Cohort 3: Workshop 3

The most recent Diller meeting on November 18 was held at Hannah Silver’s home in Chicago.  We addressed three important topics:
1.  How we would observe Shabbat during our shabbaton
2. How we define our leadership as teens
3. How we would spend our time during our first shabbaton  

The main question we needed to answer was how we would observe Shabbat given the diverse backgrounds of our group. We debated over how many services would be held, and if these services would be mandatory or optional.  It seems not many people in our cohort keep Shabbat in the traditional sense, and while some fellows wanted to try to be more observant, others were in favor of a more relaxed Shabbat observance.  Our discussion about defining leadership kicked off with shared stories about different times we were leaders, both successes and failures.  We split into groups, and discussed the attributes of a leader in ancient Judaism.  Each group then had to advocate for their leader. At the end of our presentations we voted for which leader we thought was the best.  The final activity we did was gathering in our committees to plan for the upcoming shabbaton.

--Sam Weber

Cohort 3: Workshop 1 + Orientation

Excitement filled the Mayer Kaplan JCC, on August 30th, at Cohort 3’s first workshop! I was feeling a bit nervous, but overall really excited! I had been waiting for the first workshop since I found out that I was accepted in July! We kicked off the workshop with the fellows and the parents together, discussing a text that talked about “our names.” We talked about how everyone has different names; what your parents call you, what your friends call you, and what you call yourself. We also discussed how we wanted our names to change over the course of the next 15 months in Diller. My name is Danielle, but by the end of the program I want my name to be Danielle “the leader”.
Next, the fellows left the parents and we went upstairs to do our own programming. Once we all got upstairs, we played a game to learn everyone's names. After that we played “the ice game.” It is where you have to hold onto a piece of ice and you to talk about yourself until the ice melts or it gets too cold. If you wondering the ice was really cold. It was great to get to know everyone in the cohort!
We spent most of the workshop getting to know one another, and started making connections with each other. I am ready to start this one and lifetime program. I am ready to create my Diller family. And I am ready to make a difference.
I would like to end the first blog post with a quote:

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” ~Mahatma Gandhi

--Danielle Wolff

Cohort 2: Workshop 10

Social action was in the air last Sunday, August 23rd. After a brief whip around about our favorite parts of the Israel trip and a short feedback session about the trip for next year, we finally dove into starting our impact projects!
We were each handed a sticky note and asked to write down an issue that we were passionate about or an issue we felt like went unnoticed in our society. We were given total freedom and were encouraged to be as specific or as vague as we wanted to be. We were then asked to place our notes on the mirror where everyone could see them. We organized the notes into categories based off of the subject matter and the targeted audience. After deliberating the options and of course brainstorming a few more together we emerged from Sam’s house, (the site of the meeting) to the backyard, partially to have space for the next activity but mostly to get away from the cat.
To form our groups we were given a speed dating like template and told to find others with similar causes to our own. By the end of the program we had chosen our groups and started to discuss what we wanted to do to make an impact on our community.
Since we have the Tikkun Olam Shabbaton coming up we started planning some of the programming. We broke up into small groups and assigned individual roles to each member of the group. It was a jammed packed day!!!

-- Elisha Serotta

Diller Chicago Cohort 2 ISS, August 4

On our last day in Israel, we decided to do something different. For the majority of our trip, we had been going around Israel and exploring, but not really interacting with different people and getting to see their daily lives. But this was our chance to volunteer and really give back to the people of Israel. We had spent the night in Tel Aviv, and we were on our way to volunteer in South Tel Aviv with some kids. South Tel Aviv is the rundown part of the city, many of its residents are refugees from Eritrea and Sudan. After our short bus ride, we got to the day care. Immediately, there was a large group of children who crowded around the door to see us. One of the women who worked there told us we would each get a child to look after and play with at the park. After we each got a kid, we walked the short distance to the park, singing and playing games the entire time. When we got to the park, the real fun started. We went swinging, played with balloons, and had an overall great time. Once we said goodbye to the kids, we went to Shuk Carmel in Tel Aviv for some lunch and last minute shopping. The shuk was so amazing. Vendors there were selling everything from t-shirts and elephant pants, to fresh fruit and smoothies.

            For our closing activity, we went back to the hotel. At the hotel we all sat in a circle and has two cups, one filled with Coke, and the other filled with a strawberry-banana drink. The two drinks represented the sweet and the sour of our trip. After each person said their memories, they took a drink. Many funny and touching memories were shared after our three weeks there. We also each got a piece of paper, and got to draw what the trip meant to us on it. When all the pieces were put together, they made the flag of Israel. This was to remember that all of us made the ISS so fantastic and if one single piece was missing, it wouldn’t be the same. We then drove to Jaffa for our last meal. On the way there we passed the restaurant that the Chicagoans ate at on our first night in Israel. This provided a sweet reminder of how far we had come. After dinner, we headed to the airport. Once there, we said goodbye to our amazing bus driver, Brent, and our wonderful tour guide, Maya. We had our tearful goodbyes with the Israelis, and soon, we were on a plane back home.

-          --Melinda Berman

Diller Chicago Cohort 2 ISS, August 5

The flight home was a sad but happy time for most of the fellows. Although we were saying goodbye to Israel and to the Israeli's, we also got a chance to look back and remember how great of a trip it was. The Israel to Philadelphia flight was easy for most of the fellows because of how overtired we were from the trip. Some of us even fell asleep within the first fifteen minutes of the flight. After the first flight we had a three hour layover where we had to go through customs and security once again. After customs and security, some went to breakfast and some went right back to sleep. Finally we boarded the plane that would take us back to our hometown, and make this trip officially over. 

-- Brian Schneiderman

Diller Chicago Cohort 2 ISS, August 3

              On our second to last day in Israel, we woke up on our campsite, having spent an exciting night under the stars. After a lengthy process of packing up all of the camping gear and eating breakfast, we headed to an ecological farm. At the farm, we gathered in a building that the people who lived there had constructed themselves to listen to a women talk to us about her history and how she decided to start the farm. Personally, I found the story very interesting. This woman had grown up on a moshav but then she moved into the city and became rather materialistic and very into things like shopping, until she came to realize that there were more meaningful things in life, and through a series of other events that I will not go into here, ended up starting the farm. The one issue with this lecture however, was that the building it was in was very hot and filled with comfortable couch cushions meaning that many people found themselves falling asleep. After the lecture, we divided into two groups to tour the farm. I found this part even more interesting than the lecture part. It was really cool to see the method they have for collecting rain water on their roof and storing it to water their plants. Also the homemade little huts that they live in were really cute and cozy looking.

              After the farm visit, we drove to a Druze village in the mountains. Once we got there, we went to a hospitality house we were had a very delicious Druze lunch and then we learned a little bit about the Druze religion. 

              After lunch was the moment we had all been waiting for- going to the beach! It was a very hot day and we were all sweaty and tired so this is just what we needed. We spent about an hour and a half swimming in the Mediterranean Sea until it was time to drive to our hotel in Tel Aviv.

              After settling into our (tiny) rooms and eating dinner, we went to an indoor rock climbing gym. Even though the gym was kind of hot, this was really fun, at least for me, because I love climbing. Even people who didn’t like climbing got to have fun though because there was this big rope swing thing where the climbing staff would pull you up really high and then release you and then you would go flying!

              Then, it was time to go back to the hotel and shower and pack L. All in all it was a pretty good day.                    

-- Karen Weiner

Diller Chicago Cohort 2 ISS, August 2

After we packed, ate breakfast and said our goodbyes to all of the friends we made at Congress, we were ready to leave Givat Haviva and continue our once-in-a-lifetime trip elsewhere. After a short bus ride, we were treated to a couple hours of free time on the main strip of Zichron Ya’akov. All that mattered was that we got to eat real food for the first time that week. Some of us had Italian food, some of us had shawarma, whatever it was, I can guarantee that we ate well, and that was all that mattered. After lunch, we got back on the bus and headed to a Kibbutz called Regavim to meet the Kiryat Gat coordinator's grandfather, who was a part of the Mossad and helped carry out an operation that brought thousands of Moroccan Jews to Israel. His story was truly remarkable. After hearing his story, we got back on the bus and headed for our campsite in the Carmel. That night, we had a barbecue with Hamburgers, hotdogs, and homemade french fries before sleeping under the stars. All in all, the day was fantastic.

-- Henry Wolle