Over the past few years Gilboa has partnered with different communities to run in-person High Holidays programming, including IKAR, Shtibl Minyan, and the Kitchen in SF. This year we were able to bring these activities to Zoom and have Gilboa chanichimot (campers) join in on the fun and learning alongside kids from our 2020 partner communities, IKAR and TBI Highland Park.
Rosh Hashanah:
We were all hanging out on Zoom, saying hello and getting to know each other, when we suddenly heard a strange noise. It was coming from some of the participants. When they finally turned their cameras on, it turned out alien friends were visiting us! They had heard we were 6 months into a pandemic and had learned how to build community even when physically apart. Coincidentally, the aliens were dealing with the same issue on their planet so they joined us to learn from the pros!
Together we played a fun gameshow where we answered trivia questions about Rosh Hashanah, completed silly challenges, and went on scavenger hunts. Some of the questions on the board were secretly special values squares - if we chose one of these, we had the opportunity to share with the aliens what the core values of community are and how we've still been able to bring these values into our communities these past 6 months.
Yom Kippur
On Yom Kippur, the story of Jonah and the Whale guided us in thinking about our own places as individuals in fixing what's broken in the world and bringing about a more loving and just society.
The activity started with a mysterious phone call - apparently God was calling to