Welcome to the much-anticipated second Diller newsletter explaining our last meeting and plans for the future. We started off by doing a video chat with the Israeli group of teens involved with the program. Although, because of technical difficulties, we could not hear them, we still managed to bond and are extremely excited for the trip. After the video chat, we went to the nationality rooms in the Cathedral of Learning on the Pitt campus. We did a scavenger hunt there that involved us looking for very specific things on pictures, statues, walls, windows, and other surprising places. We were separated into teams and that helped us bond as teammates and learn about different cultures. After the activity, we have some free time to bond with each other before the meeting. We hung out in uptown Squirrel Hill; yet another chance to get to know each other. From there we walked to the Friendship Circle where our meeting was held. Our awesome host, Rivkee Rudolph, explained how the Friendship Circle works to create bonds between Jewish teens and mentally handicapped children. It was nice to learn that many of our fellows involved with their program. Later, Eli Gelernter, a Diller fellow, informed our group on the Dvar Torah of the week. Then we moved on to a lesson from Rabbi Scott on vocab regarding Jewish morals which Shoshana later elaborated on. Next, we picked our community service projects that we will be working on in groups throughout the year. We learned how to set deadlines in order to complete our projects in efficient manner. Finally, our senior counselors, Ben and Yael, put together a Jewish Identity buffet which matched us with a Jewish movement (Orthodox, Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist) and some of us were surprised with the answers we received. As always we closed with ma'agal, our constructive criticism session, which allows us to better our future meetings. This month, we'll begin work on our projects. These are the centerpiece of the Diller experience, since with the projects the Fellows will engage the Jewish community in furthering its values.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Newsletter #1
1/12/2011
Diller Teen Fellows focus learning and practicing the skills of leadership in strengthening their connections with local communities, the Jewish community, and the state of Israel.
Welcome to Pittsburgh Diller Teen Fellows’ Cohort II’s first newsletter. We’re going to fill you in on what’s happened in our first few meetings, what we focus on as a group, and where we are planning to go in the community. So far we’ve had three meetings with generous hosts who we wish to thank as well as three wonderful speakers; Jonty Blackman, Jeff Tobe, and Jeremy Maissel. Jonty Blackman talked to us about the founding of Israel. We all wrote a small essay about what we would say to the U.N. board to try to convince them to make Israel a state. Then we read over the Israeli Declaration of Independence and discussed what it applied to us and our community. Jeff Tobe used a card game to teach us four main leadership styles. He also introduced the art of considering the same situation multiple ways by telling us a story of romance, betrayal, and manipulation. He then had us make a group decision based on information distributed across each group. Last but not least, Jeremy Maissel talked to us about the extremely problematic situation of living near the border of Palestinian Territory and Israel where residents live under constant fear of missiles launched from neighboring regions and how citizens have only fifteen seconds to get into a safe area at the sound of a siren. On to the rest of the meetings, we have meetings once a month which are held in building which serve the community; places like AJL, The Hillel Building at the Jewish University, and, the latest, at the Howard Levin Clubhouse. Our meetings open up with a couple minutes of socialization and then we dive in. So far, a few of the Teen Fellows stepped up and created their own activities. In the first meeting, Asher and Sarah created a game which we all played, and in the most recent meeting, Eli and Blaine created a Jeopardy style game with Diller teens as the facts. The criteria of our meetings entirely surround the four Pillars of Diller; Jewish Identity, Tikkun Olam, Leadership, and Community. At the last meeting, we began brainstorming ideas for our group community service project, which we will continue at the next meeting. At the end of each meeting we conclude with a ma'agal, which is a constructive criticism session. We've seen where Cohort I has gone, and we hope to learn from them and reach or even exceed their level of success.
Sincerely,
Cohort II
Diller Teen Fellows focus learning and practicing the skills of leadership in strengthening their connections with local communities, the Jewish community, and the state of Israel.
Welcome to Pittsburgh Diller Teen Fellows’ Cohort II’s first newsletter. We’re going to fill you in on what’s happened in our first few meetings, what we focus on as a group, and where we are planning to go in the community. So far we’ve had three meetings with generous hosts who we wish to thank as well as three wonderful speakers; Jonty Blackman, Jeff Tobe, and Jeremy Maissel. Jonty Blackman talked to us about the founding of Israel. We all wrote a small essay about what we would say to the U.N. board to try to convince them to make Israel a state. Then we read over the Israeli Declaration of Independence and discussed what it applied to us and our community. Jeff Tobe used a card game to teach us four main leadership styles. He also introduced the art of considering the same situation multiple ways by telling us a story of romance, betrayal, and manipulation. He then had us make a group decision based on information distributed across each group. Last but not least, Jeremy Maissel talked to us about the extremely problematic situation of living near the border of Palestinian Territory and Israel where residents live under constant fear of missiles launched from neighboring regions and how citizens have only fifteen seconds to get into a safe area at the sound of a siren. On to the rest of the meetings, we have meetings once a month which are held in building which serve the community; places like AJL, The Hillel Building at the Jewish University, and, the latest, at the Howard Levin Clubhouse. Our meetings open up with a couple minutes of socialization and then we dive in. So far, a few of the Teen Fellows stepped up and created their own activities. In the first meeting, Asher and Sarah created a game which we all played, and in the most recent meeting, Eli and Blaine created a Jeopardy style game with Diller teens as the facts. The criteria of our meetings entirely surround the four Pillars of Diller; Jewish Identity, Tikkun Olam, Leadership, and Community. At the last meeting, we began brainstorming ideas for our group community service project, which we will continue at the next meeting. At the end of each meeting we conclude with a ma'agal, which is a constructive criticism session. We've seen where Cohort I has gone, and we hope to learn from them and reach or even exceed their level of success.
Sincerely,
Cohort II
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