By Max Wellins
We started our day at a children's summer camp in Metula. We split into small groups with a few fellows and a camper, moving around the campus doing various interactive activities, including teaching English numbers, letters, and animals.
From there we moved to our teenage part of the day, starting at Hafuch Al hafuch, a cafe for youth to hang out in, play board games, drink coffee and maybe discuss any problems they may be facing. We heard about their mission and participated in discussion about our own lives as teens.
Our second stage in the teenage years was rafting at Kfar Blum in the Jordan river. It was incredibly fun and refreshing, with no shortage of splash wars. The theme of generations was present throughout our day.
We finished our day at the Vancouver house with a presentation by Holocaust survivor Chaim Vital Shimon. He completed our day by discussing his work with children and how he uses art to not only cope with the traumatic events he has been through, but also stay positive and spread joy to the lives of the younger generation.
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Generations
We started our day at a children's summer camp in Metula. We split into small groups with a few fellows and a camper, moving around the campus doing various interactive activities, including teaching English numbers, letters, and animals.
Monday, July 27, 2015
Sunday July 26
Blog post by Max OS
The day began at gadot, the kibutz of one of our Israeli partners, Itaay. As a day that was intended to have a focus on the culture of Israelis, the activities we took part in captured this mission perfectly. We discussed different aspects of Israeli culture at stations: the 6 day war, dancing, kibutz life, and Israeli acting. After these stimulating activities, we journeyed to the Dobrovim farm. We watched an educational film and then explored exhibits that were meant to simulate life for the pioneers. For lunch, we went to park hazahav (golden park), named after the Golden Gate Bridge, the park sated some of the home sickness felt by our group. Our lunch consisted of falafel, with some nice cake to celebrate the birthday of the Israeli coordinator, Idan. We had planned an exploration of the "jungle", a more wild part of the park. Unfortunately, a fallen tree blocked our path. Instead, we sat on some logs and discussed the importance of parks and preserving nature. To conclude our day, we returned to the Vancouver house and had a panel of youth leaders that included several of our own dillers!
The day began at gadot, the kibutz of one of our Israeli partners, Itaay. As a day that was intended to have a focus on the culture of Israelis, the activities we took part in captured this mission perfectly. We discussed different aspects of Israeli culture at stations: the 6 day war, dancing, kibutz life, and Israeli acting. After these stimulating activities, we journeyed to the Dobrovim farm. We watched an educational film and then explored exhibits that were meant to simulate life for the pioneers. For lunch, we went to park hazahav (golden park), named after the Golden Gate Bridge, the park sated some of the home sickness felt by our group. Our lunch consisted of falafel, with some nice cake to celebrate the birthday of the Israeli coordinator, Idan. We had planned an exploration of the "jungle", a more wild part of the park. Unfortunately, a fallen tree blocked our path. Instead, we sat on some logs and discussed the importance of parks and preserving nature. To conclude our day, we returned to the Vancouver house and had a panel of youth leaders that included several of our own dillers!
Friday, July 24, 2015
Shabbat Shalom!
Community Week Day 2
By laurel ettinger
Today was unique because it started early and ended early due to Shabbat. We all met at 7 at the banias nature center and had a wonderful breakfast. Americans got to try new treats like jachnun which was very exciting for us!
After that, we headed off down the path on a 45 minute hike. Most of the hike was through a beautiful forest, and we walked on a suspended wooden path. Our hike ended at a serene waterfall scene where the Israelis and Americans battled it out with some trivia.
We then loaded back onto the bus and drove to the Vancouver house, where we met with lots of Diller alumni.
For the next couple hours we talked with them about their past Diller experiences, what their lives are like now, and heard advice from them. It was so interesting seeing how the program has progressed over the years. We ate a lunch of Israeli pizza, which was surprisingly good! After some reflection on our alumni experience, the two cohorts split up for maagal layla. During that hour we debriefed on the day as a whole and gave some general feedback. The day ended at 3, but it was so hot today and so filled with fun activities that it felt like a full day anyways! Now all of the Americans are so exhausted, and very grateful that Shabbat has arrived as we can now sleep in tomorrow morning. Layla tov from the upper galilee!
Laurel Ettinger
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Second day of community week
After finishing our activities at kibbutz Kfar Hannassi we took a bus to the Vancouver house, the Israeli meeting place, and we had an amazing lunch consisting of Israeli Chinese food which, I can assure you, is much better than it sounds. Once we had satisfied our stomaches, we all discussed impacts. To narrow down such a broad topic, the days' leaders gave us a paper with four quotes from Pirke Avot, each relating to a different aspect of personal impact, and asked us to pick the one that we most connected with and explain why. This simple task sparked further conversation among us and we managed to have a fascinating discussion centered on the way we impact others, others impact us, and the bigger picture effects of those impacts.
Once we had thoroughly analyzed our own impacts on our peers and our communities we loaded back onto the bus and headed straight for the ayalim village in kiryat shmonah. Ayalim is an organization that recruits residents to build low-cost housing for college students in long forgotten communities, thereby bringing the youth back to these villages. This organization addresses the issues faced by countless communities, when their youth feel they have no reason to stay and decide to leave, by giving youth reasons to stay such as discounted housing and a sense of being not only part of, but founders of a community. Only after having this explained in an engaging presentation and reflecting on the day did we get back on the bus and drive into kiryat shmonah for dinner and some free time in the area. I dont know about everyone else but i think im ready for a good nights sleep after a fun day like that!
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Second day at Sde Boker, only full day at Kennes
Note: this post is intended to come chronologically after Emmet's and before Indiana's.
We started our first full day of Kennes with breakfast in the Kibbutz dining hall. As we munched on eggs, potato pastries, and cucumbers - an Israeli breakfast classic - the San Francisco cohort split up and mingled with all the other Dillers. We talked with South Africans, other Americans, and Canadians about our lives back home, our experience in Diller, and our Israeli partners. For our first program, we went to the main auditorium to hear the famous David Ben Gurion speak, who happened to be our JC, Sam, dressed in a hilarious wig. Next, we split up into our color groups to talk about the foundation of Israel. We had to pretend we were back in history, and make decisions about the formation of Israel as if we were the past leaders. We discussed if the word G-d should be used in the Declaration of Independence, what Israel should be named, what our official language should be, and whether we should accept the UN partition plan regarding Jerusalem. In the end, we voted to make Israel a Jewish state.
After we ate lunch - more delicious shnitzel and rice - we went back to the auditorium to learn about the history of the Jewish people from Liat. This served as an important foundation and introduction to the following activities in our color groups, which involved the Jewish communities in North America. We began by trying to guess who the first Jew in America was and then acting out ideas to the group. Although they were incorrect, they were all pretty hilarious. We ended this activity by trying to guess what North American cities had the largest population. Who knew San Francisco is fourth on the list?!
We were brought back into the auditorium to discuss our impact projects and learn how we can make a lasting difference through actions in our own communities.
After a short break, we did an activity called Rock Po, meaning Only Here. The name comes from a song which talks about all the aspects - the good, the bad, and the ugly - that make Israel feel like home. We personalized this idea to our own life by writing short poems/songs about the sweet and bitter parts of our own homes.
After dinner an improv artist named Molly Livingstone performed and taught us. Some of her jokes missed the mark, but this activity taught us that comedy is a language we can all understand. We ended this hectic yet awesome day with a dance party at the White Tent. San Francisco definitely brought the best energy, and Lara came out and showed us some crazy moves on the dance floor. Then it was off to bed for an early start the next day!
All in all, Kennes was a chaotic and beautiful experience, one that left us with a deeper understanding of what characterizes Judaism in all different communities and the struggles that Israel faced in its history and still faces today. We learned about the past leader who shaped the nation to understand what we can do as leaders in our own communities. It was incredible to get to know teenagers from across the world.
Contributed by Hannah Chorley
We started our first full day of Kennes with breakfast in the Kibbutz dining hall. As we munched on eggs, potato pastries, and cucumbers - an Israeli breakfast classic - the San Francisco cohort split up and mingled with all the other Dillers. We talked with South Africans, other Americans, and Canadians about our lives back home, our experience in Diller, and our Israeli partners. For our first program, we went to the main auditorium to hear the famous David Ben Gurion speak, who happened to be our JC, Sam, dressed in a hilarious wig. Next, we split up into our color groups to talk about the foundation of Israel. We had to pretend we were back in history, and make decisions about the formation of Israel as if we were the past leaders. We discussed if the word G-d should be used in the Declaration of Independence, what Israel should be named, what our official language should be, and whether we should accept the UN partition plan regarding Jerusalem. In the end, we voted to make Israel a Jewish state.
After we ate lunch - more delicious shnitzel and rice - we went back to the auditorium to learn about the history of the Jewish people from Liat. This served as an important foundation and introduction to the following activities in our color groups, which involved the Jewish communities in North America. We began by trying to guess who the first Jew in America was and then acting out ideas to the group. Although they were incorrect, they were all pretty hilarious. We ended this activity by trying to guess what North American cities had the largest population. Who knew San Francisco is fourth on the list?!
We were brought back into the auditorium to discuss our impact projects and learn how we can make a lasting difference through actions in our own communities.
After a short break, we did an activity called Rock Po, meaning Only Here. The name comes from a song which talks about all the aspects - the good, the bad, and the ugly - that make Israel feel like home. We personalized this idea to our own life by writing short poems/songs about the sweet and bitter parts of our own homes.
After dinner an improv artist named Molly Livingstone performed and taught us. Some of her jokes missed the mark, but this activity taught us that comedy is a language we can all understand. We ended this hectic yet awesome day with a dance party at the White Tent. San Francisco definitely brought the best energy, and Lara came out and showed us some crazy moves on the dance floor. Then it was off to bed for an early start the next day!
All in all, Kennes was a chaotic and beautiful experience, one that left us with a deeper understanding of what characterizes Judaism in all different communities and the struggles that Israel faced in its history and still faces today. We learned about the past leader who shaped the nation to understand what we can do as leaders in our own communities. It was incredible to get to know teenagers from across the world.
Contributed by Hannah Chorley
Last day of Kennes
July 21 -Indiana Podbere
Today was a crazy busy day! We woke up at 4:30 am to set off to Masada. We packed all our bags and prepared for our last day of kennes. After a quick coffee, we headed off to hike Masada. We ate a quick(sandwich) breakfast and started our assent as a group of 200. Once at the top of Masada, we broke off into our color groups (go orange!) and participated in an educational activity. We discussed the History of Masada, though we had little time to look around, and took some color group pictures. We then all took the cable car down the mountain and met up in classrooms to reflect on the kennes. We dissected all of the activities we did with great depth. Then we were very excited to have a delicious meal (after many sub-par meals at kennes) with juicy, dark red watermelon. After lunch, we made a trip to the Dead Sea where we got to slather ourselves in soothing mineral packed mud right from the shore. We also got to float in the very warm Dead Sea. After that amazing experience, we headed to the upper galilee where we would finally meet our partners! Once we arrived in the upper galilee, we had a fantastic and welcoming dinner. Dinner was followed by creative opening ceremonies. After the ceremonies we each left and went home with our partners and their families. It was wonderful to finally be reunited with our partners and we can't wait for all of the amazing things to come in community week!
Today was a crazy busy day! We woke up at 4:30 am to set off to Masada. We packed all our bags and prepared for our last day of kennes. After a quick coffee, we headed off to hike Masada. We ate a quick(sandwich) breakfast and started our assent as a group of 200. Once at the top of Masada, we broke off into our color groups (go orange!) and participated in an educational activity. We discussed the History of Masada, though we had little time to look around, and took some color group pictures. We then all took the cable car down the mountain and met up in classrooms to reflect on the kennes. We dissected all of the activities we did with great depth. Then we were very excited to have a delicious meal (after many sub-par meals at kennes) with juicy, dark red watermelon. After lunch, we made a trip to the Dead Sea where we got to slather ourselves in soothing mineral packed mud right from the shore. We also got to float in the very warm Dead Sea. After that amazing experience, we headed to the upper galilee where we would finally meet our partners! Once we arrived in the upper galilee, we had a fantastic and welcoming dinner. Dinner was followed by creative opening ceremonies. After the ceremonies we each left and went home with our partners and their families. It was wonderful to finally be reunited with our partners and we can't wait for all of the amazing things to come in community week!
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