Diller Chicago Cohort 2 ISS, July 24

We started off at our home base in Quirat Gat, Youth Futures. Our first activity of the day was a group discussion of the weekly Torah portion, Parshat Devarim. We read a short summary of the portion, in which we learned that Moshe was speaking to the Children of Israel about their earlier journeys. We then discussed why Moshe might have felt the need to review previous events. Some fellows suggested that in order to understand one’s identity and predict one’s future, one must first know their pasts. This was a key idea explored by us Chicagoans in Kennes. Other interpretations were that he was trying to preserve the history that might have been forgotten by the new generation or warn them not to repeat a previous mistake.

The next activity of our Ma’agal Boker was a discussion of our goals for the Israeli Summer Seminar. The leaders of the day, Hili, Hillel, Elad, Adam, and Barb, helped facilitate dialogue by giving out clay for us to mold into shapes that represented our goals. We received four colors of clay. Yellow clay represented how we hope to grow as a result of Diller. Green clay represented the personal growth we wished to experience. Pink represented growth in relation to Israel and blue represented growth among our cohorts. I decided that I wanted to increase my leadership skills, step out of my comfort zone, strengthen my connection to Israel, and build long lasting friendships.

The third activity of the morning focused on the theme of the day, multiculturalism. We explored the history and rich cultures of various groups that have made Aliyah. We learned about Yemenite Jews, their Aliyah in Operation Wings of Eagles, and Ja’achnun, a delicious doughy dessert. We also learned about Russian and Moroccan immigrants.

We then broke for lunch and tried some authentic Ja’achnun made by Hili’s mother before leaving for a local Ethiopian cultural center, Hineni. There one of the organizations founders, Rabbi Moshe Selomon spoke to us about the organization’s goals and motivations. He described how after surviving the incredibly difficult and dangerous journey from Ethiopia to Israel, some older members of the community felt dejected and purposeless. The founders hoped that giving these members the opportunity to use their agricultural skills would lift up their spirits and bring them out of their isolation. Another member of the cultural center, Pini then put us to work building a traditional Jewish Ethiopian house, a Gojo, made out of mud and straw.  We learned that Ethiopian Jews deliberately did not building more permanent domiciles to show that they were ready at any moment to return to Jerusalem.  We then learned about Amharic, the language historically spoken in the Ethiopian Jewish community. Each of us had the opportunity to write our name in Amharic.  Finally, we finished the day with some delicious traditional Jewish Ethiopian bread and coffee.

-- Matan Cutler