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. 

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

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

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

Contributed by Laurel Ettinger

This past Sunday was a blast! The first portion was unique, as the parents and the teens came together to talk about the approaching Israel trip. All of the small details were discussed, and LOTS of questions were asked. After the adults left, it was time for the cohort to come together and do some fun stuff. First, we all got a "Taste of Israel" and feasted on cheese with watermelon, bamba, pita and hummus, and much more. After some social eating, it was time to get to the serious stuff. The cheer! I am not going to lie, this cheer is pretty great. Not only are the lyrics to the tune of a well-known pop song, but the choreography is supreme. This was a great afternoon, and all of us left in a great mood and so excited to head off to Israel! We are only 5 weeks away!!