By: Ezra Klineman | Mazkir Galil, Cleveland

This past weekend, our Manhigut partook in the annual Shevet Naming Shabbaton. At the beginning of the Shabbaton, after experiencing a meaningful Kabbalat Shabbat and an incredibly delicious Friday night meal, the counselors told 7 stories. We saw how a teenager persuaded the entire Bnei Akiva board to choose a Shevet name that she saw fit and how a young man who moved from Poland at 18 helped establish the Bnei Akiva youth movement, along with many more incredible stories. Through these stories, the Manhigut chanichim discussed and deliberated what they thought the importance of each lesson was. After much argument, they concluded that each of the people in these stories was able to affect real change as individuals. The message we were trying to show the chanichim was that each one of them has the potential to do amazing things in this world. It doesn’t matter where we come from, it only matters where we will go. After that, we had an oneg followed by Lilah Tov!

The next activity came in the form of an incredibly spiritual Mincha, Seudah Shlishit, and a Peulah. During this Peulah, we asked the chanichim a series of questions with four answer choices. After they split up into four groups we asked them to explain why the thought their choice was the correct answer. The counselors then debated and pushed them further to articulate their arguments and speak with heart and passion. The goal of this peulah was to guide the chanichim to understand the importance of speaking your mind. If someone asks you a question, you should be able to tell them what you truly think without skipping out on its importance to you and every detail that you believe to be true. 

Following this, we had Slow Shira, Maariv, and a scavenger hunt that led us to the basement of Young Israel. There we revealed their new Shevet name – Sinai.