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!