Welcome to Camp Diller!

Contributed by Oksana Chubrikova

cell phones on fire

The 5th diller workshop was introduced with a campy feel, which included a makeshift bonfire and a large tent in the center of the room. 

We started off discussing our favorite camp memories, then transitioned to the latest SFUG assignment, 2 truths and a lie. Next, Randi, a guest speaker, presented exciting leadership opportunities in San Francisco, specifically involving the LGBTQ community. Afterwards, our JCs introduced the Diller programming template, otherwise known as "The Journey of Sticks and Marshmallows". 

We were given our first self-management assignment of planning programs for our upcoming shabbaton using the template, and right off the bat we could see the leadership that was manifesting within our cohort. 

We also got to try some delicious fruits and read about our horoscopes, in honor of the upcoming holiday of Tu B'shvat. 

We wrapped up our very fun and informative workshop with some lighthearted games, organized by the KUWTD and the Social committees. To end the meeting, we reflected on the theme of leadership and how we hoped it would develop throughout the next few workshops as we worked to organize our upcoming shabbaton. 

ערוך באמצעות היישום Docs

צור שינויים, הוסף תגובות ושתף עם אחרים כדי לערוך ביחד איתם.

לא, תודההורד את האפליקציה

Contributed by Maya Cardenas-Berkowitz 

The December workshop commenced with the introduction of our Israeli partners accompanied by photos and plans for the seminars. We enthusiastically described their where they live, their interests, and practices. The question of initial compatibility arose and while many shared commonality, others expressed differences, which they embraced with openness and appreciation for diversity. 

Next on the agenda was "The Buffet." Every table had paper slips, all of which contained a food, organized by categories such as Torah, Interfaith, and Israel. The only contingency was that we could not pick two or more identical strips. We visited each station, meticulously selecting slips that resonated with us. Upon selection, we piled them on our plates. After gathering our slips, we assembled in table-groups, where we compartmentalized our slips individually and discussed our decisions amongst ourselves. Each table merged with another, and we rearranged our slips into four, predetermined foods, discarding the others. This exercise emphasized pluralism, as we ultimately learned that each food represented a value from a major sect of Judaism - Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstruction. Interestingly, most plates did not align with each person's actual observance. Although we may identify with a certain denomination in general terms, there are details within each that we find agreement. We discovered the flexibility and overlap in Jewish customs, spirituality, learning, and culture. This strengthens our Diller Family as we build meaningful connections and mutually expanding our knowledge. 

On behalf of Ceremonies Committee, Jonathan lead us in the Chanukah blessing and we lit his chanukiah. We went around and told anecdotes about our chanukiot and their significance to us and our families. Many of us shared photographs. 

Our second activity was visual and kinesthetic. In an allotted fifteen minute span, we were tasked with constructing figurines from clay-like modeling compounds^[1] and fashioning identification cards to correspond with our creations. The fabrication and documentation components were executed independently, allowing us to produce distinctive, authentic representations varying from monsters, people, and animals, to abstract beings as well as characteristics that each encompass. Each creature joined an island, where the founders (the fellows), collaborated as advocates on their behalf to promote a society of coexistence. There were compromises implemented to sustain all creatures such as common areas and privatized sections and adjusting the topography. Some islands encountered more turbulence due to polarity in living conditions, culture, and worldview. Every island drafted a binding, permanent constitution with laws and consequences for illegal behavior. The staff selected one member from each island to renounce their citizenship and immigrate to another island. In several scenarios, the new demographic was a challenge to accommodate since we were unable to make amendments to our creatures or laws. A primary struggle with integration was perceived power dynamics given that most of the islanders had a sense of unity and seniority over the newcomer. In some instances, the new creature held a sense of entitlement and Founder's syndrome (the character, not the person themself^[2]) by making extensive demands. Ultimately, most were sufficiently satisfied with the arrangement, while one or two did not develop a sense of coherence and faced isolation. .   

This exercise simulated diaspora, a phenomenon of involuntary expulsion of people from one region especially their homeland. It provoked comparisons between Syrian refugees and Mexican immigration. Notably, Jews escaping persecution in Europe fled to other countries during the 1930's and 1940's.  Some were met with anti-semitism upon arrival. Our island is a scaled-down interpretation of this occurrence. Given that the creatures had innate, unchangeable characteristics and we were unable to fundamentally alter our society, those who didn't smoothly assimilate were  unable to reap the same benefits and felt unwelcomed. Thankfully, we almost always have the capacity to learn from one another, to deepen our understanding, and recognize the beautiful essence within each  individual.  

We concluded with brief committee meetings. Swag committee determined a winner and proposals for upcoming items and polls to be determined. India proposed a secret Chanukah gift exchange, "Magical Maccabee." We each drew names, and the gifts will be given at our January workshop. Ceremonies committee will catch up with birthdays next month. SFUG is planning the first mission. We will be contacted with our committees for our cohort-led Shabbaton. 

This was our first meeting in the afterglow of last month's Shabbaton. Thus far, we have created a safe community founded on trust, vulnerability, and authenticity.  We are living in accordance with our brit, as it serves ourselves, our fellows, the Bay Area, and the world. We support, inspire, and teach each other; we unite as Cohort 19! 

---

[1] I don't use brand names, although I realize that this item has become synonymous with such

[2] I wanted to be respectful and felt himself/herself didn't accomplish this as some may be non-gender binary or otherwise 

The parents of Cohort 19 also get a workshop of their own!

Contributed by Olga Basman and Ellen Finestone

We began our parent meeting by sharing our "oys and joys". Not surprisingly, there were many commonalities. This experience enabled parents to establish a stronger connection to one another, feel more like members of the Diller community, and to better appreciate the experience the teens are having as they too begin all of their meetings in the same way.

Our first 'big' activity was a preview of what our teens would be doing later in the day.   During the activity, called 'Our Island,' parents were tasked with creating our own creatures out of play-dough.  We had to define our creature's natures, needs and priorities and even talk about the language they use.  Then, we brought our creatures to an 'island' and together talked about the laws that governed our new space.  

We even simulated the refugee crisis by moving creatures into different islands; individual island communities would then share the impact they experienced of losing an established member and accommodating the arrivals of new ones. Because this segment of the Diller Teen Fellows program is all about Jewish Identity, this 'task' focused all of us on creating, defending, and negotiating identity – and bringing our identities into a bigger community.  It helped all of us think about pluralism, certainly something we see in the Jewish community here in the Bay Area – and in Israel.

Finally, we were split into five working committees, similar to the ones our teens are members on in Diller: Swag, SFUG, Ceremonies, Social Diller Life, and our committee – 'Keeping up with the Dillers.' This blog post is the product of our committee.  Our first ever blog post. 

 

If you are interested, you are welcome to write a post too.  Just contact Katherine KatherineT@sfjcf.org

 

Wishing all Diller teens and parents a happy new year.

 

Our first Shabbaton as Cohort 19

Contributed by Ilana Basman

As Shabbat crept in on us, we started out our retreat with the lighting of the Shabbat candles and activities to get to know our Jewish identity better. After a wonderful dinner, we talked about our Shabbat traditions and the different traditions each fellow had. Through this we were able to discover the different ways each person celebrated Shabbat, but we also found out that many of us had similar traditions, like the Hamotzi and birkat hamazon. 

We then continued with another activity. We were told to find a partner and to stare into each others eyes while completing certain tasks, first being dead silent, but then allowing one person to speak and then having a regular conversation. At the beginning it was hard not to laugh but as it progressed, we all become much more comfortable with each other.

Our night ended with a Maagal Layla, night circle. We all sat in a circle in the dark and were asked a series of questions, starting with more general ones like your most embarrassing story, to more personal ones such as something that you are most afraid of. Each fellow was required to share, bringing us closer together as a cohort.

We began our second day of the Shabbaton with a lovely breakfast of eggs and cereal. After this, we came together for morning prayer and yoga led by Lara. We learned 3 morning prayers through this yoga, bringing us to understand our inner self better. After this more non-traditional morning service, we continued by reading the weeks Torah portion, about Jacob and Esau. We discussed how their relationship was created by their parents relationship with them, the good and the bad situations that occurred with their family. After this we were led down to the beach to work on an activity led by Micah. We were all given a rope and first, instructed to make a certain shape without talking. After this, everyone except for one person were blindfolded, that that one person had to direct us to create another shape. As the challenge progressed and we couldn’t quite create the shape we were told to, a heart, 3 other people’s blindfolded were taken off, and they all worked to create that shape together. We did this for two rounds, and it is much harder than it seems. After this, we had some free time with our fellows before lunch to hang out and get to know each other better.

After lunch we had one-on-ones with the staff, for them to get to know us better. As this time was also free time, many fellows either went hiking or hung out at the beach. At the beach, many of us threw around a football or a frisbee or just talked about our lives and school. We then came together again to discuss our Jewish traditions and more about our Jewish identity. As the day continued, we proceeded to have dinner, lasagna.

After dinner, we had Havdallah to say goodbye to shabbat. Noam and India led a song session where they taught us different songs that they liked to sing at the end of Shabbat. We they all went out to the campfire and enjoyed s'mores as Jonathan played the guitar. We ended the night with something a little different. We went on a night hike all alone. There was a trail lit up by glow sticks for us to follow but we were all alone and in pitch darkness. It was scary, but it let us reflect on the day we had had. We then continued with another Maagal Layla, similar to the one of Friday, but a little shorter. We were given glow sticks and again asked a series to question. As we answered, we were allowed to crack the glow stick. We were then able to create any shape we wanted with them in the middle of the circle. We all came together, from individuals to make a family. And then we went to bed!

On Sunday, we rose bright and early, and went to the beach together. We as fellows planned this all by ourselves and just wanted to bond. We thought that it would not be too cold, but we were very wrong. It was windy and freezing, so we quickly took some pictures and were to breakfast.  Afterwards we met up and talked about our Israeli partners in the Upper Galilee and how we will be getting our partners soon (as I am writing this, we have already received our partners name and many of us have already gotten in contact with them.) We did some more bonding activities and as we were all exhausted from a long weekend, soon proceeded to having lunch, custom made sandwiches. After this, we had another outdoor activity. We were given an about 6x6 ft blue fabric and told that we had to flip it while all standing on it. We tried it many times, some by sitting on each others shoulders, or standing on each others feet. All in all, it didn’t really work out but we definitely got closer as a cohort. 

After this we had a surprise in store. We had an activity called Late Nite Art. There were tables covered in white paper with every type of art material you could imagine, crayons, color pencils, paint. We were first told to complete certain tasks, like writing a question we had or drawing how our hometown looks, but then as the assignment continued, we all just started doodling on the paper. It went from being completely blank to having different colors on every part of the paper. Before departing, we had our very last assignment, feedback. We talked about the rules of giving feedback and the Kosher sandwich layout, first giving something good, then something that is honest feedback, many times something that wa not as enjoyable, and then giving another kind comment. We started with talking about the shabbaton as a whole, and then continued to speaking about certain programs we had. Even though we had only spent less than 3 days together and being extremely tired by the end, we all grew so close together, at the end not wanting to part ways. This shabbaton was a success!

Contributed by Jonathan Altman

This past Diller workshop was centered around the idea of inclusion.

Right from the get-go, Daniel from cohort 18 got us started with a couple of activities about inclusion. For our first activity, some of us were given instructions to do things like skip around the room or act like a chicken, while others were given no instructions. It was a great first step into the topic of inclusion, as our members who were not given instructions were confused and felt left out. We then moved on to draw concept maps about how we can include others and the effects inclusion can have. We capped off our study of inclusion with a discussion, where some members of the cohort shared very personal stories that let us grow closer. We established some inclusion norms, and then moved on to our study of Torah.

This was our first time as just our cohort studying Torah together. In Diller, this is called "Shnayim Ochazin." We first read the passage from which this name derives, about how to divide up something of immense value between two people. Gavi and Ma’ayan volunteered to play out the scenario, and it was very entertaining as well as very deep. We discussed the meaning of both the text and the scenario after it was done, and we were able to extract the deeper moral messages hidden within the text. We practiced our new Torah study skills by reading a passage about Miriam and discussing the idea of leadership as a group. We covered all sorts of questions surrounding leadership such as: Is leadership inherent? Are there different types of leadership? Etc… The discussion was very lively and everyone seemed to contribute their opinions. Once we finished our Torah study, we went to the roof to talk about feedback for the workshop as well as to hangout. Overall, our first meeting with just our cohort was engaging, fun, and inspiring.

Contributed by Gabi Finestone:

For our second workshop, we were joined by Cohort 18! We began by introducing ourselves and sharing the oys and joys of our weeks. We were each paired with a buddy from Cohort 18, and the ice was quickly broken as we shared in oys concerning homework and tests, and joys about our weekend plans. We also met our senior counselor/alumni intern Micah for the first time, and were greeted by the familiar faces of our junior counselors, Aidan and Laurel.

Rock Paper Scissors Duel!

Partnership group discusses what it is like to work with our Israeli Fellows

After, we all participated in fun icebreakers such as a big rock paper scissors tournament and a fun team game to learn each other’s names. Then we broke up into our committee groups, but we (Cohort 19) met with our corresponding committees from Cohort 18. This was extremely helpful to us, as we were able to learn about ideas that worked and didn’t work from an experienced committee. It was also exciting to hear about all of the Diller experiences that we will be embarking on this year from Cohort 19. 

After we all had some time to socialize and snack during our break on the roof (with views of the Blue Angels,) we all convened to begin a program planned by Micah, where we explored our passions, and how they impact our identity and connect us to others. We did this in a number of ways: brainstorming in pairs, small groups and large groups and reflecting all together. We then explored how gratitude informed these passions, and where our Jewish identity might be linked to the passions in ways that we might not have thought about before.

We split up for the last part of our workshop. Cohort 18 worked on their impact projects, while Cohort 19 reflected on the workshop with Lara. 

A belated post from a few days ago

By Sophia

Today, the cohort transitioned from Community Week to Congress. We spent the morning kissing our host families goodbye and thanking them endlessly. The first half of the day was spent on the bus, traveling from the Upper Galilee to Givat Haviva. We arrived at a nearby kibbutz for the opening ceremonies where the JCs introduced the theme of Congress: Sarah and Abraham. The SF cohort was split into tribes mixed with fellows from cohorts all over the world. In our tribes, we broke the ice. After a scrumptious dinner of cucumbers, the tribe groups reconvened for a unit about family, what constitutes a family, and what the global Jewish family means to us. Our maagal laila consisted of funky yoga poses led by Lara. We wrapped up the day by mingling with the global Diller community at the White Tent.