I was stung by jellyfish and still have the faded marks to prove it. I was blind for an hour and got to experience the world that way. I dealt with unbearable heat. I met 239 other Dillers and had one of the most inspiring weeks of my life. I bought a beautiful bracelet and lost it. Twice. I stayed at an Israelis house for a week. I could list for pages all the things I did this summer in Israel, that would be easy. But what I find difficulty in is describing how much each of those things affected me, and describing in actuality how much this summer meant to me, because I feel that no words can do it justice. I will try my best though!
The first thing that comes to mind is how comfortable and connected I feel to every single person in our SF Diller Cohort. It is a rarity that anyone should ever find themselves having a group of 19 other people that they can trust and confide in, and know they are loved by. I am beyond fortunate, because not only does this group provide trust and love, but they are all such intellectuals and never fail to have a thought provoking comment to add to any discussion. I found that this summer I became immensely spoiled by constantly being surrounded by such remarkable teenagers!
Many people get the chance to go to Israel and have quite meaningful experiences no doubt, but none of them have ever gone with the 14th SF Diller Cohort. I got to hike and raft and ride buses with some of the funniest people I have ever met. I got to renovate a bomb shelter and the teen center Hafooch Al Hafooch with people who truly had motivation and understood the value in the work we did. It is difficult to not become inspired when surrounded by people striving to do good in the world. Even more difficult when your staff are some of the most hard working and outstanding human beings you've ever met.
I suppose the biggest thing I have taken away from the entire Diller program, lesson wise, is how to truly be my own advocate and to take responsibility for anything I want to accomplish. There is no group project I can't take on now. When a problem arrises, I have no doubt that one of the problem solving strategies I have learned will be able to solve the issue. I also snap incessantly at everything I agree with, one of the many little Diller fads that has stuck.
As I predicted, I am already four paragraphs in and I still haven't covered half of the things I could say about my summer. But what I want to emphasize is this: If you are reading this blog right now and you have not reached your Junior year in High School yet, KEEP DILLER ON YOUR RADAR! There is no other experience like it and I am confident it will make a huge impact on your life. You will discover, or find yourself on the path to discovering your Jewish identity, you will learn the beautiful positives and surprising negatives of our Holy Land. You will serve your community in a meaningful way and you will find a new strength of leadership within yourself you may not have known you had. And you will make friendships not easily made in other aspects of your life. At least I know I did, how lucky am I?
In conclusion all I can say is a thank you to everyone who has helped create, nurse and improve the Diller Teen Fellows program, and of course a HUGE thank you to Helen Diller, for without her vision none of this would be possible.
-Gaby Bornstein
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