Our Friday started off quite bad because Amir couldn’t attend school as he was sick. Fortunately, he joined us on Shabbaton. I (Benedek) started my day off by writing the Dvar Torah with Mózes. In the Dvar Torah we wrote about what sacrifice means in Hebrew and in English and how we could relate both interpretations.
The Hebrew word ‘korban’ means getting closer to someone and Friday was a very good example of this. During the day I met with the BT students whom we had known for a week at that time. The Friday assembly in Beth Tfiloh was an amazing experience for me. I got to be on stage with Mózes and had a chance to talk in front of all the BT High School students. During the assembly we watched Episode 6 of BTTV and had a chance to revisit some of the funny moments that we had together during the week. After our speech we had some free time with our hosts. By this time, I had known Zach very well and found myself a great friend in him.
After spending time with our hosts, we had our first Shabbaton with BT which was an amazing experience. At the beginning our phones were taken and we started praying. After praying we had some interesting activities with the BT kids and we found out that despite our cultural differences we could play together and enjoy our Shabbaton and felt like we were a family. In our free time we got to know these guys even better and realized how much we liked them. We played basketball together alongside having amazing conversations. Whilst we were playing and socializing, nobody ever mentioned their phone or how much they missed these other things which were prohibited during the Shabbaton. It really surprised us because we hadn’t had such an experience in our lives up until that point. It was amazing to see us, Jews celebrating Shabbat together. We sang songs and ate together. This really elevated our relationship to a family like experience.
At the end Friday was the best day in Beth Tfiloh in our opinion because we got to know these amazing kids even better and we had a chance to really get a grip of what a BT Shabbaton looks like. Getting in touch with the traditional Jewish traditions was also an amazing experience. The farewell section made some SSG and BT students cry which really reflects what an amazing of a week we had in Baltimore.
Written by
Benedek Puporka
Amir Kadar
