Monday, December 21, 2015

Contributed by Maya Cardenas-Berkowitz 

The December workshop commenced with the introduction of our Israeli partners accompanied by photos and plans for the seminars. We enthusiastically described their where they live, their interests, and practices. The question of initial compatibility arose and while many shared commonality, others expressed differences, which they embraced with openness and appreciation for diversity. 

Next on the agenda was "The Buffet." Every table had paper slips, all of which contained a food, organized by categories such as Torah, Interfaith, and Israel. The only contingency was that we could not pick two or more identical strips. We visited each station, meticulously selecting slips that resonated with us. Upon selection, we piled them on our plates. After gathering our slips, we assembled in table-groups, where we compartmentalized our slips individually and discussed our decisions amongst ourselves. Each table merged with another, and we rearranged our slips into four, predetermined foods, discarding the others. This exercise emphasized pluralism, as we ultimately learned that each food represented a value from a major sect of Judaism - Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstruction. Interestingly, most plates did not align with each person's actual observance. Although we may identify with a certain denomination in general terms, there are details within each that we find agreement. We discovered the flexibility and overlap in Jewish customs, spirituality, learning, and culture. This strengthens our Diller Family as we build meaningful connections and mutually expanding our knowledge. 

On behalf of Ceremonies Committee, Jonathan lead us in the Chanukah blessing and we lit his chanukiah. We went around and told anecdotes about our chanukiot and their significance to us and our families. Many of us shared photographs. 

Our second activity was visual and kinesthetic. In an allotted fifteen minute span, we were tasked with constructing figurines from clay-like modeling compounds[1] and fashioning identification cards to correspond with our creations. The fabrication and documentation components were executed independently, allowing us to produce distinctive, authentic representations varying from monsters, people, and animals, to abstract beings as well as characteristics that each encompass. Each creature joined an island, where the founders (the fellows), collaborated as advocates on their behalf to promote a society of coexistence. There were compromises implemented to sustain all creatures such as common areas and privatized sections and adjusting the topography. Some islands encountered more turbulence due to polarity in living conditions, culture, and worldview. Every island drafted a binding, permanent constitution with laws and consequences for illegal behavior. The staff selected one member from each island to renounce their citizenship and immigrate to another island. In several scenarios, the new demographic was a challenge to accommodate since we were unable to make amendments to our creatures or laws. A primary struggle with integration was perceived power dynamics given that most of the islanders had a sense of unity and seniority over the newcomer. In some instances, the new creature held a sense of entitlement and Founder's syndrome (the character, not the person themself[2]) by making extensive demands. Ultimately, most were sufficiently satisfied with the arrangement, while one or two did not develop a sense of coherence and faced isolation. .   

This exercise simulated diaspora, a phenomenon of involuntary expulsion of people from one region especially their homeland. It provoked comparisons between Syrian refugees and Mexican immigration. Notably, Jews escaping persecution in Europe fled to other countries during the 1930's and 1940's.  Some were met with anti-semitism upon arrival. Our island is a scaled-down interpretation of this occurrence. Given that the creatures had innate, unchangeable characteristics and we were unable to fundamentally alter our society, those who didn't smoothly assimilate were  unable to reap the same benefits and felt unwelcomed. Thankfully, we almost always have the capacity to learn from one another, to deepen our understanding, and recognize the beautiful essence within each  individual.  

We concluded with brief committee meetings. Swag committee determined a winner and proposals for upcoming items and polls to be determined. India proposed a secret Chanukah gift exchange, "Magical Maccabee." We each drew names, and the gifts will be given at our January workshop. Ceremonies committee will catch up with birthdays next month. SFUG is planning the first mission. We will be contacted with our committees for our cohort-led Shabbaton. 

This was our first meeting in the afterglow of last month's Shabbaton. Thus far, we have created a safe community founded on trust, vulnerability, and authenticity.  We are living in accordance with our brit, as it serves ourselves, our fellows, the Bay Area, and the world. We support, inspire, and teach each other; we unite as Cohort 19! 


[1] I don't use brand names, although I realize that this item has become synonymous with such

[2] I wanted to be respectful and felt himself/herself didn't accomplish this as some may be non-gender binary or otherwise 

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

The parents of Cohort 19 also get a workshop of their own!

Contributed by Olga Basman and Ellen Finestone


We began our parent meeting by sharing our "oys and joys". Not surprisingly, there were many commonalities. This experience enabled parents to establish a stronger connection to one another, feel more like members of the Diller community, and to better appreciate the experience the teens are having as they too begin all of their meetings in the same way.


Our first 'big' activity was a preview of what our teens would be doing later in the day.   During the activity, called 'Our Island,' parents were tasked with creating our own creatures out of play-dough.  We had to define our creature's natures, needs and priorities and even talk about the language they use.  Then, we brought our creatures to an 'island' and together talked about the laws that governed our new space.  


We even simulated the refugee crisis by moving creatures into different islands; individual island communities would then share the impact they experienced of losing an established member and accommodating the arrivals of new ones. Because this segment of the Diller Teen Fellows program is all about Jewish Identity, this 'task' focused all of us on creating, defending, and negotiating identity – and bringing our identities into a bigger community.  It helped all of us think about pluralism, certainly something we see in the Jewish community here in the Bay Area – and in Israel.


Finally, we were split into five working committees, similar to the ones our teens are members on in Diller: Swag, SFUG, Ceremonies, Social Diller Life, and our committee – 'Keeping up with the Dillers.' This blog post is the product of our committee.  Our first ever blog post. 

 

If you are interested, you are welcome to write a post too.  Just contact Katherine KatherineT@sfjcf.org

 

Wishing all Diller teens and parents a happy new year.

 


Monday, November 30, 2015

Our first Shabbaton as Cohort 19

Contributed by Ilana Basman

As Shabbat crept in on us, we started out our retreat with the lighting of the Shabbat candles and activities to get to know our Jewish identity better. After a wonderful dinner, we talked about our Shabbat traditions and the different traditions each fellow had. Through this we were able to discover the different ways each person celebrated Shabbat, but we also found out that many of us had similar traditions, like the Hamotzi and birkat hamazon
We then continued with another activity. We were told to find a partner and to stare into each others eyes while completing certain tasks, first being dead silent, but then allowing one person to speak and then having a regular conversation. At the beginning it was hard not to laugh but as it progressed, we all become much more comfortable with each other.
Our night ended with a Maagal Layla, night circle. We all sat in a circle in the dark and were asked a series of questions, starting with more general ones like your most embarrassing story, to more personal ones such as something that you are most afraid of. Each fellow was required to share, bringing us closer together as a cohort.
We began our second day of the Shabbaton with a lovely breakfast of eggs and cereal. After this, we came together for morning prayer and yoga led by Lara. We learned 3 morning prayers through this yoga, bringing us to understand our inner self better. After this more non-traditional morning service, we continued by reading the weeks Torah portion, about Jacob and Esau. We discussed how their relationship was created by their parents relationship with them, the good and the bad situations that occurred with their family. After this we were led down to the beach to work on an activity led by Micah. We were all given a rope and first, instructed to make a certain shape without talking. After this, everyone except for one person were blindfolded, that that one person had to direct us to create another shape. As the challenge progressed and we couldn’t quite create the shape we were told to, a heart, 3 other people’s blindfolded were taken off, and they all worked to create that shape together. We did this for two rounds, and it is much harder than it seems. After this, we had some free time with our fellows before lunch to hang out and get to know each other better.
After lunch we had one-on-ones with the staff, for them to get to know us better. As this time was also free time, many fellows either went hiking or hung out at the beach. At the beach, many of us threw around a football or a frisbee or just talked about our lives and school. We then came together again to discuss our Jewish traditions and more about our Jewish identity. As the day continued, we proceeded to have dinner, lasagna.
After dinner, we had Havdallah to say goodbye to shabbat. Noam and India led a song session where they taught us different songs that they liked to sing at the end of Shabbat. We they all went out to the campfire and enjoyed s'mores as Jonathan played the guitar. We ended the night with something a little different. We went on a night hike all alone. There was a trail lit up by glow sticks for us to follow but we were all alone and in pitch darkness. It was scary, but it let us reflect on the day we had had. We then continued with another Maagal Layla, similar to the one of Friday, but a little shorter. We were given glow sticks and again asked a series to question. As we answered, we were allowed to crack the glow stick. We were then able to create any shape we wanted with them in the middle of the circle. We all came together, from individuals to make a family. And then we went to bed!

On Sunday, we rose bright and early, and went to the beach together. We as fellows planned this all by ourselves and just wanted to bond. We thought that it would not be too cold, but we were very wrong. It was windy and freezing, so we quickly took some pictures and were to breakfast.  Afterwards we met up and talked about our Israeli partners in the Upper Galilee and how we will be getting our partners soon (as I am writing this, we have already received our partners name and many of us have already gotten in contact with them.) We did some more bonding activities and as we were all exhausted from a long weekend, soon proceeded to having lunch, custom made sandwiches. After this, we had another outdoor activity. We were given an about 6x6 ft blue fabric and told that we had to flip it while all standing on it. We tried it many times, some by sitting on each others shoulders, or standing on each others feet. All in all, it didn’t really work out but we definitely got closer as a cohort. 

After this we had a surprise in store. We had an activity called Late Nite Art. There were tables covered in white paper with every type of art material you could imagine, crayons, color pencils, paint. We were first told to complete certain tasks, like writing a question we had or drawing how our hometown looks, but then as the assignment continued, we all just started doodling on the paper. It went from being completely blank to having different colors on every part of the paper. Before departing, we had our very last assignment, feedback. We talked about the rules of giving feedback and the Kosher sandwich layout, first giving something good, then something that is honest feedback, many times something that wa not as enjoyable, and then giving another kind comment. We started with talking about the shabbaton as a whole, and then continued to speaking about certain programs we had. Even though we had only spent less than 3 days together and being extremely tired by the end, we all grew so close together, at the end not wanting to part ways. This shabbaton was a success!

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Contributed by Jonathan Altman

This past Diller workshop was centered around the idea of inclusion.


Right from the get-go, Daniel from cohort 18 got us started with a couple of activities about inclusion. For our first activity, some of us were given instructions to do things like skip around the room or act like a chicken, while others were given no instructions. It was a great first step into the topic of inclusion, as our members who were not given instructions were confused and felt left out. We then moved on to draw concept maps about how we can include others and the effects inclusion can have. We capped off our study of inclusion with a discussion, where some members of the cohort shared very personal stories that let us grow closer. We established some inclusion norms, and then moved on to our study of Torah.

This was our first time as just our cohort studying Torah together. In Diller, this is called "Shnayim Ochazin." We first read the passage from which this name derives, about how to divide up something of immense value between two people. Gavi and Ma’ayan volunteered to play out the scenario, and it was very entertaining as well as very deep. We discussed the meaning of both the text and the scenario after it was done, and we were able to extract the deeper moral messages hidden within the text. We practiced our new Torah study skills by reading a passage about Miriam and discussing the idea of leadership as a group. We covered all sorts of questions surrounding leadership such as: Is leadership inherent? Are there different types of leadership? Etc… The discussion was very lively and everyone seemed to contribute their opinions. Once we finished our Torah study, we went to the roof to talk about feedback for the workshop as well as to hangout. Overall, our first meeting with just our cohort was engaging, fun, and inspiring.

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Contributed by Gabi Finestone:

For our second workshop, we were joined by Cohort 18! We began by introducing ourselves and sharing the oys and joys of our weeks. We were each paired with a buddy from Cohort 18, and the ice was quickly broken as we shared in oys concerning homework and tests, and joys about our weekend plans. We also met our senior counselor/alumni intern Micah for the first time, and were greeted by the familiar faces of our junior counselors, Aidan and Laurel.

Rock Paper Scissors Duel!

Partnership group discusses what it is like to work with our Israeli Fellows
After, we all participated in fun icebreakers such as a big rock paper scissors tournament and a fun team game to learn each other’s names. Then we broke up into our committee groups, but we (Cohort 19) met with our corresponding committees from Cohort 18. This was extremely helpful to us, as we were able to learn about ideas that worked and didn’t work from an experienced committee. It was also exciting to hear about all of the Diller experiences that we will be embarking on this year from Cohort 19. 

After we all had some time to socialize and snack during our break on the roof (with views of the Blue Angels,) we all convened to begin a program planned by Micah, where we explored our passions, and how they impact our identity and connect us to others. We did this in a number of ways: brainstorming in pairs, small groups and large groups and reflecting all together. We then explored how gratitude informed these passions, and where our Jewish identity might be linked to the passions in ways that we might not have thought about before.


We split up for the last part of our workshop. Cohort 18 worked on their impact projects, while Cohort 19 reflected on the workshop with Lara. 

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

A belated post from a few days ago

By Sophia

Today, the cohort transitioned from Community Week to Congress. We spent the morning kissing our host families goodbye and thanking them endlessly. The first half of the day was spent on the bus, traveling from the Upper Galilee to Givat Haviva. We arrived at a nearby kibbutz for the opening ceremonies where the JCs introduced the theme of Congress: Sarah and Abraham. The SF cohort was split into tribes mixed with fellows from cohorts all over the world. In our tribes, we broke the ice. After a scrumptious dinner of cucumbers, the tribe groups reconvened for a unit about family, what constitutes a family, and what the global Jewish family means to us. Our maagal laila consisted of funky yoga poses led by Lara. We wrapped up the day by mingling with the global Diller community at the White Tent.

Monday, August 3, 2015

Leaving Congress for the woods

Today I led as the Moshe.  We woke up early in the morning after the incredible closing ceremony. After giving away their keys and carrying the luggage to the meeting point, the fellows traveled over to eat breakfast in the cafeteria. After that the fellows traveled over to their tribe rooms for their last activities with their temporary family. In this last session the fellows gave their junior counselors and programs feedback as well as tried to create a sixth leg for Judaism. from there was a short closing ceremony on the main lawn, where fellows said goodbye to each other and danced their last dance together. Then the bus took the fellows to nave shalom. This is a Community specifically created to foster the relations between Arabs and the Jewish population in Israel. The content that was presented in this lecture/hike was very interesting, however many of the fellows felt extremely tired and had difficulty focusing. Additionally, today was immensely hot so we had to cut short the tour of the campus. The next stop was the Lahav forest In the Negev desert. On the way however we stopped at a large mall in ber sheva to get some much needed free time and relaxation. Once we arrived at the forest we were put to work making the food for our night dinner/barbecue. Others made The meat and salad, but I made the fries. After that we had a nice nice circle. Upon the conclusion of that, we had Smore's and then settled in for bed.there was a pack of dogs in the area so it was a special experience hear from the local animals at night. 
Daniel moll


Shabbat at congress

We started Shabbat morning either sleeping in or going to a unconventional morning service (nature walk, yoga or orthodox). By 9:30 AM though everyone was in the dinning hall waiting to eat the usual breakfast of cucumbers and tomatoes. We then played a variety of improvisation games and "mafia" in our cohorts and proceeded to programming where we participated in a text study activity. After another much needed break we returned to our tribe rooms to discuss one of Avraham Infeld's five legs of Judaism, Israel. It was a fascinating conversation especially hearing different perspectives from America, South Africa, Canada and Israel. We debated whether or not Israel should be located where it is today and why we as individuals and a peoplehood should or should not have a commitment to Israel. After a short break each tribe planned a one minute presentation their congress experience. Then following dinner all 500 fellows, JC's and coordinators came together to celebrate Havdallah and the concluding of our time together. It was amazing being in a circle of 500 people knowing you have all had similar experiences and can come together from around the world to share in a uniting moment. The excitement continued as we presented our skits and had a bitter sweet closing ceremonies. Then... The party started! We all rushed the basketball court outside and sang and danced for a hour which became extremely hot and sweaty. But nevertheless it was a fantastic way to close this meaningful coming together of Jewish teens from across the globe. At 12am we had a very short and logistical maagal laila (night circle) and shortly after we showered changed, and fell asleep concluding a fantastic day!

By Aidan

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Repost: Generations

By Max Wellins

We started our day at a children's summer camp in Metula. We split into small groups with a few fellows and a camper, moving around the campus doing various interactive activities, including teaching English numbers, letters, and animals.

From there we moved to our teenage part of the day, starting at Hafuch Al hafuch, a cafe for youth to hang out in, play board games, drink coffee and maybe discuss any problems they may be facing. We heard about their mission and participated in discussion about our own lives as teens.

Our second stage in the teenage years was rafting at Kfar Blum in the Jordan river. It was incredibly fun and refreshing, with no shortage of splash wars. The theme of generations was present throughout our day.

We finished our day at the Vancouver house with a presentation by Holocaust survivor Chaim Vital Shimon. He completed our day by discussing his work with children and how he uses art to not only cope with the traumatic events he has been through, but also stay positive and spread joy to the lives of the younger generation.

Generations

By Max Wellins

We started our day at a children's summer camp in Metula. We split into small groups with a few fellows and a camper, moving around the campus doing various interactive activities, including teaching English numbers, letters, and animals.

Monday, July 27, 2015

Sunday July 26

Blog post by Max OS

The day began at gadot, the kibutz of one of our Israeli partners, Itaay. As a day that was intended to have a focus on the culture of Israelis, the activities we took part in captured this mission perfectly. We discussed different aspects of Israeli culture at stations: the 6 day war, dancing, kibutz life, and Israeli acting. After these stimulating activities, we journeyed to the Dobrovim farm. We watched an educational film and then explored exhibits that were meant to simulate life for the pioneers. For lunch, we went to park hazahav (golden park), named after the Golden Gate Bridge, the park sated some of the home sickness felt by our group. Our lunch consisted of falafel, with some nice cake to celebrate the birthday of the Israeli coordinator, Idan. We had planned an exploration of the "jungle", a more wild part of the park. Unfortunately, a fallen tree blocked our path. Instead, we sat on some logs and discussed the importance of parks and preserving nature. To conclude our day, we returned to the Vancouver house and had a panel of youth leaders that included several of our own dillers!

Friday, July 24, 2015

Shabbat Shalom!

Community Week Day 2
By laurel ettinger 
Today was unique because it started early and ended early due to Shabbat. We all met at 7 at the banias nature center and had a wonderful breakfast. Americans got to try new treats like jachnun which was very exciting for us! 

After that, we headed off down the path on a 45 minute hike. Most of the hike was through a beautiful forest, and we walked on a suspended wooden path. Our hike ended at a serene waterfall scene where the Israelis and Americans battled it out with some trivia. 


We then loaded back onto the bus and drove to the Vancouver house, where we met with lots of Diller alumni. 

For the next couple hours we talked with them about their past Diller experiences, what their lives are like now, and heard advice from them. It was so interesting seeing how the program has progressed over the years. We ate a lunch of Israeli pizza, which was surprisingly good! After some reflection on our alumni experience, the two cohorts split up for maagal layla. During that hour we debriefed on the day as a whole and gave some general feedback. The day ended at 3, but it was so hot today and so filled with fun activities that it felt like a full day anyways! Now all of the Americans are so exhausted, and very grateful that Shabbat has arrived as we can now sleep in tomorrow morning. Layla tov from the upper galilee! 
Laurel Ettinger 

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Second day of community week

Today started in the best way possible, early and quickly. At 9:00 our bus arrived at kibbutz Kfar Hannasi and we all gathered around to play some games based on todays theme of "personal impact". Next we gathered in an art room and sat around while David, the first child born at the kibbutz and lifelong member, told us about life starting at the kibbutz and what it was like in the early years of its creation; as well as informing us about the changes the kibbutz has experienced over time. Once David had finished the overview and answered our questions, we played a team game where we competed in small groups to raise a marshmallow as high off the table as possible using nothing but freestanding structures made of the meager pieces of pasta, string, and tape we were given. We then had an in depth conversation about the values of planning vs action and how we can use those values to be more efficient in the future.

After finishing our activities at kibbutz Kfar Hannassi we took a bus to the Vancouver house, the Israeli meeting place, and we had an amazing lunch consisting of Israeli Chinese food which, I can assure you, is much better than it sounds. Once we had satisfied our stomaches, we all discussed impacts. To narrow down such a broad topic, the days' leaders gave us a paper with four quotes from Pirke Avot, each relating to a different aspect of personal impact, and asked us to pick the one that we most connected with and explain why. This simple task sparked further conversation among us and we managed to have a fascinating discussion centered on the way we impact others, others impact us, and the bigger picture effects of those impacts.

Once we had thoroughly analyzed our own impacts on our peers and our communities we loaded back onto the bus and headed straight for the ayalim village in kiryat shmonah. Ayalim is an organization that recruits residents to build low-cost housing for college students in long forgotten communities, thereby bringing the youth back to these villages. This organization addresses the issues faced by countless communities, when their youth feel they have no reason to stay and decide to leave, by giving youth reasons to stay such as discounted housing and a sense of being not only part of, but founders of a community. Only after having this explained in an engaging presentation and reflecting on the day did we get back on the bus and drive into kiryat shmonah for dinner and some free time in the area. I dont know about everyone else but i think im ready for a good nights sleep after a fun day like that!

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Second day at Sde Boker, only full day at Kennes

Note: this post is intended to come chronologically after Emmet's and before Indiana's.

We started our first full day of Kennes with breakfast in the Kibbutz dining hall. As we munched on eggs, potato pastries, and cucumbers - an Israeli breakfast classic - the San Francisco cohort split up and mingled with all the other Dillers. We talked with South Africans, other Americans, and Canadians about our lives back home, our experience in Diller, and our Israeli partners. For our first program, we went to the main auditorium to hear the famous David Ben Gurion speak, who happened to be our JC, Sam, dressed in a hilarious wig. Next, we split up into our color groups to talk about the foundation of Israel. We had to pretend we were back in history, and make decisions about the formation of Israel as if we were the past leaders. We discussed if the word G-d should be used in the Declaration of Independence, what Israel should be named, what our official language should be, and whether we should accept the UN partition plan regarding Jerusalem. In the end, we voted to make Israel a Jewish state.
After we ate lunch - more delicious shnitzel and rice - we went back to the auditorium to learn about the history of the Jewish people from Liat. This served as an important foundation and introduction to the following activities in our color groups, which involved the Jewish communities in North America. We began by trying to guess who the first Jew in America was and then acting out ideas to the group. Although they were incorrect, they were all pretty hilarious. We ended this activity by trying to guess what North American cities had the largest population. Who knew San Francisco is fourth on the list?!
We were brought back into the auditorium to discuss our impact projects and learn how we can make a lasting difference through actions in our own communities.
After a short break, we did an activity called Rock Po, meaning Only Here. The name comes from a song which talks about all the aspects - the good, the bad, and the ugly - that make Israel feel like home. We personalized this idea to our own life by writing short poems/songs about the sweet and bitter parts of our own homes.
After dinner an improv artist named Molly Livingstone performed and taught us. Some of her jokes missed the mark, but this activity taught us that comedy is a language we can all understand. We ended this hectic yet awesome day with a dance party at the White Tent. San Francisco definitely brought the best energy, and Lara came out and showed us some crazy moves on the dance floor. Then it was off to bed for an early start the next day!
All in all, Kennes was a chaotic and beautiful experience, one that left us with a deeper understanding of what characterizes Judaism in all different communities and the struggles that Israel faced in its history and still faces today. We learned about the past leader who shaped the nation to understand what we can do as leaders in our own communities. It was incredible to get to know teenagers from across the world.

Contributed by Hannah Chorley

Last day of Kennes

July 21 -Indiana Podbere

Today was a crazy busy day! We woke up at 4:30 am to set off to Masada. We packed all our bags and  prepared for our last day of kennes. After a quick coffee, we headed off to hike Masada. We ate a quick(sandwich) breakfast and started our assent as a group of 200. Once at the top of Masada, we broke off into our color groups (go orange!) and participated in an educational activity. We discussed the History of Masada, though we had little time to look around, and took some color group pictures. We then all took the cable car down the mountain and met up in classrooms to reflect on the kennes. We dissected all of the activities we did with great depth. Then we were very excited to have a delicious meal (after many sub-par meals at kennes) with juicy, dark red  watermelon. After lunch, we made a trip to the Dead Sea where we got to slather ourselves in soothing mineral packed mud right from the shore. We also got to float in the very warm Dead Sea. After that amazing experience, we headed to the upper galilee where we would finally meet our partners! Once we arrived in the upper galilee, we had a fantastic and welcoming dinner. Dinner was followed by creative opening ceremonies. After the ceremonies we each left and went home with our partners and their families. It was wonderful to finally be reunited with our partners and we can't wait for all of the amazing things to come in community week! 

A late blog about Kennes


Blog day: Emmet's Moshe day 

Sunday July 19, 2015 was a day filled with laughter, chatter, and a plethora of amazing teenagers. 
After waking up around 8 am at a youth hostel in Jerusalem, we had breakfast at 8:30 and headed on our way to Sde Boker. On the two hour bus ride we saw the many beauties of the Israeli country side. The bus ride was filled with all of cohort 18's voices as we practiced our San Francisco cheer. 

We then arrived at Sde Boker and settled into our rooms, made sure everyone had their stuff, and the rooms had AC. After a very delayed and hectic lunch (admittedly it was at least tasty, with schnitzel for both meat eaters and vegetarians) we got a tour of Sde Boker that led us to the auditorium where openin ceremony took place. All of the different cohorts did their cheers ( San Francisco was the best of course- video proof on our Facebook page) and we started to get to know the rest of the dillers. We split into the color groups that had been assigned earlier that day. The color groups contained no less that one person from each of the cohorts around the world. Each color group was led by two junior counsellors who planned unique ice breakers for the fellows to participate in. 

Finally after a very crazy day, San Francisco cohort had a beautiful and food-metaphor inspired maagal Laila under the stars, overlooking the desert. After the maagal the cohorts had a huge dance party under the white tent and went to bed happy. 

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Shabbat

Blog 7/18/15

After a memorable experience at the western wall on Friday night, Saturday began with a lovely veggie-filled Shabbat breakfast. We left the hostel at 8:30 to stroll to nahalot for services at a "hippie" orthodox shul. The men headed to the front of the room and the women sat behind a mechitzah (separator) in the back of the room. About 30 minutes into services, we saw an orthodox woman and ended up getting the opportunity to have a conversation with her about orthodoxy and her Jewish life. As a 21 year old married Canadian, she had very interesting thoughts on ideas such as homosexuality and the woman's role in the household. Services concluded around 10:30after which we headed up the stairs to meet an amazing woman named Chana Mason. Chana was born in Argentina and moved to Miami at the age of five where she lived until she was 23. She and her adorable ten year old son gave us a tour of their neighborhood, Nahalot. Her charisma and her son's stories helped make the unbearable heat a bit easier to cope with. If you have never been to nahalot, I highly
Recommend Chana to get insight into the neighborhood and to the uncommon life of an orthodox woman. We met up with Murielle, a friend of Lara's from Hebrew university,  after our tour with Chana was over as she kindly welcomed all of us into her quaint little Jerusalem home. She talked to us about her life growing up in Montreal and how she became 
much more religious when she got to Israel 10 years ago. Our morning programs ended at 1 followed by lunch and a three hour break at the hostel. The day concluded with our maagal layla, dinner, havdallah, and some shopping time on Ben Yehuda street to mark the end of Shabbat. 


Belated post from Friday

(From Friday in Jerusalem)
By Daniel

Blog post
The hostel we got to sleep at last night had exceptionally comfortable beds,quality mattresses that most seemed to get great sleep on. For our breakfast in the morning the fellows and I appreciated the wide range of food options available to eat. There was plenty of carbs and vegetables available.

 We headed out after breakfast around 8:15. On the morning bus trip Emily introduced the days activities as well as her quote of the day. After that summary Emily gave an in depth introduction and background information to our first activity, Mt Herzl. Mt herzl is one of the foremost military and political cemeteries in Israel and in the whole world. Our guide explained many important political graves starting with Herzl's then we got to see Prime Ministers and presidents and other politicians that greatly affected Israel. At that point we visited the military section of the cemetery. It was incomprehensible the amount of young soldiers that were represented in this massive cemetery. However our guide was able to bring the human aspect of the cemetery out by sharing personal stories of those that laid to rest there. Something optional, however something that everyone chose to do was lighting a candle and putting it in a soldiers Candlebox. 

From this powerful yet emotional journey we ventured over to another emotionally charged landmark. This landmark is the Holocaust Memorial and museum called Yad vashem. Our guide for this memorial was a Swedish lady named Hedy. She was extremely knowledgeable and upbeat and was able to present the information in an articulate manner. While this museum was incredibly sad, she managed to make it feel like there is hope and a purpose for survival for the Jewish nation. Similar to the approach of the cemetery, we were immersed in the museum by learning personal stories of those that helped Jews during the Holocaust and those that perished during the Holocaust. I personally, was overwhelmed with the amount of personal and historical artifacts that they had amassed at this gigantic memorial. I have been to Holocaust Memorials before, like the one in Washington DC but this was on a completely different level. An approach that Hedy employed was to focus less on the traumatic, brutal things that occurred during the Holocaust and more on the events leading up to it and the stories that happened within. While people were quite tired from the 2 1/2 hour tour and mentally exhausted from bustling through an enormous crowd, it was clear that everyone had taken a meaningful message out of that experience. 

Next: Armed with 35 shekels we set out to the shuk in Jerusalem to eat lunch and enjoy the market atmosphere. I enjoyed falafel as well as fresh challah and yummy candy. Many people took advantage of the various souvenir vendors to purchase elephant pants and various other gifts.I thoroughly enjoyed this experience and because Jews that actually live there shopped at this market, it felt like a real, genuine experience. After this lunch outing, We drove back to the hotel for Shabbat prep. Many people took time to get ready and dressed in presentable clothing, as well as many others took time to nap and relax with friends. After that, we headed to the old city for shabbat candlelighting ceremony. It was brief but the singing that we participated in was nice. Then we walked over to the Kotel. Being Kabbalat Shabbat, The site of this holy wall was squeezed full with many, many people. It's a large number of orthodox Jews as well as people from around the world that came to see this. We got a period of time to go to the wall and experience it. Although I did visit Israel before I was with people I know and I trust, and I was actually able to see a small section of the wall that I had never visited before. We went back to the site of where we lit the candles and sat down for a white tablecloth dinner. While we were waiting for dinner, we met two other cohorts, one from Montreal and one from South Africa. It was cool to see the diversity and dynamic people that diller had brought together.I personally really enjoyed the food that they had to serve us. The last thing we did in this jampacked day was walk on a partially silent and partially guided discussion walk from the old city back to our hostel. The old city was beautiful at night, I really enjoyed the deep discussions that I was able to get on the walk back. We came back late but not much later than we would've gone to bed anyways. 
Daniel moll




Thursday, July 16, 2015

Diller blog post Thursday 7/16

From Shiriel:

We slept in a suburb outside of Tel Aviv in a boarding school-turned-hostel where the roosters crow loud and the cats roam wild. Most of us awoke somewhere between 4 and 6 a.m, feeling tired but unable to sleep due to jet lag. After a quick breakfast, we hopped on our tour bus to travel to Cholon, the "town of the children," according to our tour guide. Indeed, there were many children at summer camp and lots of playgrounds and parks. We played ninja in one of them, led by our "Moshe of the day," Sam Levy, before heading to our first museum exhibit of the day: Invitation to Silence. 

At Invitation to Silence, we were led through an interactive tour to learn about the experience of being deaf. We experimented with how we could give one hand gesture many meanings, learned a few signs, and practiced ordering food in sign language. Most interesting was our "dialogue" session at the end, a sort of Q&A with our deaf tour guide about what it's like to be deaf in a hearing community, whether she identifies more strongly as deaf or Israeli, and whether she likes music, among other topics. 

After a delicious but quick falafel lunch in the park (food delivered from a local vendor) we got on the bus to Southern Tel Aviv, where we met our next guest speaker, Dan, a man from the secular yeshiva and social action organization, Bina. He told us about the history of the neighborhood  (known by some as the Tenderloin of Tel Aviv) as we sat in a public park. Most exciting was witnessing a minor incident in which an unknown man chased a woman across the park, allegedly trying to steal her phone. Our cohort was scared, but felt safe due to the presence of our armed (and muscular) body guard, Guy. Yet as my adrenaline peaked, so did my interest. Here was a live example of the injustices in this community—the stalker looked either drunk or mentally ill and probably had little support to treat either condition—that we heard about from Dan. Though we didn't get a chance to volunteer with the organization, we could at least witness a day-in-the-life event that is at least indirectly a result of what Dan spoke about: large numbers of migrant workers and asylum seekers come to Israel seeking a freer and safer life, but receive limited support and face challenges integrating with the culture.

Since I'm getting tired, I will relay the rest of today's events more briefly.

We visited a sociopolitical contemporary art museum in Jerusalem that featured pieces critiquing dictatorship and greedy leaders. It was unfortunate timing since most fellows (myself included) were finding it difficult to stay awake. 

Tonight, we stay in a lavish hostel in Jerusalem. They've provided us with wifi, towels, and even complimentary shampoo and conditioner!

That's all for now—below, I've started my own blog features that hopefully provide you more insight into our experiences.

Sweet dreams!

Quotes of the day:

"I woke up at __ this morning!" -every Diller fellow at the same time

"This bus doesn't have a bathroom in the back. It's a good quality bus...but who needs five seats in the back?" -Tomer

"Sam, don't touch the painting!" -Max O.S.


Common topics of conservation:

The stylishness of my Chacos 
College
Criticisms of the Diller dress code
The sketch-level of Southern Tel Aviv



Caption for photo:
(From left to right) Swag McSwagger, Lil Beat, dalma saallama, and InDizzle spit fire on the busride to Jerusalem. Not pictured: Shirdasheep.







Day 1 in Israel

We arrived safely in Israel and although everyone was extremely tired after a long day of traveling, our excitement outweighed our exhaustion. We gathered in a circle, held hands and recited the shehecheyanu to honor the fact that we were finally in Israel together. We walked through Ben Gurion airport, a first time for many, and when we got to immigration control there was no line, a rare occurrence at Ben Gurion. After waiting for our luggage, changing from our sweatshirts and pants to t-shirts and shorts, and many many bathroom breaks, we were greeted by our JCs, Micah and Sam, who were already in Israel. At the airport we also met our tour guide, Meirav, and ate omelette and cream cheese sandwiches from Aroma. Finally we hopped on the bus and made our way to Yafo.

In Yafo we found a spot in the shade to sit and we shared our thoughts about being in Israel while eating delicious dates. Meirav told us all about the history of Yafo while we stopped at various sites to take pictures. Our next stop was the beach and on our way there we walked through the center of Yafo and saw the clock tower that Meirav described as Yafo's Big Ben. At the beach we got to dip our toes in the water and for some it was the first time they had ever been in the Mediterranean.

After our long and exciting day we bussed over to our hostel, ate dinner and everyone got to bed very early.

-Aliza

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

On our way to Israel!!!


At 6am we were all at the airport ready to start the three week adventure in Israel. As everyone checked their bags, which were needless to say, over-packed, it really started to sink in that we were going to be in another country in 24 hours. The hugs and kisses goodbye were bittersweet but we knew we were being sent with immense amounts of love, support, good blessings and safe travels. After our typically long Jewish goodbye it was time to head to our gate.

Security in SFO wasn't long and by the time we were all through we had over an hour by our gate... Better to be safe than sorry! Breakfast and snacks were bought by all and then the friendship string and iPods starting to come out. By 8:30 we were all ready to board the plane but were temporarily delayed and had to wait about 20 minutes. As we took off I couldn't help but worry about the 14 hour plane ride ahead of us. The ride to LA was really fun. The flight was practically empty and so we got to take up whole rows for ourselves. We were all happy and giddy, truly looking forward to the journey ahead.

After the quick hop to LA we got our bags and left the area to go to the international terminal. In order to check in with El Al we were each individually interrogated by a flight representative and asked a variety of questions. Although it was slightly intimidating, it was a unique experience that we definitely do not deal with when flying to other foreign countries. We then made our way through the very long security line in LAX and grabbed a quick lunch in the terminal before meeting up with the LA cohort. They were very friendly and in order to get to know each other we played bingo. Shortly after, it was time to board.

Our passports and boarding passes were checked once again and then we loaded the plane. It was a fairly fast taxing and 40 minutes later we were in the air! Aliza and Lara and I sat next to each other for the first couple of hours, engaged in conversation about Diller, our different Jewish education experiences and our lives in general. It was a great way to start this reflective journey. I started checking how much time we had left after about 2 hours in the air, so I was slightly disappointed to learn we had 12 hours left. It was difficult to sleep because of all the adrenaline and hype but movies, different conversation and stories helped to tide us over; we even started a quotes to remember page of funny quotes said during the trip. Of course the list is starting to develop quick nicely.

As I write this we are 5 minutes from landing and I can see the Holy Land from the window. It is so surreal to be returning. Although I have already been to Israel, it will be a completely different experience with Diller, especially now being with people that have never gone. And now the turbulence is getting slightly more significant as you can feel your stomach fly up into your upper diaphragm, but the wheels are done and in seconds Israel will no longer be a concept, it will be a reality once again. In three, two, one... And we have landed and the whole plane erupted in applause. So, here's to a fantastic, safe, engaging, and enlightening trip!

And to their request, here's a shout out to my parents. Thanks for everything. Xoxo

-Aidan