks, which our teens spent their morning making! We learned all about how they compost everything they use, how they re-use "grey" water for irrigation, capture solar energy (abundant down here!) and sell it to the national grid in return for electricity at night, recycle and reuse as much as they possibly can, and turn even their trash (like bottles, tires, etc) into play structures, buildings, and functional areas by covering everything in the mud bricks and straw bales they construct here - all from organic materials. It's just amazing. We will have many pictures to send and share very soon.

We will be here at Lotan for the next few days and are having a great time. Service, learning, socializing, discussing, getting in touch with ourselves, with each other, and with the people, the culture and the land here. It's been amazing so far and we know will continue to unfold and exceed our wildest expectations in its wonderousness.

Lots of love, or as they say here "B'ahava",

the TSL group

This week Harry Potter visited Camp Tawonga for the seventh time! Campers are excited to read J.K. Rowling's final tome in which Harry, Ron, and Hermione battle the evil Voldemort.

Space invaders overtook Tawonga during the 3rd Session Intergalactic Games! Dressed to the nines in foil, antennae, and other space-like items, the entire camp was transformed into an interplanetary explosion.

Campers were assigned teams, in which they created team names and cheers, and participated in "intergalactic games" like tug-of-war and wheel barrow races. All in all, it was out of this world!






























This team crafts their team handshake.

SHALOM from ISRAEL!! We are now at our first work project up in the north, near Kiryat Shmona, along with 14 Israeli teens who joined us last night. We are taking a break for lunch and to cool off…the temperatures are easily in the 90’s and the sun is strong. We are all doing well.

The flights were easy, no hassles. We arrived on Monday afternoon and began our journey up north, stopping along the way to do a brief welcome ceremony led by our Israeli tour guide Reut (she’s awesome). We were at a place overlooking the Kineret (the Sea of Galilee) below, a perfect spot to say a shechechiyanu and a Kiddush and motzi over grape juice and challah.

We are staying at a camp called Kimama at Kibbutz Amir. It’s not too much like Tawonga physically (okay, nothing like it), except it turns out they sing a lot of the same songs, which we heard as we entered the camp. After our first night of “sleep” we went in the morning to our work project site, working with a project in Kiryat Shmona called Ayalim.

Ariell carrying buckets (there was a lot of bucket carrying)

Ayalim is an initiative to get Israeli 20-somethings, post-army and post-travel, to return to Israel and get involved in community service as they begin their university studies. In exchange for subsidies for their schooling, they work in poorer neighborhoods and development towns to create or rehab affordable housing (in which they then live) and volunteer on projects to beautify and revitalize the areas. The project is designed to make the neighborhoods attractive places to live, and safe, accessible areas for the neighbors to enjoy. Our work project has involved beautifying a garden and playground area. We have been mixing cement to build a decorative stone wall, hauling little stones (called “toof”…we dubbed the project “toof love” – get it?) with buckets and filling in the areas around the playground, and beautifying and cleaning up a garden.

Moving rocks to make a pathway a little more functional

Yesterday evening after a very interesting talk from an expert on the topic of water in the region (very provocative and elicited a number of great questions from the group), we were joined by 14 Israeli teens from the northern region, most of whom are Tawonga teens. The reunion was gleeful, full of hugs, laughs, and lots of singing. We had a boisterous song session after dinner last night, and played a few games to deepen the connections.

So, that brings us to right now. Our lunch just arrived. Everyone is hungry and enjoying being inside in the mazgan (air conditioning) after a long morning of work (with many water breaks, don’t worry!). We will be in touch soon. We send our love.

B’ahava,

The TSL Israel group

3rd session campers certainly know how to keep cool! From paddleboating and canoeing on the lake, to taking a dip in the pool or in the river, water activities are ever-popular at camp.

Camp is buzzing with incredible energy as the Session 3 campers settle in. Each meal in the dining hall is full of cheering, singing, and laughter, and every where we look there are kids having a blast!

Shabbat is a very special time at camp in which campers celebrate Judaism through songs, dinner, conversation, dancing, and a beautiful Saturday Torah service. Shabbat begins on Friday at about 5pm when songleaders and staff stroll to all of the cabins and pick up excited campers who join in their singing and strolling. The Shabbat stroll ends at the doors of the dining hall where campers await their tasty Shabbat dinner:

Besides all of the exciting cabin and unit activities at camp such as meals, games, arts & crafts, swimming, climbing, campfires, and song sessions, campers also have a chance to relax with their new friends.

Here is a session 2 camper enjoying some swinging in her free time:


Meanwhile, four of our In Training Campers (also known as ITs) enjoy a game of bocce lakeside:

Welcome to the Camp Tawonga Canteen, your one-stop shop to tons of Tawonga goodies! We sell Tawonga clothing, Tawonga waterbottles, songbooks, CDs, snacks, toothbrushes, batteries, flashlights, hair rubberbands, disposable cameras, postcards, pens, stamps, and much, much more! The canteen exists in two different places: 1. at camp and 2. online. Here's how it works: At Camp Tawonga campers first place orders with their bunk counselors:

Arts and Crafts is an ever-popular program area at Tawonga. Campers enjoy making new art projects that they can bring home as a physical souvenir of their time at camp. Between cabin time and floats, there are always creative juices flowing in the newly designed Arts 'n Crafts shed. Check out the progress of G7 on the potter's wheel!