Sunday, July 28, 2013

Our first half

Hard to believe we just finished our second shabbat! Here are some highlights from our fellows...


Travel days:
Hey Guys! After a walking tour of Jerusalem’s old city on Shabbat afternoon our group walked over to the Kotel to experience Havdallah. There are always many people praying at the wall but at havdallah there are hundreds of people gathered together to say goodbye to Shabbat. We met with the Diller group from Boston and did havdallah together as one group. After that we spent time at Ben Yehuda street, an area with many shops and restaurants. After a delicious schwarma, we walked around the street doing a little shopping but mostly just soaking in the Jerusalem night life. The next morning we woke up and went to Yad Vashem, Israel’s largest holocaust museum. The museum was filled with a lot of interesting information that was supplemented by stories told to us by our guide. After the museum itself, we went to the children’s memorial. The next stop was Har Herzl, Israel’s military cemetery which also contains the graves of many political leaders. Among those who we saw were Yitzhak Rabin, Golda Meir and of course Theodore Herzl. After a very serious and somber morning we lightened it up a bit at the Dead Sea. Many of us covered ourselves in mud and washed it off in the Dead Sea. It was very fun just floating around weightless in the water. Next up was a sulfur bath, which did not smell nearly as bad as I expected, and then a dip in a freshwater swimming pool. To close out the day we went to the Masada Guest house where we ate a good dinner and rested up for the next day.
- Aaron Schimmel

As darkness began to dissipate in the skies above and steep desert rock filled the earth below, a group of twenty teens embarked on a journey to witness the sun shine in a way they have never seen it before. What began as a long treacherous journey resulted in the most honorable of achievements, making it to the top of Masada. 700 steps of pain, sweat, and complaints was endured but it was all worth it when we began to see the red peek of the everlasting sun rising above the Jewish homeland. The history of Masada itself is a reminder that we should always trek on especially if it is for something we believe in. The martyrdome that occurred in Masada sets the example of what Israel shall never do in the future, lose their homes and their lives. 

Later in the day we dumped our heads in the fresh waters of En Gedi and embraced the relaxed atmosphere of this fine oasis. The cold water served to relieve the beating sun that shone.
- Aviv Oren



Community week begins!
Monday evening we kicked off community week at a local park when our bus full of American fellows was greeted by 20 energetic Israeli fellows. After copious hugs, and a couple of games, we made our way to Shlomo's home in northern Tel Aviv where our Israeli buddy's parents greeted us and took us to their homes. 
Tuesday morning all forty of us met up at the very first train station in tel aviv and went on to explore Tel aviv's first Jewish Community. The history themed day continued at Independence Hall, followed by a scavenger hunt around the city. We enjoyed falafel and spent time with some of last year's tel aviv fellows. We then went to the place Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated and discussed our visions and dreams about both personal and global issues. The night concluded with easily the most incredible surprise a tourist could ask for: the israelis took us to the roof of the azrieli building giving us a breathtaking view of Tel Aviv at night from fifty floors up. The city looked (and truly is) magical. 
- Chava Friedman


With Kennes and congress just around the corner, be sure to keep checking out our Facebook page for pictures: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Los-Angeles-Diller-Teen-Fellows-Program/590721644273869?ref=hl

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

See you soon, chevreh

Shalom L'olam,

I am currently in home hospitality in Tel Aviv staying with Ron Arbel, a Tzama member this year. After spending the entirety of the last week doing preparations for Kennes and Congress, I have had the chance to reflect on my own experience as a Chanich and would like to use this space to offer my own final pieces of packing and preparation advice for my fellows that will be boarding flight LY006 direct to Tel Aviv in less than 24 hours!

1. Contrary to popular belief, it is hot in Israel. I know, groundbreaking! So bring a hat and a refillable water bottle. You have been thoroughly warned and we expect no complaints from any of you about the heat or dehydration. We're all under the same sun.

2. Remember to eat smart and bring healthy snacks. Though delicious (and my personal favorite) schwarma does not exactly qualify as a well balanced meal. Vitamins are as important as hydration and sickness will surely put a dampener on the trip.

3. Embrace Israel. For some of you this might be your first trip to Israel, for others it might be their 3rd or 4th, regardless take the time to appreciate this great country for its religious side as well as its not do religious side. If you come back in 3 weeks speaking with miserable grammar, an unhealthy desire to put hummus on everything, and more enthusiasm than you know what to do with, you've done a good job.

4. Get excited. Over the past week, 13 North American JCs, 14 Israeli JCs, about 20 Tzama members, and several more staff have been working tirelessly in order to make sure your trip to Israel will be fantastic and unforgettable. We're bringing back old traditions as well as experimenting with new ones (i.e. The Quest: a comedic and high energy competition , created and MC'd by yours truly, that I expect every Los Angeles chanich to attend to prove which Cohort is really the best). This summer is shaping up to be one of the best yet.

So finish packing, say your goodbyes, and prepare yourself to experience the land and people of Israel in a way you never have before.

L'hitraot,
Zach Getelman
Los Angeles Junior Counselor

Monday, July 15, 2013

Hi chanichim! I'm writing to you from THE HOLY LAND. Maagniv, lo? Zach and I have spent the last four days running through programs, sitting in maagalim, learning new words in Hebrew (glidah, anyone?) and becoming one big cohesive tzatz -- staff-- with the Israeli junior staff. After a super duper fantastic fourteen-hour flight, we arrived at Givat Haviva and rejoiced with the rest of the North American Junior Counselor Cohort. We celebrated being back together with ice breakers and then we began programming for the North American Kennes. On Friday we resumed preparation until the Israelim arrived and we began the daunting task of creating the best possible Congress for the Diller chanichim of 2013. We introduced ourselves to the staff of our tribes (Go Yehudah and Zebulon!) and celebrated our first Shabbat together. On Saturday (only our second full day in Israel) we reviewed the luz of Congress, explored Givat Haviva's pool and built team skills with Outdoor training. This afternoon we left the conference center for Tel Aviv and explored the city in an intense scavenger hunt, just like the one you will do when we're all in this amazing city together in a little more than a week! Then we ate at the port for pizur dinner and now we're at Hakfar Ha'Yarok, a kibbutz just outside of the city, far enough to enjoy peace and quiet and close enough to enjoy the view. We will continue building on our connections and working with this extended family the next few days, until you all arrive! Can't wait to share more stories with you soon! 

B'ahava, Spage 

Monday, July 1, 2013

Pre-Israel Shabbaton- Cohort 6

By Ben Klein

Two weeks ago we had our final shabbaton before our trip to Israel. We hadn’t seen each other for a long time, not since the Israelis were with us. We arrived at USC and soon after we walked over to the Hillel. Before Shabbat began we drew up a Shabbat Manifesto. which would enumerate the values and rituals that we consider most important to a successful Shabbat. We included the physical rituals of candle lighting and Kiddush, as well as the intangibles, such as disconnecting from technology and finding silence for reflection. I enjoyed this activity because it really gave us a perspective on each other’s concepts of Shabbat, and how although we come from different denominations, we still have similarities between us on the most fundamental parts of Shabbat. 

We also had an interesting activity where we each anonymously wrote down a thing that we were excited for in Israel, and something we were afraid of as well. We made bead bracelets or necklaces by putting a bead on for every fear or excitement that we associated with. It was really great to see how everyone associated with each other’s fears and hopes. It brought us closer together. The other event that I enjoyed that night was our maagal laila, which is our last meeting of the day before bed, win which we usually have a meaningful conversation. We each chose a card with a picture and a word on it that spoke to us, and we each explained what they meant to us. It was a good way to learn more about each other. We also picked cards for the person to our left, which was nice because we were able to learn how some people viewed us, and it was nice to give and receive compliments.

            On Saturday the more reform fellows participated in a morning yoga session for Shabbat, while the more conservative fellows used different siddurim to pray in their own way. This was nice, I personally did yoga, because we were able to relax and reflect on the week, which is the main purpose of Shabbat. We then began my favorite part of the shabbaton, a debate over whether women should be able to pray at the wall as part of Women of the Wall. We were organized into groups randomly, not based on our own personal beliefs. I was on the side opposite of my belief structure, I had to argue that women should not be allowed to pray at the wall. It was a great opportunity to understand the logic and mindset of those whom I don’t agree. I also love to debate, so I had a lot of fun debating this topic, although I didn’t agree with what I was arguing for.

We then discussed what our passions were, in a community service context. This was initial discussion of our tikkun olam projects, and it was very interesting to hear not only the differences, but also the similarities in what we were interested in. I thought this was a great way to explore the strategies that we would like to apply to the issues that we are passionate about.

 Our havadallah that night was very nice, and in my opinion, the best service we had especially since Havdallah is my favorite service. That night we had a great program run by Naomi Ackerman ( http://www.naomiackerman.com/). It was a combination of improv and learning about the differences between Israelis and Americans. It was a really engaging activity. I think we really began to understand even more how we need to interact with the Israelis, and the cultural differences between Israelis and Americans.


            On Sunday, our final day, we spent the majority of our time organizing in our tzevetin organizing our schedules for community week. We then presented our ideas to both the JCs and Sami, and to the rest of the fellows. It got us really excited for community week and Israel in general. All the schedules sounded fantastic. It was amazing to see how well each group incorporated their day’s theme into their schedule. All in all it was a great shabbaton.