Diller Israel Update: July 12, 2010

Shabbat recap:

Friday night services were led by the Derek and the Shabbat committee (Molly, Claire, Zach Cardin, Taylor, Joey, Ilana, Julia and Allison). After dinner,

Joey and Taylor, Friday’s chanichim toranim facilitated a discussion about Shabbat where people shared what their feeling about Shabbat and the teens discussed ways to incorporate Shabbat into their lives. The group honored Cody Gelvar with Friday’s Diller super star award.

On Shabbat morning, the chanichim toranim (Zach and Ilana) requested that the teens have an alternative type of Shabbat service so Ronen led yoga and incorporated different prayers. After yoga, they discussed the torah portion and had a fun time acting out the portion! Zach led an intense discussion about Jewish identity and the teens were very respectful of each other’s views even though many of them have different opinions about the role that Judaism plays in their lives.

After lunch, the group spent the afternoon relaxing and Allison and Ilana led some interactive games when the group came back together.

Allison and Julia led havdalah and then the teens headed to the mall in Kiryat Shemonah. Joey Sacharow was the Diller super star on Shabbat.

After the teens came back from the mall, they threw a midnight surprise party for AJ!

 

Sunday’s recap:

They woke up early since they had a four hour drive to Ashkelon! They met the LA Diller Fellows at a rest stop on the way, which was very exciting. They arrived in Ashkelon and met all the teens for a welcome lunch at Adaya’s house. They spent the afternoon playing games at the beach and then headed to meet their host families. After spending some time at their host families, they all met up to watch the world cup final at a restaurant on the beach. Everyone had a great time!

AJ was yesterday’s Diller super star!

 

Today’s adventures:

They began their morning at the municipality and met with the Deputy Mayor and some other VIPs. Taylor (today’s chanicha toranit) introduced the Baltimore group and gave an overview of the Diller program. After the meeting, they met with a man whose brother was in the Dakar submarine (please see for more information http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INS_Dakar )

They visited the War Memorial in Ashkelon and sang “ali, ali” and had a moment to think about all of the Ashkelonians who have died since 1948. Two Israeli Diller alumni spoke to the teens about the army and the teens from both communities asked amazing questions.  After that, they headed to the teen center and each of the Fellows were given army uniforms to wear and two Diller alumni led the teens through some intense basic training! After their busy afternoon, they drove to Roey’s house to chill and play games (most of the group slept!). They are currently eating dinner in Ashkelon’s National Park and dancing around with leis since they are having a luau and campfire. They are going to have a check in circle and will head back to their host families since they are exhausted!