Kennes Continues

Today we had our first day of congress. Congress consists of six North American cohorts plus all of our sister cohorts in Israel. We began our day with breakfast while simultaneously awaiting the arrival of the Israelis. Once the Israelis arrived, we broke into our color groups for our first program. The program focused in on "breaking the ice" (figuratively and literally) through various games and activities. One activity consisted of ordering the goals of congress in order of their significance. After, we realized all of the goals were equally important.

After lunch, we had our second program with the Israelis. This program focused on the notion of language. The Israelis and the North Americans studied texts together  from the Torah and discussed how the meanings of the texts can change because our languages are different. After exploring language within our color groups, we got ready for Shabbat.

We began Shabbat with a "white parade." Everyone dressed in white in honor of Shabbat and walked together to an outdoor Kabbalat Shabbat service. In addition to some songs and prayers, we all received a postcard with a randomly selected name of someone from another cohort. We wrote our Shabbat wishes for that person and had to find them in the crowd. It was just as gratifying to receive the card as it was to see the receiver's face when they got the card.

After, we broke into our separate services. We had the option to attend any service offered. From orthodox to conservative to camp to alternative (and even more), we had many choices. I personally attended the alternative service which turned out to be quite a moving experience. We studied text, we meditated, and of course, we discussed various topics.

This was immediately followed by a wonderful family-style Shabbat dinner. We had the opportunity to sit with our entire cohort, including our fellow Upper Galilee cohort. After dinner, we attended one last program with our color group to wrap up the day. The program focused on studying more texts and poetry and deciding which pieces resonated with us the most.

To complete a busy day, we ended with a classic San Francisco night circle. While it mostly just consisted of laughter and smiles, we had the opportunity to confide in one another and vent about our days. Night circles are always a beautiful and satisfying way to end such long days. Overall, I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we learned A LOT today.

Ps. Thank you to our amazing staff!!

-Lindsey Berger 

Tel Aviv and the North American Kennes!

Wooooooooo! Today we woke up in Tel Aviv, ready to have a fun half day in Jaffa before heading to North American Kennes. We took a short bus ride from Tel Aviv to Jaffa, and when we arrived in Jaffa, our program leaders had a fun scavenger hunt ready for us. We were divided into groups of Americans and Israelis together, and we were given a list of tasks to do in Jaffa, most of which included taking group pictures with local landmarks. After completing the scavenger hunt, we were given some money for a pizzur lunch (which is when we get our own lunch with the money we are given). After refreshing lunches that varied from sambusaks (local, homemade Hot Pockets), ice cream and falafel, many of us headed to Shuk HaPishputim in Jaffa, a small market in which we could purchase inexpensive goods.

Finally, we all got back on the bus with our Israeli counterparts and headed to Kennes. When we arrived, we said goodbye to our Israeli counterparts and they headed home. Our North American Kennes experience was ready to begin! We had a little free time before having our opening ceremony in which all the cohorts from North America introduce themselves with skits and/or songs. Our cohort did "Oops...We Dillered Again" (courtesy of Nadine). We then broke into color groups (with one or two SF fellows in each color group) and began Kennes programming. Finally, we all reunited at our SF night circle and shared our rejuvenated love for each other after interacting with other North Americans. There is definitely a variety of opinions, but we are all staying open-minded and we are all looking forward to getting to know the other North Americans better. Our night ended with a chill-out session with the other teens.

All in all, the day was fun, interesting, overwhelming, exciting and new! We're all thrilled for our new experiences to come.

- Matt & Gabe

Tel Aviv: The Old New City

7/24/12

Today we started the morning by visiting David Ben Gurion's grave in the Negev, and continued our discussion of Jewish leadership and having a vision for a large group of people. We considered if we would accept the money from Germany or if we would decline it so that they aren't considered "off the hook" for annihilating 6 million of our
People. 

After visiting Ben Gurion, we left the Negev and drove to Tel Aviv where we visited Rabin square and saw his memorial after talking more about Rabin and his assassination. After this we visited  the Palmach Museum. We quickly learned that this was no museum we'd ever seen before and decided to name it the "Palmach Experience" instead of a museum because it was an interactive walk through the life 
 of an army platoon in Israel. 

We enjoyed a shawarma and falafel lunch outside of the Palmach Experience and then headed off to a neighborhood in South Tel Aviv where we visited a secular Yeshiva. 

We all participated in a discussion on secularism in Israel, which then escalated into a discussion on the different sects of Judaism and their different "places" in Israel. After our discussion we Toured around the neighborhood and learned about the Refugees who came to Israel for work, yet they're all living in extreme poverty and if you ask me, segregation. It was apparent that the Israelis had never been there before and some even felt uncomfortable. We learned that one primary reason that this secular Yeshiva is in that neighborhood is to help the neighborhood, such as a soup kitchen each night and volunteers playing with the kids and reading to them in the park. 

From south Tel Aviv we continued on to Independence hall where we learned about the history of Tel Aviv and The affirmation of Israel becoming an official state. 

Preceeding independence hall, we walked to Sheinken street where we had a pizzur dinner and had
Free time to visit the shops and eat dinner. 

After dinner we drove on to our hotel (which was on the beach!) and had our full night circle with the Israelis, and then our own SF cohort circle. In the first night circle we discussed how everyone felt about the secular yeshiva and learned that the israelis had very different opinions on the matter of "Israeli Judaism". We discussed  how we feel about the role of government within Judaism here in Israel and concluded by breaking off into our specific cohorts and sharing thoughts on the day. 

It was a fabulous day of learning about Israel, both past and present, and tomorrow we will head off to Jaffa before beginning Kennes. 


Your Leaders of the Day,


Maya Hutchinson and Negin Ehsanipour

Leaving Jerusalem

We began the day in Jerusalem, stopping at a viewpoint at the separation fence. We discussed the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and how having a physical fence creates division as well as protection.

We then headed to Neot Kedumim, where we met up with our long-awaited partner cohort from the upper Gallile. We were happy to be reunited after so many months of separation. With the Israelis, we participated in a few leadership activities, including fetching water from a cistern blindfolded, and herding sheep and goats. It was an experience that thought us a lot about communication and leadership.

After eating a delicious lunch, we embarked on a two and a half hour bus ride to the Negev. We reached our campsite and did some get-to-know-you games, and shared in lots of laughs and bonding. We then ate a dinner that we prepared ourselves and hung out and began catching up with each other. We set up camp, enjoyed a long night circle, and slept out under the stars. Overall, it was a very successful and enriching day.

Your Leaders of the Day,

EJ Weiss and Isaac Kort-Meade

Lighting up the Desert

Our seventh day of this incredible experience began for many of us at sunrise. We watched the sun come up over a hill near our campsite in Sde Boker and light up the golden mountains. After breakfast we drove to Nachal Haverim, where we were to hike. There was an ancient cistern at the beginning of our trail that we were able to walk inside and escape from the heat. As we hiked down into the canyon every view blew us away. We arrived hot and sweaty at Ein Ovdat where we enjoyed the beauty  of a waterfall and lagoon. But we were still at the bottom of the canyon. So from there, we hiked up 410 stairs that were carved into the canyon 1500 years ago. Despite the heat and the tiring steps we kept high spirits chatting with the Israelis and soaking in the canyon's majesty.
       After the rewarding hike we took a cool air conditioned  bus ride to Sfinat Midbar, where we had our Bedouin experience. We sat on covered pillows inside  a tent and listened to a man explain about their culture.  Then we ate off of large platters filled with bread, tomato, cucumber, hummus, and shwarma.
        In the evening, we went to the hostel where we showered and cooled off in the pool.  Shani, the Israeli coordinator, led an interesting discussion surrounding the theme of being a host and a guest to prepare us for Congress and the home stays. We ate a very nice dinner and then broke up into our night circles where we talked about our thoughts of the day. Following our group discussion was a bonfire behind the hostel overlooking the canyon. Not only were the stars and shadows on the rocks amazing, but the roasted marshmallows and conversations were great as well. Overall, we had a wonderful day seeing Sde Boker and rekindling our friendships with the Israelis.




Your Leaders of the Day,
Anna Bernstein and Lily Peterson

Preparations for Shabbat

Friday, July 20, 2012. Israel day 4

As we boarded the bus for Jerusalem, excitement was in the air. We were all anticipating the holy city and could not wait to get there as a group.  After a two hour drive from the kineret, we arrived to a beautiful viewpoint overlooking the ancient city.  The guilded domes of buildings rose above the horizon line and the famous stacked architecture of the city was spread out in front of us, inviting us to come explore.  

Our first stop  was the City of David, an ancient underground water tunnel system. Escaping from the heat of the day we climbed down into the dark coolness of the waterways, and traipsed through the 1/2 kilometer walk singing and laughing the whole way through.

After leaving the tunnels, we started walking towards the jewish quarter. All around us, chaos ensued as it does every Friday afternoon in the old city with everyone hustling to prepare for Shabbat. We made our way across the slippery stone paths and winding stairs up until we reached the Jewish quarter.  Lunching on shwarma and fallafel, we took in the rich Jewish history of our surroundings.

Walking just a minute from the Jewish quarter, we reached the kotel, the western wall and the most holy place for us as Jews.  Approaching the smooth yet cracked stone, we could feel the spirituality and the pure belief.  Weather or not each of us was religious, there was mutual understanding in the importance and symbolism of the kotel.

After a great day of sightseeing, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for Shabbat.  It was our first shabbat in Israel, and we wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to try something new for many of us. So, once the sun went down we headed across the street to an orthodox synogogue to experience observance of the sabbath with Israelis. 

 
Your Leaders of The Day,

Emily Rubin and Jenny Gross

Day 2: The North of Israel

The San Francisco Diller Teen Fellows descend on the Nachal Amud trail.

Waking up in a different country with a completely different time zone being jet lagged is no easy feat. Doing so and then immediately going on a hike in the Israeli sun is even more difficult; however, cohort 15 was up for the challenge. We started our journey together in Israel with a hike at the Nahal Amud in Northern Israel, while the sun was beating down upon us we kept marching on determined to finish the hike.  After getting on the--thankfully--air conditioned bus and eating lunch we drove further north to the city of Zefat. We toured two synagogues and then got free time to wander up and down the cobblestoned streets of Zefat, taking in the various shops and the beautiful rolling hills surrounding us. The holy city behind us, we drove to the burial site of many people who came to Israel in the second Aliyah. After a full day, we made it back to our hotel for one last night in Sha'ar Hagolan before departing to Jerusalem. 

Your Leaders of the Day,

Nadine Herman and Kamala Sloss

Welcome to Israel!

After all the anticipation, the day finally arrived.

        Meeting at SFO around 9:45, the air was full of anticipation and excitement. After checking our bags we said  goodbye to our wonderful protective Jewish parents, as they handed us extra bottles of sunscreen. We went through security and awaited for our first flight to JFK. The flight went smoothly and we were treated to a wonderful movie starring Eddie Murphy, which nobody watched. 

        After arriving at JFK, we took the AirTran to terminal 4 to meet Matt Blumenthal, and to find our gate. Unfortunately, because we had received both boarding passes in San Francisco, we did not check in with El Al in New York. As we were about to board, Israeli security told us that we had the wrong boarding passes! At that point we found out that we somehow managed to miss the Israeli security checkpoint. About 10 agents were called in to question us individually. Their questions ranged from the purpose of the trip, to the age at which we learned Hebrew, and what we do on Yom Kippur. Single handedly, we delayed the plane by 10 minutes.

          We boarded the flight with energy and excitement as this was the flight to Tel Aviv that we have been waiting for, however by about 8 hours into the flight, most of the excitement had died down. During the flight we were entertained with classics like The Lorax, The Notebook, and Sex in the City 2. We were served dinner and breakfast, which were both great. After what seemed like years, the plane finally landed in Tel Aviv.  El Al always seems to have the best landings.  Most of us had not slept for over 22 hours, so that we could reduce jet lag for the coming days, however  the energy was back when we exited the plane in Tel Aviv. 

        We went through customs, and thankfully everyone's luggage made it all the way to Israel! We exchanged some currency, met our wonderful tour guide Lior, and then boarded a tour bus for a 2:30 hour bus ride on our last leg of the journey halfway around the world. We arrived at the kibbutz that we are staying at for 2 nights and the first thing we noticed was the smell, a mix between cow poop and flowers. The kibbutz had a camp like feel, however the rooms we are staying in are lovely. We had an opening ceremony, and a discussion in which about 90% of the group was spaced out 90% the time. Finally, after our day of travel, and 30 hours of being awake, we went to our rooms and crashed. 

Sincerely your leaders of the day,

Mark and Josh