By Yoni Bean, Grade 9 Student
This past Shabbat was an amazing bonding experience for the new Grade 9s at Or Chaim. We traveled to Camp Moshava Ennismore to spend our first Shabbat together as a grade. I had never been to Moshava before, but one of the first things that caught my eye was the beautiful new shul. One of our first truly memorable experiences together as a grade, inside of the new shul, was an amazing Kabbalat Shabbat led by Rav Yair HaLevi. We could all really feel the energy in the room as he led us in singing and dancing, along with his powerful voice. We then had the honour to listen to Rabbi Grauer welcome us with an inspiring dvar torah. Throughout the shabbaton, we learned in small group with our amazing Rabbis and teachers. After dinner, we had a wonderful tisch, with more singing and dancing. Our student leaders led the way during the tisch with their powerful ruach. After an exhausting day, we went to sleep in the cabins.
The next day we enjoyed some team-building activities led by Ishay and Maoz, this year’s YOC single shlichim.Once those were finished, we had some more learning groups, and after lunch, we had some time to spend together as a grade. After a nice afternoon spending time with our new friends, playing soccer and enjoying the outdoors, we went back to the shul for mincha and then had Seuda Shlishit, with even more group singing and dancing. As we felt the ruach, we grew closer together as a grade.
[callout template=”Quote”] “We had an amazing experience together as a grade, and I could not be happier that I went on this shabbaton.”[/callout]
Once shabbat was over, Daniel Edery led us in a musical Havdalah. This amazing shabbaton could not have been made possible without the great student leaders and the teachers and rabbis who came with on the shabbaton. A particularly special component of the shabbaton was our grade organized much of the davening and leining. I leined the Parsha on shabbat, and felt so proud to be reading from the Torah for my classmates and Rabbeim. We appreciated this valuable leadership opportunity. We had an amazing experience together as a grade, and I could not be happier that I went on this shabbaton.
