Shnat is where I made the decision to live the rest of my life building a better world as a Shomer.
-Daniel Roth, Shnat 2000-2001
-Daniel Roth, Shnat 2000-2001
The Elements That Make Up Shnat Tzafon and Australia
Each of the English speaking Shnat programs (Tzafon and Australia) are made up of 3 of the following overarching chapters. These form the building blocks of the Shnat Hachshara program. Shnat is a living and breathing program. In each chapter participants live, learn and work together in a facilitated process. Every cohort looks different and brings different elements together to form the program. The program coordinators and guides shape these elements for each Shnat cohort anew so that the elements that make up the year reflect the aims of the individuals in the program, the group as a collective and, and to reflect the reality on the ground.
Kibbutz – During the Kibbutz chapter, Shomrim*ot have the opportunity to live, learn and work together with other Shnat participants from across the World Movement in Kibbutz Gan Shmuel in the north of Israel. A large focus of this section of the program is to understand and experience life on the kibbutz and to engage and connect with the history and the living community there. Day to day life during this part of the program include: Working on the kibbutz, eating in the cheder ochel (communal dining hall), peulot based on weekly topics surrounding Hashomer Hatzairs ideology, kibbutz family placements, learning Hebrew, seminars, tiyulim (trips around the country), bringing in guest speakers, and more.
Communa - For the Communa chapter, the Shnat group is given the opportunity to live together at the center of Haifa while managing their collective home life autonomously, sharing time, space, budgets, chores, and celebrations, which they build and shape as a group. The two main aspects of this chapter are exploring and learning about the meaning of communal living as Shomrim*ot, while also having a heavy emphasis on volunteering across various sections of Haifa’s multifaceted society. Thic an include work with at-risk youth, coexistence projects, caring for animals and more. The goal here is to experience a model of the urban Shomeric lifestyle in the 21st century; one where the kvutza lives communally and engages in the reality around them through social justice work in a range of areas.
Machon – Machon L’Madrichei Chutz La’Aretz (The Institute for youth leaders abroad) is a 4 month intensive leadership training course based in Jerusalem. For this section of the program, participants live, study, and tour with a cohort made up of various other international youth movements across the religious and political spectrum, in order to become better prepared as youth leadership for their respective communities after the program. The classes range from various topics such as Hadracha (leadership and informal education), Jewish and Israeli history, politics, Hebrew, Judaism and more. Compared to any other part of the Shnat program, Machon encourages critical discuss, learning and political engagement in a challenging pluralist environment situated in arguably the most interesting and engaging cities in the world.
Final Project – In the final project chapter the Shnat group engages in a process of learning, bonding, and working together throughout the year, in order to have the opportunity to shape and decide as a kvutza a project of their choosing in Israel; whether that be something related to ecology & sustainability, education, politics, the conflict, disability support and so on. The group arrives at a collective decision through a facilitated process of understanding how to work and build projects together and obtain skills and resources from within and outside of the World movement. Participants will be empowered to return to their communities with the skills and experiences to build meaningful community and social justice projects of their own.
