The Last Few Days in Photos

Dancing at the absorption center!

"Just truckin' along!"

 Time to cool down!

Absorption Center 7/30/13

Today turned out to be very successful and inspiring!  

We went to an absorption center where we had the wonderful opportunity to volunteer at and connect with the children there.  We had several stations that the children could participate in, including painting, arts and crafts, sports, and making chocolate truffles.  It was very touching to see how appreciative the children were.  We were all having a great time and were able to overcome the language barrier by instead utilizing a big smile and a positive attitude.  The paintings included all of our handprints in blue paint so that we could leave a permanent mark with the center.  Soccer was also a huge success.  Everyone loved participating in the friendly competition.  Following all of the rotations, we had a big dance circle where we learned a fun Israeli dance taught by Dean, one of the Israeli junior counselors.

Soon following, we said goodbye to our Israeli peers and Eitan for a couple days and are headed off to our Kennes in Givat Haviva.  We just picked up the Diller group from Pittsburgh and are preparing for our amazing dance/intro presentation!

-Tristan Chester

 

Our Weekend

Tzfat 7/26/13

On Friday the San Francisco-Upper Galilee Cohort set out to have a fun day that encompassed the different aspects of Judaism and unique ways of welcoming Shabbat. We started off bright and early and headed to the ancient mystic town of Tzfat. There, we were guided around town and shown several Jewish synagogues and houses that were the birthplace of Kabala or mystical Judaism. After having some free time to venture around the galleries in the fascinating town, we headed to a nearby Kibbutz to cool off by the pool. As Shabbat came closer, a meditation was led to highlight the different interpretations and ways of enjoying the Sabbath. As we concluded, we went back to our wonderful hosting families and we made sure to remember how special and unique the Shabbat weekend is for us Jews, whether in Israel, in San Francisco, in Jerusalem, or really, around the world!

-Oren

Our Week in Israel So Far

Our San Francisco Diller Teen Fellows wishing you a Shabbat Shalom from Israel

SF Diller Teen Fellows in Israel 7/25/13

Today we spent our time exploring Israel through the Israelis' eyes. It was a full day of looking at Israeli reality coupled with time in the beautiful outdoors. We started off by going to Mount Bental and learning about how it has served as a valuable site for the IDF during the Yom Kipper War. We then went to an IDF cannon base, which is a very unusual opportunity for a tour group. The soldiers were very kind, welcoming, and treated us like friends as they led us around their base showing us what they did.

We then traveled to Kibbutz Dafna were we played a short game of capture the flag to simulate the idea of protecting your flag and defending your "home". After our game we moved indoors and spoke to two Israeli soldiers, both with very different jobs and stories.  The American committee of the day, Hallie Goldstein, Adam Jenkins, and I, led a discussion looking at the controversial topic of Israeli Army vs. American Amy as well as the idea of draft vs. no draft. Many people continued to discuss these topics on our bus ride to our last part of the day, a hike along the Ayun River. 

    

Today was a fun day full of Army and Israeli reality. I am so glad I got the chance to be Moshe for the day because it really connected to me personally and I got to connect with the Israeli's on a much deeper level. I can't wait to see what will happen next! 

Lila Tov (or Boker Tov in the US), 

Rachel Katie Simkovitz  

                                                                                                                                                                                                  

A Day in the Life of the SF Diller Teen Fellows in Israel

Tel Dan 7/24/13

How do you explore you Jewish identity in a fun and interesting way?  The answer: by talking to professionals, touring the ancient ruins of Tel Dan, discussing our personal beliefs and kayaking! We started off the day with a talk from Avishai (one of the Israeli Fellow’s mother). She regularly gives lectures on religion in Israel.  We talked about her journey through Judaism and how she got to where she is today. After a most interesting and dynamic discussion, we went to Tel Dan where we hiked through some ancient ruins with a guide who made everything come alive for us. At the top, we stopped to discuss the importance and relevance of biblical archeology. I personally loved hearing everyone's perspectives on the matter, because the Israelis often had differing opinions from the North Americans. After a short hike back to the bus, we went to lunch and headed off to K’far Blum for a rafting adventure. The rafting gave us time to bond as a group, explore the Jordan River, and talk more about what we learned today. The day ended with some wonderful falafel and a lot of new jokes.

Lilah Tov,

Savannah Moss

Some of the ruins at Tel Dan

That's us!!!

First Day of Community Week 7/23/13

Today was the first day of community week, and it began with a wonderful view from Kibbutz Manera, where Shani, the Upper Galilee Diller coordinator, lives.  We looked down from a porch and could see the landscape of Israel below us.  It was a great start to a great day.  Last night, at the opening ceremony, the two cohorts had been divided into six teams, made up of half San Francisco Dillers and half Upper Galilee Dillers, and today, those six teams participated in activities to build friendships, communication, and an understanding of lessons learned throughout the day. Our first team challenge was transferring water from one bottle to another, touching only strings that had been attached to the first bottle.  The strings served as levers, and the team members had to communicate and work together to ensure that as little water as possible spilled. All team members had to participate, and this helped to work on our teamwork skills.  Although the other five teams were pretty close, the green team deserves props as they were the team that transferred the most water from bottle one to bottle two -- way to go!!!

After this first teambuilding experience, we all got on a bus and began touring through different living arrangements that are common in Israel, including a Moshav and a Kibbutz.  At one location that we stopped at, we met a man who was the fourth generation family member living in the Moshav.  Even more amazing was the fact that his daughter, and grandchildren lived on the Moshav as well, making a total of six generations of family that had lived on that same Moshav.  This was a really special chance for us because it is very rare that people can speak of Israeli history from that long ago. The stories told to us at this Moshav were as old as time itself!

The teams continued competing, decoding a song from "Fiddler on the Roof", and participating in tug-of-war-challenges. All the teams completed the decoding of the song, and after about six rounds of tug-of-war, the winner for that activity was once again the green team. However, like the first activity, these were about more than winning or losing, and once again required participation and communication from all of the team members! These activities throughout the day helped us bond and change from two separate cohorts to one combined family.

After learning about the different living arrangements and participating in bonding activities, we arrived in Kiryat Shmona, where the teams had one last challenge.  This challenge was different from the others because although we still had to work as a team, the main goal was to explore and get to know Kiryat Shmona.  The teams were given ten pictures, and we participated in a scavenger hunt, walking around and exploring to find the location of these ten photos.  This was a fun way to get to know the area because not only were we getting to know our sister cohort better, but it was also like we were leading our own tour, which mean that we had the ability to look at what we wanted, and spend more or less time were we choose. The only downfalls: the smoldering sun and the unfortunate lack of time, as we only spent 30 minutes doing the scavenger hunt!

The day continued with the two cohorts joining together to finalize the planning of community week, which everyone has high hopes for, and we are all eagerly anticipating the first day of community week that is actually lead by the Diller Teen Fellows – us!!!

Not only do we have high hopes for community week, but we also have high hopes that the friendships we strengthened today will continue to grow, and be life-long!!

Toda Rabah for reading --

Rachael Katz

View from Kibbutz Manera

 Another view from Kibbutz Manera