Surf, tisch, ruach: students count down to machaneh

Every December, many South African Jewish children and teenagers head for the Cape where they spend the best three weeks of their year on machaneh with their favourite Jewish youth movement.

For many, returning to the campsite is the highlight of their year, with some even counting down the days until they can be free of their parents and get to have good old-fashioned fun with their friends.

Meir Levy, a 13-year-old from Yeshiva College, can’t wait for Bnei Akiva machaneh every year. “It’s the best way to spend your December because you’re always with your friends and always have something to do. You’re not just sitting on your phone like you would if you weren’t at camp.”

Similarly, Darryl Herman, a Grade 10 pupil at Redhill says that she chooses to go to Habonim camp year after year because all her friends are there. “It’s a great place where I can learn leadership, life skills, about world problems, and a place where I can express my Jewish identity without fear or judgement,” she says.

For those children who don’t attend Jewish schools, machaneh is often the only place where they can connect with their Jewish heritage and make and maintain a network of Jewish friends.

“Not going to a Jewish school, Habonim is my connection to Judaism. It’s where I can express my Jewish identity and learn about myself and my Judaism and what that means to me,” says Ben Gorton, a Grade 10 pupil from Crawford Sandton.

“What Habonim does so well is that it shows that you can have a party without any substances or anything like that. Everyone’s there, they’re having fun, they’re dancing, it’s just music. Nothing is needed for it to be more fun,” he says.

For Shalva Sifris, a 15-year-old from Yeshiva College, the best part of going to Bnei Akiva camp is the ruach (spirit) singing sessions. “It’s a beautiful time where you can sing or scream your heart out, connect with Hashem and the people around you, and be a part of something bigger than yourself,” she says.

Josh Woolf, 16, from Yeshiva College also says the spirited sessions are the highlight of the experience because of the “feeling of connection and spirituality you get when just sitting with your friends and your madrichim [leaders] singing songs about peace, hope, and unity. It’s an amazing feeling.”

A Grade 11 student from Herzlia says she’s excited to get to Habonim machaneh this year, which will be the last time as a channichah. “Being almost a maddie and seeing so many women in Habo leadership makes me excited to grow up in the space and continue Habo’s legacy in our precious community,” she says. “I found myself on Habo, and I can’t wait to give that same experience to future channichim. Habo will always inspire me to be a better person and care about the world around me. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be in December.”

Sifris chooses to go to Bnei Akiva machaneh each year because it’s an environment where you can have fun but grow and learn at the same time. “It’s such a powerful time to grow as a proud Jew with people similar and different to you,” she says.

For these teens, going on machaneh allows them to connect with their friends and make new friends that they may well have for life.

Gabriel Spira, a Grade 10 pupil at Redhill, says he’s excited to see his friends from Cape Town because this is the only time all year that he gets to see them.

Similarly, a Grade 9 pupil from King David Victory Park has been looking forward to returning to Habonim camp for months. “There’s no better feeling than chilling on the campsite watching the sunset. My favourite part is Shabbat when we eat all together on kikar [the main field]. I’ve been planning my ruach chants for ages. My friends and I are bringing cool ruach clothes. We’ll paint the machaneh red.”

Yeshiva College student Yonatan Bricker, 15, is particularly excited about spending Shabbat at Bnei Akiva camp this year because of the Kabbalat Shabbat dancing; Friday night tisch; Shabbat day activities; Havdalah; and amazing post-Havdalah ruach.

Bricker says he keeps going back to Bnei Akiva because “you cannot get the feeling anywhere else of sitting next to your friends and madrichim together with a thousand people that are all holding candles and all singing the same song”.

Says Woolf, “Bnei Akiva is special because I get the feeling of being connected to my people and community. It’s just a feeling that, please G-d, won’t end within me. I feel like Bnei Akiva, as a whole, encourages that feeling – the idea of being together and experiencing things together. It’s working together to bond to become different better people, which is why I keep going back.”

Says Herman, “Camp is a nice time where I can get away from Joburg and have a teenage dream in December while meeting new people, learning new skills, and being taught how to think critically.”

Similarly, Da’el Basserabie ,17, a frequent attendee of Bnei Akiva says machaneh is the best place to spend his December holidays because, “it’s three weeks of unbelievable fun, staying up late with your friends, playing sport, and learning. There’s an atmosphere in which everyone is getting along, everyone is friendly, and everyone is having an amazing time doing their own thing.”

However, there are some teens and tweens who could think of nothing worse than staying in a tent away from their parents for three weeks.

One child who wants to stay anonymous says being in a tent in the dirt for three weeks isn’t their idea of a holiday or fun. Another says that she chooses not to go on camp because she knows that she won’t be able to function being far away from her family for that amount of time.

As the saying goes, horses for courses.