ShnUpdate- Shnat Tzuf South- 6.10.21

Weekly update by Oscar Rath- Netzer Australia

After learning that we had another week on Kibbutz Harduf, the Australians and the South Africans were eager to keep busy as there weren’t as many people around as usual, due to the other people on the project having started their volunteering. So one of our very own, Ariella, wrote and ran an amazing program for us all on religion, what components make up religions and how this relates to Judaism.

Later that night after everyone in project TEN had gotten back from volunteering we decided that for Shabbat dinner we would order pizza. So thanks to Faiz, the amazing person in charge of project TEN on Harduf, we all feasted on a number of different pizzas from a local pizza place near Harduf, to which no surprise were eaten in their entirety. After digesting the silly amount of pizza we’d all consumed the whole gang got together to head to the kibbutz pub as this would be our last opportunity to do so. The night was filled with lots of fun, laughter and dancing.

It was a late wakeup on Saturday morning and the day was filled with relaxing by the pool as it was the last day of the year that the kibbutz pool would be open, playing a lot of cards games and the occasional nap here and there.

Sunday being the start of the Israeli week meant that we were put to work. With some help from our friend Erez, who was in a previous cohort of Project TEN and is currently staying in the forest of Shaar La’adam, we stained the wooden deck of the outdoor stage in Sha'ar La’dam. First we had to water down the deck in order to clean it and this was done by fireman Oscar and fireman Ghaim. Then we each got to work, listening to music and always laughing while finishes of the entire deck.

After a hard day's work we thought it’d be a good idea to order some burgers to be delivered which we enjoyed thoroughly. Once stuffing our faces with food, Jules and Ghaim decided to run a great program for us on South African culture, food and slang, which somehow made us hungry again even after just eating.

Monday was a bit of a bittersweet day for us all as it was the day that Emma was leaving us. As a farewell, we decided to head to the kibbutz grocery store pick up some snacks and have a little picnic on the grass. We had some good food, sang some songs and reminisced about the amazing time we’ve all had so far in Israel even if it was coming towards and end for some of us.

Later that night some of the us from Netzer and Project TEN joined the Kibbutz’ weekly ultimate Frisbee game/competition, in with we were quite significantly out performed but had lots of fun anyway.

On Tuesday we were all super excited as Netzer was taking us on a day trip to Tzfat led by our amazing madricha Noya. We explored the amazing art district and the beautiful shops all while Noya explaining the historical significance of Tzfat and how many influential pieces of Jewish writing came out of Tzfat. One of the most memorable shops we visited was a candle shop with had the world's biggest Havdalah candle with took 4 months to make. We finished off the day with Shawarma and Falafel because “when in Rome”.

After coming back from Tzfat in the late afternoon, everyone was frantically trying to prepare for the wedding we were attending. Our leader on Harduf, Faiz, had been invited to a wedding in the neighbouring Arab town of Ka’abiyye and had happened to get an invitation as well for all of Project TEN. Once everyone had dressed up and was ready to go, we made our way through the town to the wedding, always following the blaring sound of Arabic music no doubt coming from the wedding. We arrived at the wedding and were all a bit star struck by the size of everything and the amount of people that were there, nevertheless we all sat down. Even though we did need to separate between girls and boys, we ate a massive dinner filled with the most delicious food to the point where most of the boys could barely stand. Only to migrate over to the dessert section where we again stuffed our face with Arabic desserts and the most amazing Knafeh. The rest of the night was filled with lots of celebration, dancing and a lot of loud music. When we got back to Sha'ar La’adam everyone crashed after a long day in Tzfat and at the wedding.

That brings us to today which was again a very bittersweet day because the other two South Africans, Jules and Ghaim were leaving us. We held a very heartwarming circle with all the people on Project TEN as well as Faiz, so that we could reflect upon our incredible time with them. After some emotions and goodbye hug,s we waved goodbye to our SA friends as they drove out the gates of Harduf. Which brings us to now, as the Australians prepare to leave Harduf and the amazing friends we’ve made on Friday and head to Jerusalem to meet up with our Israelis who we will spend the next 3 months with.