Wednesday, January 14, 2015

The Journey of Milk and Cookies- Finding Nemo style! Cohort 18 workshop 5

The session began like any other, arrival of the cornucopia of sweets occupying the room. After a spirited sharing session regarding our Israeli partners and our video chats, the workshop moved towards the “nitty gritty” if you will. A well thought out, informational,

Finding Nemo themed presentation by our wonderful Jc’s introduced our main topic for the day: Self Management. We discussed the four steps of Mission, Vision, Goals, and objective and then utilized them to prepare a hypothetical ten minute activity. 


Later,we had a preliminary discussion about our upcoming Shabbaton that will be planned solely by the fellows. While navigating through the difficulties of planning in a large group and working within time constraints was difficult, it yielded insights into the work that Gabi, Ariel, and our Jc’s do as well as helping understand the intricacies of self-management.

-Max O.S




Thursday, January 1, 2015

Last but not least- Our Israel experience comes to an end- WIE 2014, Cohort 17

Our last few hours in Sde Boker were celebrating the New Year and saying good-bye to all of the other North American fellows. At 11:45pm on New Year’s Eve, our cohort gathered together to walk to the crater behind our rooms. After we counted down to 2015, we pulled the string to explode party poppers. As one fellow suggested, we should mentally let one struggle that affected us in 2014 go as we popped them. It was a very unique and fun experience to celebrate the New Year in Israel next to a large crater in the desert!


After saying bye to the other North American fellows, we departed Sde Boker on a bus with the Montreal cohort. Within minutes, the bus was silent because everyone was sleeping. I could not believe that that was the last bus ride of our Israel journey.

Once we arrived at the airport, we walked inside with our luggage and rested for a few minutes. Quickly, we formed a circle on the ground and began an activity. Gabi and our JCs, Philip and Rachel, gave us little pieces of paper and prompted questions. In front of each person, there was an envelope with their name written on the front. The purpose of this program was to write little notes to the other people in the cohort. Some of the prompts were: “Write to someone who you admire” or “write to someone who has inspired you.” Even though we were all exhausted because this activity happened at 2:30am, it was a great way to reflect on our relationships within the cohort and our time in Israel.


A few hours later, we answered a few questions from the airport security, checked our bags, went through security, and had time to eat and shop. Within an hour, I quickly bought falafel to eat on the flight, Bissili and Bamba to take home, and Ahava products for my parents. I definitely took advantage of the duty-free shopping items!

Once in London, the entire cohort ate lunch at a place called Giraffe. We ate great food and had fun eating together! We had a five-hour layover. Two of those hours were free-time, so I went and bought many packages of Cadbury chocolate to bring home to family and friends.
Though I was very sad the trip was over once I got home, I absolutely loved my time in Israel. Our days were packed with programs, leading, volunteering, learning from speakers, and driving through the Upper Galilee and some other parts of Israel. It was evident that all of our hard work for planning programs and talking with other fellows had paid off. We exceeded our goals of community week and loved our homestays.

I enjoyed being the “Moshe,” or Leader of the day, for the last day of Community Week. Even though I had been a little nervous of how the day would go, my committee and I took one program at a time and had an overall successful day.

One of the highlights of the whole Winter Israel Experience for me was learning about Liran, a soldier in the 2nd Lebanon War who died serving his country. He grew up in Kiryat Shemona and was a positive contribution to the society. He was a fantastic student and leader in a youth group. His father, Tzion, explained his personality and attitude and how that drove him to be a combat soldier for the IDF. Though he passed away at a young age, he left a strong legacy. After hearing about Liran, I am inspired to help my community and be active in many different programs.



I am so thankful that we had the opportunity to go to Israel after the Israel Summer Seminar was cancelled. I believe it greatly impacted all of the cohorts and helped to strengthen the fellows’ leadership, Jewish identities, Tikkun Olam, and connections to Israel, which are the four pillars of Diller Teen Fellows.