Hunger And Chills
Taught Us Lessons
AVI EBENSTEIN STUDENT WRITER
A
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i,
AMERKAN
CANCER
SOCIETY
t summer camp this
year, I found myself
cold, ravenous and
weary from trudging
up the Allegheny River for
eight hours without breaks,
food or dry clothing.
But it was the best vaca-
tion of my life. Seriously.
These hellish conditions
were common while I was
participating in a program
called Machal. The program
is run by Camp Stone, in
northern Pennsylvania, spon-
sored by Bnei Akiva.
Bnei Akiva, an interna-
tional Zionist youth move-
ment, encourages young
people to move to Israel and
prepares them for the expe-
rience through programs like
Machal.
Machal is an acronym, de-
rived from the Hebrew words
"It was the best
vacation of
my life."
Avi Ebenstein
meaning "Camp Pioneers."
During my month at Machal,
I hiked, canoed, pitched tents
and lit campfires with nine
other 14- and 15-year-old
boys and girls.
"The program attempts to
show the kids that they can
survive for extended periods
of time without what are typ-
ically considered bare neces-
sities: food, shelter, electricity
and heat," said Ari Ellen,
head Machal counselor.
Mr. Ellen stressed that liv-
ing without these creature
comforts is good practice for
surviving disasters. I per-
sonally think that this expe-
rience could be useful in a
time of extreme peril, like the
Gulf War, when Israelis had
to live without necessities
during the Scud missile at-
tacks.
In addition, the campers
realize they cannot always
depend on counselors for
guidance, but rather must or-
ganize themselves as a group.
For example, on many occa-
sions, we were left alone by a
fire pit and told to share all
the food equally. Surprising-
ly, this worked rather well,
even though none of us had
eaten in six hours.
Avi Ebenstein is a sophomore
at Akiva Hebrew Day School.
Avl Ebenstein
"At first, there were plen-
ty of arguments (between
campers), but the group even-
tually realized that coopera-
tion is the fastest way of
collecting wood, starting a fire
and dividing the food equal-
ly," said counselor Debra
Chopp.
"The main point of Machal
is to teach the participants
that they can survive without
elders as long as the group
works together," Mr. Ellen
said.
Shari Weinstein, a Machal
participant, said:
"The program entrusts us
with a lot of responsiblity, but
the whole group lives up to it.
In the process, we learn a lot
and have an awesome time."
Machal also prepares
youth for Mach Hach
Ba'aretz, a six-week Bnei Aki-
va program in Israel for peo-
ple going into their junior
year of high school. Detroiter
Amy Zwas, 17, has partici-
pated in both Machal and
Mach Hach Ba'aretz.
"Mach. Hach adds a his-
torical aspect which Machal
lacks (because participants)
hike through famous monu-
ments in Jewish history. For
example, in Machal we hiked
down some river in Pennsyl-
vania, but in Mach Hach we
were hiking down the same
river that our ancestors hiked
down in order to get supplies
into the besieged Jeru-
salem." 0
If you. are a teen-ager in-
terested in contributing to
"Taking Notes," the new
high school section in The
Jewish News, please call
staff writer Ruth Litt-
mann at 354-6060. The
first "Taking Notes" sec-
tion of this school year
will run in early October.