Day 11 -
14th July 2016
Our
community week theme for the day was Zionism.
The day
leaders created a very interesting opening workshop which allowed the topic of
Zionism to be opened and spoken about. We all got to hear each other's points
of view and opinions on Zionism and how they each think Zionism is carried out
by Jewish people.
We then
drove into Tel Aviv where we visited the Independence Hall, the building where
Eretz Yisrael had been declared as the State of Israel.
We then went
into Jaffa and walked through the city to go and eat lunch at Dr Shakshuka.
We walked further
into the city to get to the Flea Market where we got 45 minutes to explore the
stalls and buy different things.
We then
drove back to the purple house where the day leaders conducted another workshop
about Zionism where they were split into groups to discuss different quotes
about Zionism and then come together as a group to share their views.
We all went
home afterwards and got ready to go to Noa's house for a braai. We all played
games and bonded more.
All in all
it was a really fun and interesting day.
-Hannah
Wittels
Day
12 – 15th July 2016
Today is Friday,
it's a short day and the theme of the day is Judaism. Our day starts off by taking
a short walk to Shohams religious school to listen to a talk given by the
principle. He gives us a tour and then leads us to the school shul where he
tells us about the parsha: Barack. We then get to ask any questions we may have
about the school and the way it's run.
After the
interesting talk we are taught how to make Challah! It's a lot of fun and slightly
harder than expected. The next thing on our list is to visit the Orthodox shul
of Shoham. At the shul we hear the parsha Barack told to us in a different
point of view by the Rabbi. It is very interesting to hear two different
interpretations of the same parsha.
The last
thing on our list is to speak to the reform rabbi of Shoham. She tells us about
the importance of female characters in the Torah and then sings songs with us.
Our day is cut short due to Shabbat. On Shabbat each fellow returns to their
host families to experience a typical Jewish Israeli Friday night.
⁃ Jess Alhadeff
Day 13 – 17th July 2016
Our day started when the group met at
8:15, at 9 we were on our way to paintball.
The paintball was great it seemed like
everyone had fun, I didn’t get too involved because I was very burnt and just
walking was a tad bit sore. We wooshed (A woosh is a Diller thank you, when you
send your positive energy toward the person that has given their time.) the
paintball instructor then decided to do a little cleanup of the forest (a
highlight of my day). We bussed back to the purple house and had lunch.
After lunch we divided into groups to pack
bags and write messages for underprivileged soldiers/lone soldiers, this was a
great experience because some Israelis tried writing in English and some Capetonians
tried writing in Hebrew. We filled the
bags that were donated with the basics like towels sheets snacks.
Then a man named Avi came, he was an
intelligence commander in the IDF for 26 years and retired from service a few
months ago. He came to answer some questions about the IDF and explain the
morals and ethics about how choices are made, very interesting.
Once Avi had left we got our water ready
and moved to the park for our physical training. I didn’t get “the instructor’s
“name but that’s what he made us call him, we went through a basic army rescue
drill after a good warmup. We had to unfortunately end early because of the
heat, so we made our way back to the purple house.
About 10 minutes after getting back the
mayor of Shoham; Gil came to talk to us and answer some questions, we had some
supper, were briefed about the next day and what’s happening.
Great final day of community week!
-
- - Avram Seeligsohn
Day
14 – 18th July 2016
We
arrived together as a partnership at Tel National Park. On arrival we were
exposed for the first time to the sheer magnitude of Congress, all the cohorts,
all the partnerships, all sitting on this expansive lawn each under a tree.
Sitting below our respective tree we had a particularly mediocre lunch but
during and after lunch the English speakers took the opportunity to see their
friends that they had not seen since Kennes and likewise the Israelis with
their friends from Semi-June. Later we had a small ‘opening ceremony’ and we
were split into our tribes. (A tribe - the group in which we do activities in during
Congress each tribe is comprised of fellows from almost every cohort).
We
were thrown into our first activity as a tribe where we had to build a shelter,
I must point out again this was our FIRST activity as a tribe, and this was an
interesting look at how we would work across borders, and across cultures. We
also made war cries and a flag for our tribes; it was an awkward but new
experience.
This
was all in the heat, but after wards we got to swim in the most majestic, fresh,
amazing water... wow! After our dip we then got on our busses to check into our
hostel on/near Kibbutz Snir. It was a nice place to stay with ample space to
explore and be in nature, with decent quarters and a basketball court; that at
night was converted into the area to chill and chat with those from other cohorts
after each long day. Its caveats though were its Wi-Fi which was almost non-existent,
and its breakfast which in my opinion was eh
at best.
On
arrival at the Kibbutz we got settled into our rooms and changed into nice
clothes for the opening ceremony and dinner/mingle session at a venue about 20
mins from the kibbutz. The opening ceremony event was quite an evening with all
the cohorts being in one place. The venue a grassy summer cocktail party
location had an attached stage/amphitheatre in which the opening ceremony was
held, while dinner and networking took place on the grass.
After
a lot of catch up, new friends, and a BIG AMERICAN opening ceremony we were
exhausted and returned to bed after one of our most exhausting days.
P.S.
The 18th was also Mandela Day back home but of course we could not do much
being in Israel. The photos and videos that day were very comforting and I
believe reminded most of us more of what we represent as the youth of SA.
-
Jared May
Day
15 – 19th July 2016
Tuesday marked the first
full day of congress where Diller fellows from all over the world join together
to experience 4 days of learning, bonding and cultural enrichment. We had
previously been divided into tribes to meet new people and to do workshops together.
The day started with each tribe doing a workshop exploring ideals about family.
We were instructed to place stickers on a map where our grandparents and
parents were born, where we come from and where we see ourselves going. It was
overwhelmingly significant to be able to map out our heritage and to see where
we want our journey to take us.
This workshop was followed
by an engaging talk by Avraham Infeld discussing Judaism as a culture rather
than a religion and moving into comparing Judaism to a five legged table, each
leg being a part of our Jewish identity.
The next workshop delved
into the Hebrew language and was especially interesting to me as I feel that I
will never be able to fully pray from original texts as I cannot get a complete
understanding of what I am saying. This day was packed with workshops and as a
result was quite draining but once returning back to our hostel, our cohort channelled
this energy into something positive as we all started dancing together before
our final ma'agal. This to me showed the power of our group and made me
appreciate the people that I am experiencing this incredible journey with.
- - Hannah- Rose Fleishman
Day
16 – 20th July 2016
Today we
explored the land and people of Israel in various formats. We started our day
at the Tel Hai Memorial Site which is the site where the Battle of Tel Hai is
commemorated. From the memorial site we parted into the bus tours that our
tribes were assigned to.
My tribe
(Ruth and Joseph) travelled up to the Northern border of Israel between Israel
and Lebanon. Our tour guide explained the complexities that exist in the
social, religious and political life in Lebanon. It was interesting to see the
physical border as well as to see from a distance the military bases that exist
there. We ended the tour at the memorial site of the second Lebanon war that
looks over into Lebanon and our tour guide went on to tell us that she was
active in office during this very traumatic time.
We then
travelled back to the Tel Hai campus after lunch where we had a unit all about
Israel and our relation and feelings towards Israel as well as exploring the
role of the Diaspora in Israeli politics. Summarizing the discussion, we agreed
that the Diaspora Jew has a responsibility to support Israel but shouldn't have
a say in the politics or decision making of the country.
We then went
on to something called Inspiration Dates where we selected a contemporary
Jewish leader who opened a discussion in the group. I chose to go to a
passionate teacher/vice principal who opened the floor to questions and the
discussion revolved around his role in the American education system
(specifically in San Francisco), the diversity of students living in San
Francisco and how diversity is dealt with in school as well as what makes for a
successful teacher.
The day
ended with group photos being taken at Tel Hai with all 600 fellows, junior
counsellors and staff and then we enjoyed a delicious dinner all together on
the Tel Hai campus. We then made our way back to our hostels for some mingling
time with the other cohorts that were staying with us at our hostel.
(We all went
to different leaders and on different bus tours so I encourage you to ask about
everyone else's personal experience)
- - Aviva Phillips
Day
17 – 21st July 2016
Today was
our last day of Congress. We had a later-than-usual wake up and left for Tel
Hai campus at 9:00. We started off with a brief morning ceremony that
introduced our day - Global Thinking to Local Doing. The English speakers
started off with a talk by some members of the JC (Junior Counsellor) staff
whilst the Hebrew speakers went into a Global thinking to local doing unit. We,
the English speakers, had the opportunity to listen to the roles and
responsibilities of becoming part of the larger Diller network. It was amazing
to see how extensive the Diller programme is. We split into groups and had
smaller conversations with current JC's about their roles. Some amazing
questions were asked about managing this responsibility and the comparison of
being a JC to being a fellow. It was interesting to find out that one’s growth
process doesn't stop after being a fellow - becoming a JC and furthering in
Diller is also a significant growth period.
We then had
a small break and moved straight into lunch. After lunch, the Hebrew and
English groups swapped. We split into our tribes and discussed our impact
projects that we have to prepare when we get home. We dived into deep
discussions about how we want to repair the world and what we should focus on.
We realized the importance of combining our passions with betterment of the
world so we can make a lasting impact. Again we had a small break and split
into small groups to get the chance to chat to some Diller alumni. Overall the
feedback was good. My session was about public health, equality and equity. We discussed
the two similar terms but came to find the significant differences. After these
beneficial sessions, we all returned to our hostels to freshen up for the
closing ceremony and celebration.
At 7:30 we
returned to Tel Hai. I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to represent
South Africa at this ceremony to tell everyone what impact Congress had on us.
We all had dinner then took a seat to begin the ending process. There were a
few short speeches by staff members, a few videos and then the fellow-speakers
from each country. All the representatives encompassed the positives that
congress left us with. It was amazing to stand up alone in front of hundreds of
people, most unfamiliar, and still feel like a big part of a family. Then there
was the celebration! This lasted until 11:30. We all danced the night away;
making the most of every last minute we had together. As much as it could've
been sad, it was a really momentous and enjoyable occasion because we knew that
all our paths would cross one day. This was a wonderful end to a lovely,
educational week.
- - Melissa Moritz
Day
18 – 22nd July 2016
We
woke up early in the morning and said our last goodbyes to the partnerships
that stayed at the same hostel as us. We departed and made our way to the Tel
Dan nature reserve where we learnt about the tribe of Dan and Israel at the
nature reserve. After that we made our way to Beer Sheeva where we had lunch at
a place called Café Ringelblum, which is run by youth at risk. After our meal
there we made our way to Sde Boker. Once we arrived, we had time to get ready
for Shabbat. We had our white parade; during the white parade we had our final
conversation with our host fellows. We had a choice to go to shul or not. If we
did go to shul we went to a Sephardi service. Supper was amazing because we were
in the main dining hall. Our Oneg Shabbat was a pitch perfect riff off, which
is when we have to think of songs using a word we were given and we played some
games.
- - Adam Osrin
Day
19 – 23rd July 2016
Saturday
the 23rd of July, was the second day of our shabbaton spent in the magnificent
Sde Boker, situated in the Negev.
As
per usual, Saturday allowed for much needed time to sleep in and rest after
experiencing the madness of Congress and in preparation for the long journey
home ahead.
After
breakfast, the Cape Townian and Shoham kids journeyed to Ben Gurion’s tomb,
which surprisingly and confusingly is situated in a garden in the desert (?)
On
route to Ben Gurion’s tomb, we stopped in a beautiful garden where we were
surrounded by some sort of buck which was a nice change of scenery as all the
animals we’d seen prior were cats, cats and more cats! (And the occasional dog)
In
the garden, Amit (our tour educator) guided as through an extremely eye-opening
and thought provoking activity which showed us all how we believe in and are
passionate about so many things and issues, but aren’t as pro-active when it
comes to addressing them. We then proceeded to head towards the tomb, where we
learnt a few interesting things about the activities that happen upon his grave
(if you’re interested in knowing what I’m talking about, I’d suggest looking it
up as it may not be too appropriate to mention here…)
We
then headed back to our activity venue for Shnayim Ochazin, where we split up
into groups and discussed the parsha of the week, parsha Pinchas. We answered
questions in our groups as well as in the larger group and heard the various
interpretations of what everyone else took from the parsha.
We
then had another activity called “the 6th leg,” where we discussed what our 6th
leg of our 5 legged table would be, a concept which was explored during
congress which helps us to understand, as well as improve our connection to
Judaism. Some of the answers that came about included learning and traditions
amongst many others. We then had our rest time, where people chose to go and swim
in the pool, nap or pack.
After
our rest time, we had seudah shlishit/dinner and then headed back for our last
ma’agal with the Shoham fellows. We had a quick Havdalah, as the Shoham fellows
had to make their way home shortly after. It was an incredibly overwhelming and
emotional experience where we had the opportunity to express our thoughts,
feelings and thanks. It was then time to say our final goodbye, which was so
hard as at that moment it really hit that our experience was coming to an end.
After several hugs and tears we had to say goodbye and the Shoham fellows made
their way onto the bus and left with us waving as they drove away.
We
quickly got changed and met with Amit, and then he guided us to a perfect spot
for us to go stargazing. We all spread out and found a spot where we had the
opportunity to stargaze and reflect on the opportunity of a life time which we
were so fortunate to experience over the past 3 weeks. After a while, we
re-grouped for our final ma’agal of the trip, which was beyond emotional. We
shared whatever final thoughts we had, and then made our way back to the area
outside our rooms where we then did my final activity of the day,
Pass-The-Parcel.
Each
layer had a question and a sparkle, and each fellow had the chance to answer a
question or share an experience they had pertaining to what was written on the
sheet of paper. We laughed and smiled and had such a great time just reflecting
on the trip together. In the centre of the parcel, there were key rings with a
picture of all of us on them, which was given to everyone as a little memento
for the trip. It was then time for bed, and we all sleepily headed off to our
rooms for our last sleep in Israel.
- -
Jaime Locketz
Day
20 – 24th July 2016
Today
was our last day of our, personally life changing, Israel Summer Seminar
experience. The day started off bright and early in Sde Boker with breakfast at
8. After breakfast we packed up, took one last look at the magnificent view and
set off for our final, jam packed, day in Tel Aviv.
As
we had just said goodbye to our partners from Shoham, the night before, a busy
day to get our minds off things was just what we all needed.
We
were fortunate enough to experience an extremely interesting and memorable
graffiti tour
in an area called, Florentin. The area itself was quite run down, but the
vibrant graffiti art on the walls gave it the most amazing energy! We were lead
around the area by Jamie, a professional photographer and musician with a passion
for the graffiti in the area. We were exposed to a range of styles and graffiti
artists, which were all incredible to see. Everyone had a chance to take
pictures of the vibrant graffiti, while getting some tips and tricks about
photography from Jamie. It was really amazing to have the opportunity to see
and explore areas of Tel Aviv that we would have otherwise not have been
exposed to.
Once
we finished the tour, we rushed onto the bus and quickly drove, roughly 10
minutes, to Shuk ha'Karmel. There we had a lot of free time, 3 hours, and was
able to get something to eat, explore the hustle and bustle of the market, do
some shopping and just enjoy ourselves. The market was filled with fresh
produce, juicy fruits, lots of tasty treats and clothes and accessories. I
think everyone had an enjoyable time.
To
end off our day we went to Sarona. As we arrived before dinner we had free time
in the market and few shops surrounding it. Sarona was beautiful with the most
amazing foods in the market shops. For dinner we ate a hearty meal of a variety
of pasta and salad's at Cafe Biga. It was definitely one of my favourite meals!
Before we left we sadly said our goodbyes to our junior counsellor Jacob, and
tour guide Amit, who were both an extremely integral part of our ISS journey.
With
a heavy heart we then set off for the airport. Once at the airport we had to
check in, go through security and rush to our gate to board at 10:30. The plane
took off, and we were on our way back home, safely.
As
we took off everyone was upset to be leaving this special place in which we
made so many memories together. Despite the fact that I was extremely upset to
be leaving one of my favourite places in the world, I kept thinking about all
of the irreplaceable memories that I will hold close to my heart, with the most
amazing group of people. I
couldn't have asked for a better group to have shared this experience with!
- - Dani Wilck
Day
21 – 25th July 2016
Today marked the end of our
ISS Diller experience. We could not believe how quickly three weeks came and
went with what felt like the blink of an eye. We didn’t have a formal ma’agal today
(to express our feelings) as we did a lot of reflecting both as an individual
cohort and with the Shoham cohort during the Shabbaton, and it was a bit too
soon to look back on the experience. During our lay over at Johannesburg we
spent time chatting about the way in which we want to present the Diller
program to this year’s grade tens (future fellows) in order to somehow do the
program justice and inform them on just how phenomenal Diller really is!
We took off for Cape Town
and the turbulence began. It was a rather eventful start to the flight but the
cabin crew assured us everything was fine. After a quick arrival in Cape Town
we collected our luggage and made our way to arrivals where we embraced our
parents, one other, and the Diller crew. It was so heart-warming to see
Maxine and Julie among our parents with the Diller flag ready to welcome us
home. The two of them were an integral part of the support team, being there
for us 24/7 both in CT and Israel! We gave Lee and Tao one last “whoosh” to
show our appreciation for everything they did over the duration of the trip, from
being our friends to our leaders and our laughing stock to our pillow to cry
on. They were genuinely there through thick and thin and I don’t think we can
thank them enough!
It was a bitter-sweet
feeling to have arrived home as we were absolutely exhausted after constantly
indulging in everything Israel had to offer and bonding with one another for
three weeks straight, but at the same time, it was good to be home and see our
families and share few of the many memories created.
The program far exceeded any
expectations we had at the start and we were really privileged to have been a
part of it. I would have never thought that such an all rounded, encompassing
program could exist and be accessible to teens in multiple countries, including
South Africa! I think it’s safe to say that all the Cape Townian’s will want to
remain involved in the program in some capacity in the future but for now we
want to give next year’s fellows some insight into this fantastic opportunity
that lies ahead of them and encourage them to apply!
On behalf of 2016s pioneer
group, “Thank you to everyone who was involved, it really was magical”!
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- - Kira Meltzer
