Ma'agal Seminars Update!

This winter, madrichimot (counselors) from across the country came together for not one, but two seminars—our first-ever East Coast Seminar, followed by a super fun and meaningful West Coast Seminar a few months later! These seminars are part of our program called Ma’agal which works to keep our Gilboa madrichimot in community with one another throughout the school year. Keep reading for all the highlights.

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East Coast Ma'agal Seminar

With so many Gilboa madrichimot now based in New York and other East Coast cities, we decided it was time to host our very first East Coast Seminar! Folks drove in from DC, NYC, and even Montreal for a cozy November winter weekend up in the beautiful Hudson River Valley.

We kicked off East Coast Seminar by celebrating Shabbat together—sharing Thai food and singing all our favorite camp songs. The morning after everyone arrived, we jumped into a peula (educational activity) exploring the contradictions within American democracy—questioning the two-party system, who it really serves, and whether it can ever truly represent the people. 

Then it was off to a local interactive sculpture garden, where we climbed, balanced, and took lots and lots of photos of one another. We grabbed lunch in town, and then headed back to our weekend home (donated for the seminar by a very generous madricha!) where most of us studied for our college finals. We ordered pizza from town and, once we finished dinner, went outside together for our Havdalah ceremony, where we sang the blessings and shared a quiet moment under the stars together. It was terrific to get to see our best friends again after a few months apart and recreate a little bit of that machaneh kessem (camp magic) with one another... and we couldn't stop talking about recreating it for our chanichimot (campers) this summer!

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West Coast Ma'agal Seminar 

A couple months later, in January, we were on the West Coast—and this time, the newest madrichimot from Workshop 75 joined us for their very first seminar as part of tzevet gadol (Gilboa staff)! We kicked off the weekend in Los Angeles with another Friday night Shabbat dinner, reuniting with our best friends and playing a game of esoteric jeopardy late into the night.

Saturday morning started with a peula about the new HDNA pillar: Collective Liberation of the Peoples in Israel-Palestine (keep your eyes peeled for more info on this in an upcoming blog!). We dug into how this new guiding value could shape our chinuch (education) at machaneh (camp) this summer. After some really thoughtful discussion, we took a break and headed to Griffith Park for roller skating, some ultimate frisbee, and a picnic.

Later that evening, we gathered at IKAR’s event space for more peulot (this time chug Retz style AKA choose one of many chill options) and then split off into spoofing iconic music videos. After another beautiful Havdalah, we wrapped up with ice cream, pazookies, and another night of laughs, dancing, and unforgettable bonding.

The last day of the seminar, we all met up with our Board of Directors at Gilboa's Annual General Meeting to discuss HDNA's new pillar and Gilboa's plan to grow camp. Between having more madrichimot attending than ever before, and ending the weekend energized by new ideas, deeper friendships, and a shared sense of purpose for the summer ahead, West Coast Ma’agal Seminar 2025 was a huge success.

We’re feeling so grateful for the chance to come together with our Gilboa mishpacha (family)—on both coasts! Can’t wait to keep the energy going as we head into summer.

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You too can join the fun at our upcoming Work Weekend and Family Camp at our beautiful mountain campsite this Memorial Day weekend! More info and register here - we hope to see you at either one, or even better, both!

—Camp Gilboa