Winter Israel Seminar Cohort 7: Post #3 Shabbat and Sunday

Shabbat in Jerusalem

By Hannah Rapoport

Our first Shabbat in Israel was truly special.  On our last traveling day and shabbat quickly approaching, we roamed the streets of Jerusalem.  We could feel the Shabbat sprit in the air from the time we left the hotel. 

We started out the day visiting the Hasidic neibornook of Ge'ula.  I loved getting to see a different side of Judaism that I had never seen up close.  We learned about their daily lives and customs.  I noticed big advertisements on the streets and asked our tour guide what they were. She said that they served as a communication devise because of the lack of Internet and television. 

After our tour, we went to shuk machaneh yehudah. On the busiest day at the shuk, the streets were crowded with people getting ready for Shabbat. I was amazed seeing the shuk for the first time. We shopped around and found a local bakery called marzipan, and ate the most delicious rugalach.  I bargained for necklaces and found myself immersed in the culture. 

 We returned to the hotel to get ready for Shabbat  and bundled up for a chilly evening. We were given the option to attend either an orthodox service or reform.  I loved my experience in the reform service and was surprised at how many people knew English.  After Shabbat services, we gathered together to walk back to the hotel. Despite the cold, it was amazing seeing the city of jurusalem at night and experiencing Shabbat in the amazing city. 

 On Saturday, we relaxed at the hotel and participated in a program about language. I learned about how our languages are connected and how we connect despite the language barrier.  The most amazing part of Shabbat was having havdallah on the roof, overlooking the old city.  The overwhelming sense of community is indescribable. I will always the remember my first Shabbat in Israel, and how special our Diller family is. 

Community week Day 1

By Benj Lester

Sunday morning was a little out of the ordinary. I woke up in a new home filled with a new family. Thankfully, I felt right at home - thanks to the warm and generous hospitality of the Shimon family. To start off the day, Ganir dropped me off at the station, where I met a few other Los Angeles fellows. We immediately took a bus to the heart of Tel Aviv, where we got split into two groups to take part in a scavengar hunt. The purpose of the scavenger hunt was to get to know Tel Aviv on a more personal level and interact with the people of the city. I had an amazing time because it was my first chance to walk through the streets of the city and to get a chance to talk to various people. My favorite moment of the hunt was when my team, the green team, walked into a convenience store and asked the cashier if he had a tattoo. Luckily, he did have the animal design tattoo that we were looking for but the way he presented it was very funny and even provocative. At the end of the hunt, the judge told both teams that my team, the green team, were the victors. Our prize was an Israeli chocolate bar with filling. 

Our next activity was Shuk Shopping. The group went to Shuk HaCarmel. I was especially happy to go shopping because I wanted a chance to buy some presents for people back home. I was very satisfied with the gifts I bought and the process of buying them were just as enjoyable. I liked the experience of bargaining with the merchants and looking at different styles of various jewelry. 

After buying jewlery, we immediately left the shuk and headed towards the meeting place of the Tel Aviv fellows. To end the night, we had our opening ceremonies where everyone got the opportunity to meet everyone's family while enjoying dinner. 

 

Winter Israel Seminar cohort 7: post #2

HBy Deena Levitan and Rachel Israilevich 

I think I speak for everyone when I say that we had a very interesting and educational day. We had the opportunity to go to places that teen groups do not usually go to. To start the day we went on a beautiful walk at Haas Promenade and got to see the beautiful city that is Jerusalem. It was amazing to see the entire city and the borders between the different territories. 

After our walk at Haas Promenade we took a bus ride to a stop along the Seam Line. We started with a view of the city and saw a part of the old wall that used to surround the Old City. We then continued along the Seam Line and soon stopped in front of the Notre Dame Church. It was absolutely stunning and we were very fortunate to see the Church when we did because being Christmas Day there were many people exiting and entering the church and the church grounds. 

We then continued our trek and ended up at Museum on the Seam, which is a museum that collects the artworks from artists around the world and tries to display them in a socio-political way. The pieces are contemporary and bring a lot of conflict and interesting viewpoints with them. 

After enjoying the wonderful hospitality of the museum and its curator, we then went on a bus ride to the Old City. I was very excited and could not wait to see the holiest place of the Jewish people for the first time. As soon as I got off of the bus I immediately encountered different smells, sounds, and sights and it was an amazing experience. All of us eagerly got off of the bus, awaiting the tangible history of the Jewish people. Nirit, our guide, explained to us exactly what was in the Old City and what was waiting for us in the Jewish Quarter. Walking along the sides of the Old City, we saw the walls of the old City and were amazed that after such a long time they were still standing. We then walked to the Christian quarter of the Old City and we were very fortunate to be able to see the tomb of King David and the room where Jesus had the Last Supper. I was in shock for a little bit when we entered the room because I could not believe where I was. It is something that needs to be experienced and we did. 

After these amazing sights we started to walk to the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. I was filled with excitement and disbelief as we were walking. Before reaching the Kotel, we went on a rooftop to see another beautiful view of Jerusalem. It was getting darker and colder towards the night, but nonetheless we loved to see it. As were were sitting in silence soaking in the beauty and spirituality of the Old City, the Muslim Quarter began filling with the sounds of their daily prayer. It was definitely an experience hearing the Muslim prayers and viewing the Golden Dome of the Old City. Finally, we were on our way to experiencing a moment at the Kotel. 

For many of us, this was our first time and it was definitely very emotional and spiritual moment. It was packed with people, tourists and Israelis alike, and we were surrounded by soldiers and their families who came for the swearing in ceremony. It was really exciting to be able to see this ceremony take place at one of the holiest sites to the Jewish people. Going to the Kotel and leaving a note in the cracks was extremely moving, and when I put my hands on the wall, I could feel the centuries of energy reverberating off of its surface, imagining the millions of hands that have touched this wall that managed to withstand against all odds. I got chills down my whole body, and just being surrounded by so many Jewish people (which is uncommon coming from LA) in this holy place was truly an experience I will remember forever. 

After several embarrassing requests to take pictures with the soldiers, we made our way to Ben Yehuda Street- the Israeli version of the Santa Monica promenade. Some of us met up with Israeli family or friends, and the rest of us walked around with our Tel Aviv friends and splurged on souvenir shops and delicious shawarma and falafel. It was the perfect end to a busy day.

Winter Israel Seminar cohort 7: Post #1

Travel and our 1st day:

by Leora Tolfer and Elana Muroff

We began our journey with a 10 hour flight to Zurich. This flight was interesting. At the Zurich airport we endured a seven hour layover. This was almost unbearable, but we were able to get through it by finding lots of food. After another four hour flight from Zurich to Tel Aviv, we finally made it to Israel!

After taking a short rest in our hotel, we got ready to meet up with the Tel Aviv fellows. We took our first drive in Tel Aviv (in daylight, at least) to the museum where we would be having our Mega-Evening in order to meet the Tel Aviv fellows before the event started. We played some ice breakers with the group and had a chance to reconnect after eight months apart.

The rest of the day consisted of our Mega-Evening with all of the North American and Israeli fellows (with the exception of Toronto). We were able to meet a few hundred Diller fellows and it was a fantastic experience to finally feel like a part of the larger Diller community! We’ve had a great start to our trip and we can’t wait to see more of this beautiful country.

Day 2:

by Becca Speyer

Our first full day in Israel was a very intense day. The day consisted of Yad Vashem and Mt. Hertzl. Yad Vashem is the Holocaust museum and Mt. Hertzl is the cemetery Israel’s greatest leaders and the fallen soldiers. The trip consisted of taking the path from the Jewish peoples’ worst experiences to learning about the creation of Israel through talking about the most influential people’s lives while walking through the cemetery. Mt Herzl ended with us walking through the “newest” part of the cemetery which was the most impactful and emotional part of the day for the fellows to endure because of how close in age the fallen soldiers are to us.

Then we headed to Ramat Rachel, our hotel, to meet up with the Israelis and eat dinner. After dinner we did a maagal lila consisting of the fellows choosing pictures that represented how their summer felt to them. It was really impactful to see the different experiences over the summer as two different communities dealing with the hardships that arose.  

Cohort 8 Workshop 3: Fruit salad and the Journey of Milk and Cookies

By Blake Feldmar

What kind of fruit are you? The fellows of Diller Cohort 8 each found out the answer to this question last Sunday at a meeting where we explored different work styles and ways to accomplish goals. We began by taking a short personality test in which we had to rank different adjectives by how well they described us. When we finished, our results identified us as one of four fruits—either a grape, an orange, a banana, or a melon. Each fruit represented a different kind of work style, and had its own strengths and weaknesses when it came to working in groups. After meeting with others of our kind and discussing our similarities, we split up into mixed-up groups in order to compare and contrast our styles. We realized that many of us were hybrids of different fruits, and several people felt uncomfortable having to choose just one for themselves or were surprised at their identification. However, we also thought it was very interesting to see ourselves classified, and felt that it helped us all get to know both ourselves and the rest of the group better. In the end, it was great to see that we could all come together to form one delicious Diller fruit salad capable of accomplishing any task.

               During our break, we were able to participate in an event occurring at the Westside JCC. Fast-paced music played from a nearby room for "Chanukah Zumbakah," an event aptly named for its Hannukah-themed Zumba class. Most of the Diller fellows joined in on the fun, and while some of us felt a little awkward others really got into it. Either way, we all enjoyed ourselves dancing aerobically to Hannukah parodies before returning to our room to continue our meeting.

 

               Upon our return, we embarked on the "Journey of Milk and Cookies," a method for completing goals that we learned we would be using throughout the rest of our time in Diller. The Journey had four parts—Mission, Vision, Goals, and Objectives. After learning about this process in a classroom-like setting, we were able to put our new knowledge into practice by breaking up into groups to plan our second Shabbaton. While at first the steps were a little unfamiliar, it quickly became clear how easy they were to use and their efficiency at planning and executing tasks. Each of the groups seemed very excited about their plans for the Shabbaton, and I can't wait to see what we all come up with.

               Overall, our fourth meeting was a success. We learned a lot about working to complete goals, both in how we personally approach them and how to effectively and methodically plan them. I am looking forward to the next Shabbaton, and am eager to strengthen the bonds that we have all formed in the past few months as well as my skills as a leader, a community member, and a Jew.

Shabbaton 1- Cohort 8

By Claire Rawson-Dannenbaum and Emma Scheinbaum

The Shabbaton began with a blast in the parking lot of the Westside Pavilion at 2:15. The fellows boarded the bus and we were on our way! We got to know one another in a new light—in a way different than a Jewish classroom setting. After picking up the rest of the fellows in the valley, we made our way to Alonim, the place we would call home for the weekend.

Upon arrival, we grabbed our warm jackets and jumped on the bus again to the neighborhood Chabad, for many of us, our first time in this kind of prayer setting. We walked inside, and the strangest feeling fell over me. It was warm, and smelled delicious, the TV was unplugged and the family was all standing together, just enjoying each other’s presence. It was beautiful. But for me at least, it was a little uncomfortable. Right away, we were separated, boys to wrap tefillin and girls to light the shabbat candles, lead by the Matriarch of the Chabad household and our fellows, Emma and Ellie. This part didn’t seem right to me, because in my tradition, everyone is included in both parts, if they want to. After these prayers, we headed around back to the Chabad, and begun a new learning experience. In the shul, there was a mehitzah, something new and strange to me. As we went through the prayer service, the girls on my side were pretty clueless as to what was going on, since the majority of us were unfamiliar with the melodies and language. After the service, we walked back to camp, ate dinner, said the Shabbat prayers lead by Shane and myself, participated in some ice breakers lead by Talia, Adam, Gabi E and Emily, and held a Maagal Laila (night circle). This activity was led by the Diller Staff, and included several cups with questions and options, each option a different color jellybean that we would place in the cup. After all the cups worked their way around the room, we dumped them out and discussed our answers. It was a great way to get to know each other anonymously. After this activity, we went back to our bunks for some late-night bonding.

The next morning, after breakfast, we took part in some ice breakers lead by Justin and Noah, where we literally supported each other and made a circle that could not be supported if one fellow left. After this, we split into two groups—those returning again to the Chabad and those going on a spiritual walk/hike (me!). As we walked along one of Alonim’s several paths we stopped several times to say a prayer, sing a song or just appreciate our surroundings. Eventually, we came to the end of the walk, a campfire area thought to be once used by the Native American peoples in the area. Aki, our walk guide/leader, pointed out some rocks she thought were used by the Native Americans for storage. Slightly ahead of schedule, Sami gave us the ok to climb the mountain and check out the rocks. We scaled the mountain in about 10 minutes, and sat in the ancient storage units. The view was incredible. After a few minutes of sitting in awe, we realized that we were running behind schedule (again) and ran down the mountain and back to camp. I loved this tefilah. It was new to me, and as a Reconstructionist Jewish camp kid, prayers in nature are common, but this felt different. I’m not sure if it was because of the new group of people, the new surroundings or the peace and focus of the group, but this is a new holy I had yet to experience.

Back at camp, we took part in more ice breakers, this time lead by Maddie. She lead us through a human knot exercise, which took us a few tries, but after a few minutes of scrambling through each others arms, we finally found ourselves in a circle. After Maddie’s ice breaker, Sami lead us in a musical memory game, which we continued to play throughout that weekend.

After lunch on Saturday, two of our fellows, Blake and Micah, led everyone in the Dvar Torah.  They handed each fellow a piece of paper with a different image on it.  It was our job as a group to put the pictures in the correct order so they could tell a story.  After we had successfully put our pictures in order we had about an hour and a half break.  Most people walked around the camp, exploring the soccer field and basketball courts.  After our break, everyone came together again for our first Jewish Identity program.  We walked in the room and noticed pictures all over the floor.  Some were generic pictures of families and others were landscape pictures of Israel, symbols for holidays, and even some empty ones.  We were each asked to pick four pictures that represented our Jewish Identity.  Then we were given different color post-its which each represented something different such as: community, family, and history.  After we placed the post-its on the pictures we thought they corresponded to, we were put into small groups to discuss.  We went around and shared the reasons why we picked each picture and which post-its we attached to it.  It was really interesting to listen to what other people chose and how their Jewish identity differs from mine.  

After our Jewish identity program and a short break, we all walked over to the Havdalah garden to begin our Havdalah ceremony led by Natan and Grace.  Personally, Havdalah is my favorite part of shabbat because of my experiences from camp.  

Shortly after Havdalah ended, we went to meet the Alonim staff to play some bonding games.  For one of the games we were put with a partner.  One person was given a pad of paper while the other was given a picture of several shapes which formed a confusing image.  The person with the picture couldn’t show their partner what it was so they had to describe the image and the other person had to draw it.  This activity was difficult for some and not so difficult for others.

 

Later that night after dinner and our last ice breakers led by Hanah, we had our second Jewish Identity program.  This program was more of an individual activity than the others.  There were several sheets of paper taped around the room, each with different aspects of Judaism such as God, Torah, Israel, and women’s roles.  Each paper explained the topic and then had spaces for people to draw their anonymous symbol under the category which was closest to their belief.  We later learned that these categories represented Jewish denominations such as Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist and Secularist.  This program was controversial throughout our group.  Some fellows said they didn’t like being put into a box or classified and there should have been more options, while others said they understood that the program was showing us how we can connect to several of these labels and agree or disagree with certain aspects.  

Shortly after we ended our program, our junior counselors, Rachel and Leora, led us in a bonding program.  We were all very confused when we were told to get blindfolds and line up.  We were then escorted to a grass area where we were able to remove our blindfolds.  We were each given 2 glow sticks which we were not supposed to break until we had all gone around the circle and said what we were looking forward to and a fear we had.  Most people were really looking forward to bonding even more than we already had during the weekend and for our trip to Israel.  A common fear was that we would lose some of the bonds we made because we wouldn’t see each other until the next meeting, a month later.  After we all shared, it was time for our campfire led by Liv and Gabby.  We walked up to our campfire area and made s’mores, sang songs, and played games.

The next morning we found out that we would be volunteering at the camp by painting an area to make it look nicer.  This reminded me of my camp where we work on a project every session to give back and enhance the beauty of our camp.  I believe that it’s very important to give back especially to a place that has affected you in such a positive way.

Our Shabbaton was coming to a close and we all came together one more time to evaluate the weekend and give our positive and negative feedback.  Overall, the weekend was a success and we all had such an amazing time.  Everyone bonded so much and we are all looking forward to our next meeting and the rest of our time in Diller!

Cohort 8 Workshop 2: Jewish Leadership and Me

By Grace Vogel

On Sunday October 5, we, Diller Cohort 8 had our second Workshop. With this workshop we were able to debrief a little bit on our high holiday experiences, with each other before the meeting officially began. Even though there seemed to be much more traffic than on a usual Sunday afternoon we all eventually made it to the meeting. We started our meeting officially with a slow-clap lead by Sami, Rachel, and Leora. Seeing as this was only our second meeting as a Cohort we were given some “mingling time” where we had conversations with each other stemming from questions such as “if you were to represent your soul in vegetable form, which vegetable would it be”. I personally believe that one’s soul vegetable tells a lot about them.

We had the privilege of listening to Rabbi Zalman Kravitz and collectively discuss our ideas of leadership. Many of us believed ourselves to be leaders, while several did not. We all had very different views of what a leader is or a leadership role entails. Together we began to understand that we do not need to change the entire world in order to be a leader. If we truly listen to and support others we will in essence be helping them feel more confident in themselves. We are all leaders, we have all had our lollipop moments, where we are made aware of the changes we have made in others even if we are not friends with them. We have all made an impact.

Our next meeting will be at Camp Alonim for our first Shabbaton! I know that we are all ecstatic about this opportunity to truly bond even further. I cannot wait to spend this time with my Diller family. In the meantime each fellow has paired up and decided to contribute to the Shabbaton, some are preparing mixers, camp fire activities and blessings. This is going to be an amazing collective experience. I am so excited to spend this time with the rest of Cohort 8, and find myself looking forward to November!

Cohort 7- Tikkun Olam Overnight

By Devon Subel

During our most recent overnight we learned about how to run our impact projects with the help of a guest speaker named Avram Mandel, who is working on establishing a gap year called Tzedek America. 


Our first night focused on catching up with each other by discussing the state of our projects. We discussed why we are participating in the projects we joined. From a commitment to Israel or to our fellow man we all had our reason why we are committing ourselves to our projects. After being introduced to Avram and learning about his life and how he grew his gap year program, we had a powerful program where we released our prayers into the twilight. Following, we enjoyed the great Alonim food and discussed life and college with Avram. We ended the night with another discussion, ending the night with high spirits ready for a day to expand on our projects.

In the morning we all worked hard to make great strides in our projects. Whether we had tentative plan or a concrete goal we all made plans, solidified goals, and planned budgets. After coming together as a group, we all discussed how far we had come in the past few hours. After meeting with the Tour de Summer Camp rider for lunch, who we worked with last year, we ended the day after finalizing our plans for the next workshop.

Introducing... the 8th Cohort of the LA Diller Teen Fellows Program!

For the first post of the newest cohort, Gabby Polyakov shares her reflections on our Orientation. Enjoy!

Hello everyone!

An amazing experience has just begun!

•We are the 8th cohort of LA Diller Teen Fellows•

We are all embarking on a new journey of creating a Jewish Identity, practicing Leadership, connecting with Israel, and practicing Tikkun Olam.

This past Sunday was our first workshop and orientation. Sami and our Junior Counselors, Rachel and Leora, led us through a lot of different activities which helped us get to know everyone else in the room. We started by introducing ourselves by saying our name and, either saying our name backwards, saying a nickname, or spelling our name with our butt. After this, we went through the program summary, calendar, and fellows responsibilities. After hearing what this program is all about, I became very excited to start the Diller program.

Our next activity was the Meeting Clock. Everyone went around and scheduled when to meet the other fellows. When a certain time was called, we met up with the person in that time slot and discussed the topic that was presented to us. At this workshop we got to meet four different people. We talked about our most disliked food, most embarrassing moment, what we did over summer, and what our personal hashtag would be if we had one. We had three minutes to talk about each topic. It may seem like a short amount of time, but my group always had extra time left over.

After the Meeting Cock, we shifted gears, and started talking about what it means to be part of the 8th Cohort of Los Angeles Diller Fellows. We were split up into five groups to make small skits to describe what each word meant. Each group had a different approach to describe their word. It was very interesting to see the different interpretations. Then, as a whole, we talked about what it meant to be in this very special program.

After this,we created our first project as a group.. It was a rolling wall. Everybody had a piece to contribute. From both of these activities we learned that each big project has smaller components in it and in order to accomplish the task, we need teamwork.

After this,we created another object as a whole group. We made a Community Kotel with our own “blocks”. Each person received a “block” and we wrote our names, something that we want to focus on in this program, and something that we can share and teach to others. Each block of the Kotel was a representation of each individual part of this big program.

Our parents joined us at this point for the second part of the welcome meeting. We watched everyones’ introduction videos. I was nervous about showing my video to the others, because I thought it was uncomfortable and weird, but after it was done, I was relieved. I realized that a lot of others were also feeling the same way. After all of the videos were done, the parents and the fellows separated into different groups of three families in each. We talked about this midrash and we discussed our names, their meanings, and more:

“Every man has three names: one by which his parents call him; another, by which he is known to the outside world; and a third, the name which his own deeds have procured for him.” -Tanchuma Vayakkhel

The junior counselors took the fellows out of the room and we asked them any questions that we had. We played more name games, Indian Chief, and Categories.

Overall, this first meeting was exciting. Between all the workshops, retreats, North American Seminar, projects, and Israel, we are all ready to engage in this wonderful journey of new friends and many great memories!

August Workshop, Cohort 7

By Goldie Fields

On August 24, 2014 Cohort 7 of Diller teen fellows met at the Westside JCC for our monthly meeting. We started with Sami, our coordinator checking in with all us to see how we were doing. We went around the table and said what we had been up to the last couple of weeks and whether we had started school or not, which most us had. This meeting did not include our Junior Counselors because both had left for college.  Chava is at Pitzer, and Michelle is at Brandeis. We expressed our appreciation to both by making them cards, thanking them for all they had done, and wishing them luck at college!  We also made cards for our very generous donors who enabled us to go to Camp Max Strauss at the last minute for an overnight after our Israel trip unfortunately had been cancelled.  After making our cards, Sami gave us an updated calendar of our schedule for approximately the next month.

            

Next, we performed a silent exercise, where we answered the question, “Why are you inspired to do tikkun olam?” through writing our answers on the board. This prompt was a great segue into our tikkun olam projects, and we discussed the three values upon which the world stands: avodah, torah, and gimilut chasidim. After, we split up into small groups to discuss our individual undertakings.  We worked on defining the mission and vision of our particular project.

            

After working on our tikkun olam tasks we heard from a representative of the JewishNational Fund. He told us that the Jewish National Fund does more than just plant trees in Israel.  Recently, the JNF funded bomb shelters in Sderot, Israel to help the residents there avoid rocket attacks.  The JNF has an amazingly large impact on Israel.  Following the speech we wrapped up our meeting, and we are looking forward to seeing each other soon on our overnight!

Summer 2014 By Rachel Israelivich

Israel. The big "thing" we had all been talking about and awaiting since day 1 of the Diller program. All of our meetings, workshops, overnights, and acts of Tikkun Olam somehow connected to Israel. We were basically living and breathing Israel during the few weeks leading up to our trip scheduled on July 16th. We had talked about Israel so much and had been keeping in touch with our Tel Aviv friends, which only made us more and more excited as the trip approached. I was especially looking forward to spend an extra week in Tel Aviv before the Israel Summer Seminar started (I along with two other fellows from Los Angeles planned to arrive a week early in order to spend more time in Israel), and was constantly receiving countless amounts of whatsapp messages from the Israeli fellows, planning my week and complaining that time couldn't possibly go by any slower. After more than 2 months, Los Angeles and Tel Aviv were finally going to be reunited again. That is, until the whole situation in Israel started...

On June 12th, news broke of the three Israeli boys that had been kidnapped while hitch-hiking near the West Bank. In the new era of social media, almost everyone was aware of what had happened, and "#bringbackourboys" was all over my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. With our cohort scheduled to leave to Israel in only one month, everyone’s parents became very worried about our trip and saddened by these terrible news. We hoped the boys would be found soon, safe and sound, and everything in Israel would settle down. The security would just be a little stricter, we would be more cautious when we arrived in Israel, and everything would be fine. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

As you probably know, the IDF found the bodies of the three boys on June 30th. By this point, regular fire was being exchanged between Gaza and Israel on a small scale. We heard about the rockets being fired into Israel, but they were only able to reach Israeli cities bordering Gaza. For cities like Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Sderot, rocket fire is something they are sadly accustomed to and is commonly known to occur every now and then. My trip was a mere 12 days away, but no matter how much I wished for things to quiet down, they only got worse and worse.  On July 8th, my suitcase was packed as it was only 2 days before I would finally visit the holy land. But July 8th was also the day Operation Protective Edge was fully launched, 40,000 reservists were mobilized, rockets were reaching as far as Tel Aviv and Haifa (which had never happened before), and the International Diller Office advised Sami to let my family know that they would not be allowing early flights to Israel. At this point, I didn't know how to feel. I was upset and angry that the trip I had been planning for almost a year was completely out of question in the matter of a few days. I was worried for the safety of my friends in Tel Aviv and everyone else who lives in Israel. I was confused as to why this was even happening in Israel, and of all times, why now?? I thought about the situation for a while, did some research, and realized that although it was unfair to me, there was nothing anyone could have done about it and my trip was postponed for my own safety.

The days couldn't have gone by any slower. July 11th- "this was supposed to be my first day in Israel, but instead here I am in my home in Los Angeles, moping at my computer screen, clicking refresh every 5 seconds on google to see the latest news about Israel. July 12th- rockets continued to fire continuously into Israel and its cities; "Bomb shelter selfies" flowed into my snapchat every few hours as sirens sounded throughout Tel Aviv. The situation was more serious than I was admitting to myself, and talks amongst the LA teens began to spur about whether or not we would get to go to Israel this summer at all. We remained optimistic, but for the second time, my trip was postponed another week toJuly 23rd. This time, it wasn't just for early flights- it was for all of the North American fellows. Everyone was furious. How could they do this to us!? How could they shorten our trip by a whole week? Why is Diller being so strict? Why, why, why? There were thousands of questions to be asked, but unfortunately no definite answers could be given. Nobody knew what would happen next, as the situation was changing every minute. Sami organized an impromptu overnight at one of our fellow's homes, and (almost) all of the LA cohort gathered on a Thursday night at Adam's house to be together and talk about what was going on. It was a rough evening for all of us- we had all prepared so much work into community week and within a matter of days, it went down the drain, not to mention the amount of planning and time we invested into the program in order to be prepared for Israel. We had the chance to skype with some of the Tel Aviv fellows that night, but it was hard to talk to them with so many people on talking at the same time on both sides of the conversation, not to mention the anxiousness of all the fellows to know what would happen next. We made the best out of the situation at hand and took advantage of the precious time we had together and enjoyed each other’s company. In the morning, we had a guest educator, Elran Tsabag, come and talk to us about the history of Israel and explain what was happening there, and it cleared up a lot of factors of the situation that almost all of us didn't really understand. I found it to be very  interesting to finally be able to put the pieces together of the complicated puzzle that exists within Israel's relationships with Gaza, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, and Lebanon. Even though we weren't in Israel, being able to learn about what was going on and discussing the situation made us feel connected in to Israel in some ways, and we started planning projects we could put into action to help Israelis in need.

The next time we saw each other was July 21st. We met bright and early in the morning at Alana's house to listen to a presentation from the One Wish Project before embarking on a hike in the beautiful Santa Monica Mountains. The presentation included a video which asked about 50 people in Jerusalem (Jewish, Muslim, Arab, Christian, Israeli, children, elders, adults, men, women, all sorts of diversity) that if they had one wish not just for Israel, but for themselves, what would their one wish be? It was surprising to see the similarities between groups that think they are so different from each other, but when asked for their wishes, "peace" was mentioned many times by people of each religion, culture, age, and gender. Our hike followed the presentation, and we were given the opportunity to make a wish for ourselves and have it recorded on video. It was amazing to hear how thoughtful everyone’s wishes were, and I noticed that a lot of people were using their wish to hope that they could do something for the betterment of someone else’s life.

Afterwards, we had a delicious Israeli lunch, fully equipped with endless shawarma, pita, hummus, Israeli salad, and anything else we could possibly want. Since we are all teenagers in the modern 21st century, a lot of people were checking the notifications on their phones, and in the middle of our lunch, one of the fellows loudly stated “OH MY GOD GUYS. The State Department issued a travel warning for all trips to Israel and it says that they strongly do not recommend any unnecessary trips there at this time.” Everyone was basically saying all day that they wouldn’t even start packing their bags until the morning of the day we were supposed to leave because we were already doubting the trip would even happen due to the escalating violence, and at this point, we all had a feeling that this summer would not turn out as planned. After lunch, we wanted to put into action the project ideas we came up with at Adam’s house a few days before, but it was hard for anyone to focus due to everything that was going on outside of our Diller meeting. Once Sami’s phone started ringing non-stop during our work time, and she actually answered it (she usually never answers her phone!!), we knew it was about our trip and we were 99.9999% sure it was going to be cancelled. The day ended sooner than we thought, and as we expected, we received an email from Sami that night informing us that we would not be going to Israel this summer.

For me personally, I wasn’t extremely sad that the trip was cancelled. I understood why this decision was made- there were security risks, the ground operation affected almost every family in Israel so it would be almost rude to impose on these families at such times, and no one would be able to put their full attention into the programs being conducted during ISS because there would just be too many things going on in the outside world that change in unknown directions every second. I was also one of the few fellows who had already known I would not be flying to Israel this summer, even if ISS was still happening, because my family had made the decision that they would not allow me to visit Israel during this dangerous time. In a sense, the trip being cancelled was almost a relief for me because this way I knew I would not be missing out on what I had been looking forward to all summer. I would now have an opportunity to participate in ISS with everyone else during a possible winter program. From what I know, the other fellows who were in the same shoes as I was also felt relieved that they would still have the opportunity to participate in ISS, and the fellows who were planning on going as long as Diller was going were all expecting the trip to be cancelled anyways. Overall, everyone was somewhat upset, but it was nobody’s fault and there was nothing anyone could have done to predict these unfortunate circumstances. At this point, the only thing that mattered the most was ensuring the safety of Israel’s civilians and doing what we could (from afar) to help Israel somehow.

We met at Mateen’s house the next week for a barbeque and were pleasantly notified that our Junior Counselors would be there too! They had left for Israel 1 week prior to our schedule departure in order to prep for our arrival and fulfill their JC duties. It was a nice time to just sit and talk about the current situation, and finally see Chava and Michelle again. We talked about the shabbaton we would have for 2 nights at Camp Max Straus, and just hung out and listened to the JC’s experiences and funny stories from Israel. They also brought us the best Israeli chocolate I've ever tasted and I can't wait until the day I can go to Israel myself and by a life time supply of "click."

The next week, we went on our shabbaton. We had guest speaker Naomi Ackerman come in to talk to us about social action and explain her Advot Project to us. It was very inspiring and interesting to hear about her work, and this led us into the conversation of what we wanted to do to help Israel. We spent a long time trying to decide who the recipients of our project would be, what we were supporting, why we wanted to help out a certain group, etc. After a long 2 hours, we finally decided on working with NUCampaign.com to create t-shirts as a fundraiser for Magen David Adom (the Israeli Red Cross). The t-shirt design will have a symbol representing all 20 Diller cities, and on the inside of the shirt there will be a small dedication to a fallen soldier from Rishon Letzion who died in combat in Gaza, and was a Diller alumni. In order to connect the 400 fellows from North America and Israel who never got the chance to meet in person, we will promote this t-shirt in our Diller international Facebook group and encourage every one of the fellows to buy this. It's for a great cause, and it will give us something that we all have and share in common. And of course, all the proceeds will be donated to Magen David Adom. More to come on that later!

 

There were also Israeli Shlichim (counselors) at Camp Max Straus who we were able to eat lunch with one day. We had the opportunity to ask them questions about anything we wanted to know- How long have you been at camp for? Do you like it here? Have you done any touristy things in LA yet? What did you do in the army? What is it like being here in Los Angeles for the entire duration of the Operation? What city are you from? The questions we had were all answered. The way they responded to our questions regarding the operation resonated with me the most, and it made me feel even sadder about the whole situation than I had already felt. They told us how much they wanted to go back to Israel and be there to support their country. Every time their cellphone buzzed, they were too scared to look at it. Would there be bad news or good news? More casualties? Would it be their brother, cousin, father, friend, neighbor this time? Did a rocket land in their city? One of the shlichim even said, “I don’t have to go back to the army- I need to.” I really admired her (and the other Israeli Shlichim) for her patriotism. They were all so emotional and so eager to discuss everything with us and tried and show us how hard it was for them to be here. “We might have smiles on our faces and be happy on the outside, but in the inside, everything is broken.” It takes extreme courage to fight the war, but it also takes extreme courage to be able to be away from the country they love more than anything in such tumulus times. They came to Los Angeles as volunteers to work with kids for 10 weeks, and most of the kids at camp came from underprivileged homes. So while their hearts were with Israel, they still managed to make room for the campers and create a memorable camp experience for all of them.

 

The rest of the shabaton was very relaxed. We had a lot of free time, visited the petting zoo, relaxed by the pool, participated in the high ropes course, and had a delicious meal at the Hummus Bar to conclude our days. Through everything that happened, our LA Diller family became closer than ever and even though we weren't able to go to Israel this summer, we still felt connected to Israel in some way or another. 

 

For me, the connection existed through simply learning about the situation, helping come up with a project that would help Israelis, and staying in touch with the Tel Aviv fellows. As our Diller experience comes to an end, I look back on everything that I have gotten out of the program and realize that I enjoyed every minute of my time being a Diller Teen Fellow, even if my experience wasn't what I thought it would be. And with that, we now have something else to possibly look forward to- an Israel Winter Seminar! But until then, I'll keep on dreaming about that life time supply of "click"...

A Letter to the teens who are coming to Israel on Wednesday

Chanichim,

Shalom, shalom from up north in Karmiel, Israel!  Michelle, here, enjoying the peaceful beauty that is the Holy Land after a one week seminar with junior staff (madrichim) from all over Israel and North America, as we worked to make sure your Diller summer is the best one yet.  

However, not all is as peaceful in other parts of Israel - including our partner city of Tel Aviv - and rather than skip over those details and sugar coat your upcoming trip as one of mindless tourism and unacknowledgement of the current situation, I want to give you the real details.  One of the pillars of the Diller Teen Fellows is Israel, and  Israel has a lot to it.  Only here - rak po - do you drink chocolate milk from a bag.  Only here does lush greenery grow in the midst of the scorching hot desert sand.  And only here do I feel so safe despite the current circumstances.  

My first two days in Israel for the 2014 Israel Summer Seminar were spent in the Negev in Sde Boker.  It was just North Americans planning what was to be Kennes - the North American version of Congress.  The schedule was set so that after two days in Sde Boker, we’d head out to Jerusalem to meet the Israeli Junior Staff and commence the planning of Congress.  Before we even reached Sde Boker, we relocated our original plan of Jerusalem to another city in the Negev, Mitzpe Ramon, due to the recent escalation in the former. On our second day in Sde Boker,  we heard two sirens. They were for rockets about 25 kilometers away...which is far away and would not have endangered us. Yes, it was different and weird and felt a little scary at first. Will this happen all the time? Does this mean war? What's next? Dramatic thoughts flew into my mind and rightfully so because truth is, I've never experienced such a thing. But it was fascinating for me, too. I got to experience the Israeli experience and get a little glimpse of what Israelis in some of our Diller cities endure daily. 

The next hour, we got news that we were heading out and moving from our newly relocated city of Mitzpe Ramon to Tiberius to meet the Israelis because of potential rocket threats. Frankly, I was a little crushed at first. I, along with the other North American JCs, wondered if every time there was a rocket or a potential rocket threat, we would have to be relocated. The answer was yes, and I thought about Tel Aviv and their safety and where community week would be and whether or not the LA fellows would come and whether or not Diller would happen - and so many thoughts filled my mind of worst case scenarios, but ultimately Diller was doing its job to keep us safe and my outlook has completely changed, for I know that the safety of our Dillers is ultimately most important.

The next week was spent in Tiberius doing programming for Congress, siren-free, along with a plethora of other youth travel groups stretching from there in LA to Mexico and England.  Being with Israelis during this week was probably one of the most eye-opening experiences I’ve ever had.  I won’t lie and say that the topic of missiles never came up and all was blissful and splendid, because that’s not really what happened.  But what happened was even better, in my opinion.  I got to be with teens straight from Be’er Sheva and Ashkelon and other cities from all over Israel and discuss with them the nuts and bolts of the current situation.  I was able to ask them questions about how life is like and get information straight from the source.  They told me of their experiences, their fears of back home, their daily life, etc.  It wasn’t a skewed perspective, it was fresh and real and raw.  

And beautiful...because this is what Diller is all about.  The touristy side of Israel can be seen with any Israel travel group.  But only in Diller do I have the opportunity to spend two weeks living and working with Israelis and North Americans and really immerse myself in their lifestyle.  We all know that Diller will be keeping us safe.  We are receiving hourly updates from the Israel Experience, whilst also being equipped with our very own security guard.  Like you noticed with Jerusalem/Mitzpe Ramon, one siren and we are out.  Diller won’t be doing anything that will jeopardize our safety whatsoever, even if that includes relocating Community Week in Tel Aviv and other communities and cancelling Kennes in Sde Boker.  Since my time in Sde Boker on that second day, I have not heard a single siren.  I’m not unaware of the situation, and I’m not keeping my eyes closed to the reality of Israel right now while I am up north, but instead I’m soaking it all in as I slowly grasp a fragment of the Israeli lifestyle.  And I’m doing so from a distance.  

Not once during my time here have I been in legitimate fear because I know what quality hands I am in during this trip.  Rather,  I have been filled with pride.  People were questioning my decision to go to Israel - including my parents.  I had so many people questioning me that I even wondered if I should be here right now.  But I have erased those thoughts out of my head...why worry when I know I will be fine?  Why not take advantage of this situation and embrace it with open arms and actually get into it?  We are in a time when Israel needs our help more than ever.  Anti-semitism exists and anti-zionism is a growing problem.  There is so much misinformation out there regarding Gaza and Hamas and Palestine and sometimes the only people who can really speak on behalf of that is those who are there, including myself and hopefully all of you next week.  I am personally really passionate about the cause of Israel and supporting a homeland for the Jewish people, and I feel so empowered to be here right now and witness everything rather than seeing it from afar on the news.  I can come back to Los Angeles stronger, enlightened and ready to act as a sort of ambassador for the Jewish people.  I can speak of my experiences and know that I am spreading the truth that will combat the false information out there.  And to me this is amazing and cool and wonderful and so exciting for me...I am essentially a part of history in the making and how awesome is that?

I go on Facebook right now and see posts from the IDF and StandWithUs flooding my news feed. It looks scary from the outside looking in.  And I am in no way disregarding what is happening in the more dangerous parts of Israel, but the truth of the matter is that Israel is in the hotbed of the Middle East. But the other truth of the matter is that I am not exposed to that reality because of the program I am on, and neither am I sheltered from it.  I was talking with a fellow fellow from last year’s Tel Aviv cohort last night.  I wanted to know how it is in Tel Aviv.  Is what the IDF wrote on Facebook true?  Are you okay?  Does life stop when a siren goes off?  Yes, what the IDF writes on Facebook is true.  But everything is also okay.  Just because it is true that x number of rockets were fired, it does not mean that life stops. There is this blessed machinery/BFFL/ultimate bro Israelis call the Iron Dome, which shoots down missiles that are headed towards populated areas by some magical force of science.  And it does wonders.  He told me to imagine what Israel would have looked like after this past month without the Iron Dome.  It would’ve been shattered and destroyed and possibly non-existent. So, though Israel’s reality may not seem so intense in certain areas while on the  inside, the facts are true and perhaps it's  those who are in Israel in my position who have the skewed point of view. After all, missiles are fired constantly and lives are in danger.  But everything changes based on your perspective and what side of the curtain you’re standing on.  Thus, I ask you to not just read these social media posts that are everywhere you look, but rather also talk to your friends on the other side of the globe in Tel Aviv and other places in Israel.  Understand the statistics and the facts, but also ask about how it feels to be in it, embracing the good, the bad and the ugly.*

So, Cohort 7 of the Los Angeles Diller Teen Fellows, this concludes my letter to you.  I shared my experiences with you all for you to do what you’d like with them.  I can only hope that I opened your mind to a different side of the story that you may not be hearing.  The side of someone who entered as a tourist with the thought of Israel as a beautiful haven, stayed as a tourist and learned of the side of Israel that was not-so-perfect of a haven, and will be leaving as a tourist empowered and ready to inform others of the perfect and the imperfect.  Take what I say with a grain of salt, however.  Know that I have not seen it all, and will not see it all because simply it is not safe.  Know that I only speak on behalf of my experiences with the intention of sharing what I have seen and what I have taken from that, not with the intention of offending others who may not share my point of view.

And also know that I care about each and every one of you and hope to see you this Wednesday, here, in the Land of Milk and Honey for a sweet, sweet summer.

B’ahava,

Michelle Banayan

*Once again, I know that this only pertains to certain parts of Israel that do not receive as frequent rocket threats.  There are other areas in which life does stop when a siren goes off, and in no way do I mean to ignore those areas or undermine them.