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.  

2014 North American Seminar!!!

For 11 days, fellows from Los Angeles hosted 20 fellows from Tel Aviv.  The following is a peak into the incredible experience of NAS TALA 2014!!!

Sunday Volunteering and Monday Fun Day

by Alana Entin and Shannon Rasson

After an amazing weekend full of laughter and bonding, the Los Angeles and Tel Aviv fellows arrived at the Los Angeles Jewish home for an afternoon filled with community service and learning. For many of us, it was our first time visiting an old age home, so nervousness and excitement filled the air. Each American fellow was paired with an Israeli fellow, and we split off to interact with different people. We started off stating our names and explaining about Diller, yet we quickly began to learn about each of the people we were talking to. Every person at the L.A. Jewish Home had a story or memory that related back to their Jewish life and identity. It was fascinating to hear these wise people discuss the unforgettable parts of their lives. Specifically, Sheer and I talked to an elderly woman who recounted the story of her moving to Los Angeles with her daughter and meeting her life-long friends at the temple she joined. The Israelis loved sharing their stories of home and discussing Israel with each person they interacted with. By the end of the afternoon, everyone was wishing that we could have had more time to spend there. Each and every person seemed touched by the service they did, but also by the stories and memories they heard and shared. 

The next afternoon we reunited as a whole group at the home of one of our junior counselors, Chava. The “Party in the USA” committee planned a fun night for us to all hang out and relax. We went swimming, played games, and had ice cream. It was a fun night to hang out with a group in a very relaxed setting. It was remarkable to see how close we had all gotten after just knowing each other for a couple of days. Everyone seemed very comfortable and happy around each other. For many of the Americans, it was the first day back at school, so the fun night provided a relief to all the stress and homework. Ultimately, both of the activities helped us grow as group. By Monday night, although we were all tired, we were looking forward to the rest of the upcoming week. 

Our Closing- Thursday

By Hannah Rapoport

Impactful, a word commonly used in our Diller vocabulary, however not exactly as strong or descriptive a word we sometimes would want to describe an experience that has truly changed and bettered us as individuals.  None of the fellows expected our second thursday night of NAS to really affect emotionally, but we were wrong.  As the Americans arrived to Vista Del Mar from their busy days at school, we found the Israelis jamming out to High School Musical.  Once everyone arrived at the location, we sat around tables in the gym and greeted the kids, inviting them to sit at our tables.  We met a particular boy named Daniel, who seemed quiet at first, but really got into the program and was more than excited to play Matzah Matzah Matzah, Mania Mania Mania with the whole group.  The  Rabbi at Vista Del Mar led the seder while we were able to help teach the kids the meaning and origins of Passover.  One of our favorite parts of the seder was seeing the kids try matzah for the first time.  We all especially loved the wafer cookies!  After dinner, Sami led us in a circle of Israeli dancing.  We all got really into it and had a great time.  We had fun being able to experience the seder with the kids of Vista Del Mar, and  the Israelis gained a new perspective of judaism in LA while talking to the kids, and helped teach them about their lives in Israel. 

 After the program, we headed over to the sanctuary at Vista Del Mar for a performance of Freedom Song.  Freedom Song was performed by the residents of Beit T’Shuvah, a residential Jewish rehabilitation center in Los Angeles. The play took place during a Passover seder and revealed to us the struggles of individuals who struggled with addiction.   We learned from the stories of the people affected by addiction along with their families.  What we came to learn was that the “actors” were telling their personal stories during the play, and acting was a part of their process of healing.  We were deeply affected by the stories of the struggles of the kids our own age at Vista del mar, and found a way to connect with them.  We learned the importance of support, our jewish roots, and connected with kids of LA who we would’ve never gotten to meet without this experience.  After the emotional play and q&a with the “actors,”  we gathered together for our closing ma’agal (circle) of NAS.  We went around saying our favorite part of NAS including funny stories, experiences, and what we learned.  We also had a short program where we picked an emoji to describe how we would sum up or NAS experience.  We then wrote a future letter to ourselves that we are going to open once we reunite with one another in Israel.  From bonding with each other, to socializing with the kids of Vista Del Mar, to watching a powerful play about addiction, to our closing ma’agal, we all became closer as a group of Diller Teen Fellows from different parts of the world, and found it sad to be leaving eachother in just a couple of days.  

A Video Recap

by Michelle Banayan, Junior Counselor: CLICK HERE

Pictures:

The Journey of Milk and Cookies

By Mateen Zar

We got together for the first time in 2014 on Sunday, January 12. This meeting was different than most because, instead of going to the Westside JCC, we met up at Temple Judea in Tarzana. During this time we discussed time management and “The Journey of Milk and Cookies,” which is having missions, visions, goals, and objectives. The purpose was for us to learn how to manage our time better and think about, when having a mission, what we want the outcome to be and what expectations we have.

In order to explore this “Journey” our junior counselors placed Lego’s on the floor and told us to start building until they told us to stop. Of course, with such vague instructions, we were all aimlessly building wondering what the point of this all was. The irony is that that was the point of the exercise. They didn’t give us any specific instructions to show us how difficult it is to work on something without having a mission, vision, goal, and objective. 

building for no reason at all??

However, I learned that overtime while ones vision changes, their goal and objective may change as well. For example: let’s say you are driving in your car to get to a destination, and the destination changes, the route you take therefore changes too. It was very interesting to me to learn that Sony's vision, originally, was to repair Japan and the Japanese culture and is now to create exciting new digital entertainment experiences for consumers.

After learning about “The Journey of Milk and Cookies” we formed groups and each group had a task to fulfill for our upcoming Shabbaton. My group and I were given Shabbat. We decided to put all our Shabbat experiences into one so that everyone would experience something new on this very special Shabbat. It was challenging at first because some of us didn’t really do anything special for Shabbat, but we came up with good ideas, such as fun Shabbat songs (without instruments of course). I am very excited to hang out with my Diller Fellows and have another amazing Shabbaton! 

A favorite moment from out 1st shabbaton!

Jews in the LA Mosaic Exhibition

By: Leora Tofler

On December 15, we went to the LA Mosaic at the Autry Museum. The location is beautiful and I reminisced about personal experiences as a child going to the museum and surrounding parkland. At the museum, we were taken to a room where we worked in groups to gain a rounded idea of Community and a better picture what it meant to us. Through various activities and conversations about community, our community began taking shape.

My favorite activity, “Jews on an Island,” introduced the difficulty of creating a utopian society made up of Jews. First there were many logistical questions: would there be weapons? What could we build? What supplies did we have? How could we each practice Judaism without rabbis or the Torah? Since each of us is of varying degrees of religiosity, what would then happen? We saw that the creation of a society was no simple thing; diversity, conflict, and adversity would have to be accepted as the norm, and perhaps our society would survive a year abandoned on an island.

Our communities were imperfect, but we brought our varied views together and put them in perspective: what does each person want from a community? Usually it includes fellowship, safety, responsibilities, common goals, and interests. We found an answer of sorts in our own Los Angeles community. After a delicious lunch from Got Kosher we were taken to the LA Mosaic exhibit and given a personalized tour.

The tour took us back in time to the mid-nineteenth century when California was bought by the United States from Mexico after the Mexican war. Our history lesson brought us a host of characters.  Cowboys, gold miners, and movie stars were all part of the cast that made up the California and Los Angeles that we know today. We learned of the loose social structure that California began with, which contrasted with the stratified east coast. Los Angeles was painted as a haven of acceptance for the Jews, who flourished as merchants, doctors, bankers, movie stars, and more. We saw the growth and spread of the Jewish community from neighborhoods like Boyle Heights and Fairfax. The legacy of the Jewish community is in its influence over culture, economy, and industry that shaped the Los Angeles area, giving it its unique flavor that draws tourists from all over the world to this day.

While the exhibit was at once engaging and interesting, our docent seemed less than well informed about many Jewish cultural traditions, and many times during the tour gave trivial comments about Judaism, distracting from the otherwise brilliant exhibit.

As a history fanatic, I enjoyed myself immensely and I hope we visit more museums in the future. As a Jew, I learned surprising facts about the Jewish communities’ contributions to LA’s development. I hope everyone enjoyed our day as much as I did.

Have a happy new year; we’ll see each other next in 2014. 

Cohort 7- 1st Shabbaton

Cohort 7- 1^st Shabbaton

By Deena Levitan

Leading up to our first shabbaton , I was very excited to spend a whole weekend with my fellow Diller Teen Fellows. We only had several meetings before this shabbaton, and I definitely believed that this gathering brought us a lot closer together as friends and fellows. 

We brought in Shabbat with a wonderful ceremony led by our own two Jordans. It was very special for me because I always celebrate Shabbat with my family so it was very different and also very nice to spend it with friends.

 The big question of the weekend was, "What does being a Jew mean to me?" Sami and our J.Cs thought up of ingenious ways for us to bring our Jewish beliefs and thoughts and to put them to work. On Saturday morning, we had the choice of taking a wonderful hike or taking time to pray. All of us went on the hike, and during the hike, we had time to chat amongst ourselves and get to know each other better. During the hike, we would take short breaks, and in that time Sami would give us a sheet filled with quotes. She then asked us to analyze the quotes and choose whichever one related to us the most, whichever one caught our eye and we would then have a small discussion about the quote that someone chose.

Giving the Dvar Torah was a wonderful experience for me because it was very nice to teach the fellows about that week's torah portion. It also felt good to be able to answer their questions about it and to hear their comments and what they thought the portion represented in correlation with our Dillar pillars and values.

After our beautiful hike, we then had the task to match values of Jewish people and  their denominations. I think we can all say that it was a bit challenging, but that in the end it was very interesting to find out which denomination believes in what, and to see which denominations we would fall under. I learned a lot from this exercise because now I can acknowledge why certain kinds of Judaism pray like they do and live the way they do.

Our bonding as a group was very fun! I think that the most fun thing that we did was the low ropes course. We brought together all of our ideas and finally figured out a way to jump over the obstacle that was keeping us from getting to the other side. We did a lot of fun things including our jelly bean activity, in which we got to learn a lot about each other and the way we view different issues in the world.

We also got initiated by our J.Cs, which was a very fun and interesting experience, to say the least. We learned a lot about each when we sat down and talked about what our goals were for the following year. Now knowing this about each other, we can always help one another when we see each other struggling or down. 

Other things include our campfire, crashing Camp Or Ami's song session, enjoying the very fun icebreakers brought by our fellow fellows, our very relaxing massage train, and last but not least Tour de Summer Camps. Even though we had to wake up at 6:00am, I think that I can speak for everyone when I say that it was a very gratifying and fulfilling experience to be able to send these hardworking bikers, who ride insane distances (up to 100 miles) to support and raise money for the Jewish Federation so we and kids like us can get sent to camp.

All in all, I had the most amazing time with all of the fellows and can not wait for us to become even closer and spend more time getting to know each other. This will be the most amazing benefit to Israel and the whole entire Diller Teen Fellows program. I hope everyone had the same amazing experience that I got out of this shabbaton and cannot wait to see everyone soon!

If I have seen further....

One of our cohort 7 fellows, Becca Speyer, reflects on workshop two.  Both cohorts came together and we focused on Leadership...

Last Sunday Diller cohort 7 met again for a magnificent meeting. The first thing we did was met the fellows from cohort 6. Then Sami gave us the obstacle of getting into two pyramids by using the cohort six people as our base and cohort 7 on top. After much difficulty and laughter, we all sat down and talked about different topics relating to our pyramid and what it means. One of the topics was why Sami only had cohort 6 on the bottom of the pyramid. I realized it was because we are going off of what they have laid down for us already and we are keeping the legacy of the Diller program.

 After the pyramid, Hannah and I ran a program having to do with 2 of our Values (from our values chamsa): friendship and community. I was nervous to get in front of the whole group and explain the game called physiatrist, but everyone seemed to really get into it and had fun. Hannah and I achieved our goal of creating an exciting program that helps build community through laughing and having fun. Then we discussed the different leaders we know in our lives and had to come up with lists of their names and what qualities about them that shows leadership. I added my parents because if they set their mind to a goal, they will achieve it no matter what. We also created a list of traits in a great leader. The traits I added to the list were respect and being a good speaker.

Then we evaluated ourselves using the leadership compass. When Sami was reading what each direction meant, I thought I was a teacher (West), but then after getting a packet with details, I learned I am a warrior (North). Through this activity, I learned a lot about my peers and the way they learn and do their work. Although we have different views of how to do group activities, I know we can come together as a whole to get tasks done. 

After this we learned about emotional intelligence, what we see and what we do personally and socially. A great leader has to be much more than book smart, they have to be able to read people and situations in order to get their point across. It opened my mind to the approach I take to be a leader where I now look at the whole picture, not just what I want and feel.

 Finally we ended with creating our Shabbat Manifesto in preparation for spending Shabbat together in a few weeks. I am very excited to spend the holiday with my Diller cohort because we are all so different but we are brought together through Judaism and spending Shabbat together will bring us even closer.