TOSS 2014-Mini Israel day Cohort 17

The Israel day was a great way for our cohort to be able to spend our last day of TOSS together. We began our day with a check in and then skyping with a couple of Israelis and discussing their daily lives these days and their political thoughts. Afterwards, Rachel led an entire program for us through Skype! We talked about what the phrase "רק פה/rak poh" or "just here" means in context of a song by an Israeli band called Hadag Nahash. 

We had a program I led about Tisha Be'av and the concepts of ahavat and sinat chinam, which led the cohort to think about what it means to appreciate people and whether intentions matter if the same result is obtained either way.

We had a wonderful falafel lunch and resumed our mini Israel with a program led by Sam and Jack about different neighborhoods in Jerusalem. The conversation about neighborhoods was a very fascinating way to see how different members of the cohort perceive their neighborhoods. 

Samara and Moriah led a program about coexistence relating specifically to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It was really cool to be able to express our views through that concept and to see an outsiders take on the conflict through a short video clip. Gabi also led a fun activity that involved the cohort acting out different things related to Israel. A movie and dinner followed this as well as a maagal. The day was a wonderful way to incorporate people's programs built for ISS into TOSS.