North American Seminar-Tuesday, April 12, 2011

The American Fellows began their day by going to school. A couple hours later, the Israelis woke up and journeyed to the JCC for a circle discussion.

During the discussion, Israeli Fellows watched and read videos and letters that their families had prepared, and the Fellows' reactions showed the strength of the bonds they share with their families -- Tears and emotions flowed.

Next, the Israeli portion of the Diller teen family met and lunched with some local Jewish seniors. After lunch, the seniors and teens bonded via modeling clay. Together, they produced models of such culturally representative objects as a bite-sized bag of french fries, a hamburger, a donut, and a pig.

The seniors departed, and Hila lead a discussion of how Jewish beliefs should guide the allocation of tzedakah funds. With this in mind, the discussion split into groups. Assuming the role of American Jews, each group decided how to allocate ten-million dollar rainfalls between the Diaspora, Jews in Israel, and local gentiles.

Following this discussion, the Diller teen family would have united and seen the Pittsburgh Pirates compete in a baseball game. Fortunately, inclement weather preserved our dignity. After an engaging and productive day, the Fellows separated to each experience Pittsburgh and Judaism in their own way for an evening.

North American Seminar-Monday, April 11th

After a great weekend at home and a community service filled Sunday, we were back to our normal schedule on Monday. The Israelis began the day with a Ma'agal Boker, or morning ma'agal. After that, they made phone calls from the Federation. Next, the Israelis had a college encounter and lunch at the JUC. They then went to the nationality rooms and were able to walk around. At the end of the nationality rooms, they went to the Israel Heritage Room and talked about what they liked about it and what they would change if it was their room. Then the Pittsburgh Fellow met up with the Israelis at the JCC for a peoplehood program with Tal Gale. The program was filled with a study of the Tanach, looking at the text from different perspectives, and coming up with an idea of what peoplehood is. Finally, we went to Funfest to go bowling. We invited other Jewish teens from the area who are eligible to join Diller next year. We showed them what Diller is about and how much fun they can have if they join next year. After another fun filled day, we were all tired out but looking forward to tomorrow when we have the opportunity to go to the Pirates game!
From,
The Diller Teen Fellows of Pittsburgh and Karmiel/Misgav

North American Seminar-Thursday, April 7th

In the morning, the Israeli Diller fellows met at Blue Slide Park and began with Ma'agal. They played some circle games, such as a game where one fellow hid a water bottle behind their back and Shosh had to figure out which fellow hid it. They then wrote letters addressed to themselves, which will be sent to them next year, so they will have a nice reminder of their time in Pittsburgh long after they will have visited! The group then split up. Half went to Community Day School and the other half went to Yeshiva. They spoke to students at the schools and had lunch in their school cafeterias. After that, they went back to the AJL and began to plan the activities for the week when the American fellows will come and visit. The fellows arrived, we received beautiful necklaces with musical notes on them to remind us of the musical, and we headed off to Allderdice for the spring musical! The show they put on was called “Urinetown.” It was about a large company that rationed out small portions of water to the local people at charged them to use public restrooms. The people revolted and overthrew the large company, which let them go to the bathroom for free. However, the town eventually ran out of water and this is how the musical ended. One of our cohort members, Asher Wiseman, was the lead role and narrator in the musical. He performed his part beautifully and sang like a god. Everyone really enjoyed the musical and couldn’t stop talking about it. The musical was the last time everyone saw each other before the weekend with the host families. Everybody is really excited for the weekend and can’t wait to see whats in store for the rest of the North American Seminar.

Recap Meeting 5 and Get to Know a Diller Teen Fellow-Blaine

2nd Day of the North American Seminar!

To the Diller Family, April 6, 2011 (the second day of the North American Seminar with the Israelis):

What a crazy two days this has been! Minute by minute, we are getting closer with our Israelis. As fellows, we are gaining great memories and building friendships that will last a lifetime, but we hope that you are also getting something from this experience as well. We would also like to thank you for all the traveling that you have done already (especially Beaver, North Hills, Fox Chapel, and Mt. Lebanon.) Today, most of the Pittsburgh teens arrived at JCC at 4:30 to participate in the evening’s activities. Surprisingly, Emma Kaufmann Camp’s CITs (Counselors In Training) also met with the Diller teens because most of the Israelis housed the CIT’s during their stay in Israel this past summer. It was very exciting to see the relationships that the CITs and the Israelis both had, and it made us look forward to further experiences that we will soon be part of. After playing many games that we all enjoyed, we went to the dining room to enjoy another dinner that the JCC generously provided us. We all thought it was interesting to see the Israelis enjoy spaghetti so much, when it such a regular meal to us, Americans. After dinner, we all headed to J-Site, a school located in the JCC for Jewish teens in Pittsburgh to extend and continue their Jewish learning after their B’nai Mitzvah. Most of the Israelis sat in on a Hebrew class, which was extremely interesting to them because they were able to see how the Americans learned Hebrew. By the end of the night, we played a game of musical chairs, which led to a discussion about conflicts in not only Israel, but in America also. We compared and contrasted different wars that are going on and how they connect to one another. It was an interesting conversation that led to Gilad Shalit, a captured solid, and our new friends provided a new perspective on the army. The Israelis expressed the importance of continuing the tradition of participating in the army and the high concern and urgency to recover and bring back Gilad back to Israel. Today was a great day for both us and the Israelis and we both look forward to the experiences that we will gain from the NAS. We wish you a great two weeks with your guests and want to hear great things and funny stories!

Have a good week and keep checking the blog!

1st Day of the North American Seminar!

Hello Diller followers! It's the North American Seminar and the Israelis from Karmiel-Misgav are here!

This Tuesday morning, our Israelis arrived in Pittsburgh from Karmiel and Misgav after two very long flights. They enjoyed lunch and a hearty welcome from the United Jewish Federation. They visited Mount Washington and Point State Park to see some sights.  Market Square proved interesting, and some were intrigued by the glass facade of the PPG building.  

The Israelis learned about the Jewish Community Center and hung around at the pool for the start of a day of fun. They witnessed and used the building’s amazing spinning dryer, able to dry a bathing suit in twenty seconds.  Then they met the Pittsburgh cohort and saw snow which is quite unusual in Israel.  Israeli and American Fellows lead the group through some ice breaker activities to get to know each other.

Next, Israeli fellows met their host families in a reception.  “Hatikvah” and “The Star-Spangled Banner” were sung.  American Fellows presented Pittsburgh’s new guests with some welcome gifts that represent Pittsburgh such as Terrible Towels.  Steve introduced officials in the Pittsburgh P2K Partnership with Karmiel and Misgav, who explained the program.  Finally, the Americans and Israelis separated and reflected on the day, and families left the JCC to show the Israelis their new homes.

Thanks for reading and remember that the blog is updated daily during NAS so keep checking!

The Diller Teen Fellows