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.  

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

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