Cohort 2 Workshop 3

 

The third session of Chicago Diller Cohort 2 was held at the Amram’s house. We started by discussing a Chasidic teaching about identifying when we need a boost and when we need a reminder of our humility. We answered three major questions about the teaching to apply the ideas to ourselves.

 

 

Next we looked at the “Leadership Compass” which was divided into: North- The “Get It Done” Person; South- The Nurturer; East- The Visionary; West- The Analyst. Each Diller Fellow had to put him or herself into one of the categories. Then, each direction got into their groups. In our groups,we got posters and markers. Each group had to write down the major characteristics about that group and how other people would be able to work with us. We were also assigned to design the perfect vacation. After each group finished designing their vacation and writing their characteristics in marker on the poster board, we regrouped back into the sunroom where we shared. Although some of these vacations were not too realistic we learned a lot. This task let us learn about how to work with others that may not have the same personality as us. Some people are more aggressive when working with others and some can be quiet and not say a word, so its important for us to be able to learn with others. We were able to learn how to be better leaders through this activity.

 

Then we took a nice break and had carrots, hummus and other snacks. After we ate, we came together again and had a guest educator join us--Logan Zinman from NFTY. She had us draw a graph and put events that happened in our Jewish lives that affected us negatively or positively. With this activity we were able to reflect on our Jewish pasts and think about how we got to where we are in our lives now. We shared our very diverse and personal Jewish stories. The next activity we discussed was the Shabbat and what Shabbat means to us. After sharing our thoughts on how Shabbat is special to us we made the Shabbat Manifesto for our first Shabbaton. In this manifesto we wrote down key rules and agreements our cohort came up with. For example, we are all dressing up on Shabbat to help us create a Shabbat atmosphere. After we put down about eight rules, we decided on four committees to make our own mark on the weekend: Morning activity, Learning, Music/Singing, and Bonding. Everyone chose which group they wanted to be in and each group will plan an hour of activity or lesson to present at the Shabbaton. We broke into our separate groups to plan our activity until it was time to leave. See you at the Shabbaton!

By: Ben Amram