Melbourne Diller Teen Fellows

As the week came to a close and the weekend began to set in, on the lips of every member of  our cohort was excitement yet uncertainty. We all knew we started early at the Jewish Museum and would make our way to the city to embark on some form of scavenger hunt, nothing more. We arrived at the Jewish Museum of Australia at 10am on Sunday morning and were ushered into a small meeting room. After going around a circle and speaking about events in our lives since our last meeting (I’d be lying if I said the majority wasn’t about the US election), we briefed about our activity in the Jewish Museum. We began in the “Standing Up” exhibition, showcasing influential people who stood up for a cause and made a difference. Most were Jewish, others were not. We each chose an individual with whom we connected, whether it be the cause for they have dedicated themselves to or for their morals and beliefs. Above each individual was a quote of theirs, hinting further at their personality a...

Workshop 2 Today we, the second Diller cohort embarked on the journey that was workshop two. For many of us it had been over a month since we had seen each other and others, we were meeting for the first time.  We did the classic Jew shmooze for a bit then got stuck into the program. Our first activity was to go around the room and tell the group which emoji represented our past month best and why.We call this a ‘check-in’ and do it so that we as a group know where we are all coming from emotionally and so that we have a space to inform each other of any major life events that have occurred. This is an important part of the program that we will do every time we have a workshop. We moved on to a discussion about how we relate and connect to Israel and what it means to us. We learned a bit about Shimon Peres and his life and incredible stick-to-it-ness as a leader in his various roles.  Our next activity was a game (yay!) We each created an action with a sound and on the...

Today was our first filler workshop. Walking in to the same room that our group interviews were in, we all breathed a sigh of relief now that we had been chosen for this incredible program, and the room was filled with excitement and eagerness.  Mia and Ella volunteered themselves to kick off the session by creating some simple ice breaker games. The aim of these games were to serve a particular purpose. In their ideal form, they start getting people engaged with each other and the topic of the session. Mia and Ella did a great job at explaining and clarifying the rules and regulations of the games. After completing both the games, we sat as a group and had a discussion about how we believed the games were run. Different opinions and outlooks were shared, but as a collective we all agreed that both the girls did an amazing job. Following the ice breaker games, we sat down and watched the first five minutes of the movie Inside Out. We only needed to watch a small ...

Tikkun Olam Sleepover After arriving at Habo House in what was to be a memorable night and Sunday, we wasted no time and got into some ice breakers to get us back into the mood and vibe of the amazing Cohort that we have. Having not met as a cohort for almost 3 weeks, one could say that the passion of our group would be lost, but rather the opposite. We, as a group have a special connection with one another and were able to show that with the energy and enthusiasm we had. Next was a scrumptious dinner all the way from Mama Falafel. Segregating the Vegetarians from the Meat lovers; a partial divide amongst us. Nonetheless, after the meat was devoured in a matter of moments we intermingled and re-joined as one. Then we got stuck into the meaty stuff of the night (excuse the pun). Both Ellie and Ash each shared with the cohort who came before them, how influential family is to them and then who they are as a person today. We each all received booklets like this with these big...

Monday was an early morning wake up to get to Salukia, where we had an Israeli breakfast and a summary activity where the fellows wrote personal comments to each other, they then had a chance to say thankyou to their hosts, what they learnt from each other, about their views on Israel and how they have grown during community week. then there was an activity run by our Roshim, Anita, Batya, Romy and Nadav which beautifully concluded our self managed week. After these summary peulot, we got on the bus to head off to congress. The excitement was indescribable. Everyone was so tired from the week but could not wait to meet the rest of the world, teenagers that have experienced things to similar to us yet in such different ways.   We made a stop at Kibbutz Gonnen for the classic ice ‘cream’ and toilet break, and to find out our tribes for the adventure that was yet to come. On the bus to congress, being the creative bunch we are, we decided to make an entrance and a great first ...

Sunday was chosen to explore the spectrum of culture in the Golan. Our morning started at Kibbutz El-Rom, kindly hosted by Dror, one of our Golan fellows with a short peula. The activity was extremely interesting and introduced the day perfectly, encouraging fellows to remain open minded regarding cultures they had not been exposed to yet. We then drove to meet a man from the Druze community. He opened our eyes to their way of life, both religious and social. The talk was concluded with delicious laffas kindly prepared by Druze women. We played a quick game before hopping back on the bus to Kibbutz Ortal where we all volunteered. Fellows all worked together feeding, painting and cleaning. All the hard work was a rewarding experience for all. We were then treated to a yummy Kibbutz lunch before rushing to tour the kibbutz and see their dairy farm. Finally, we went back to Katzrin and were lucky enough to have a session with member of Ehud Banai’s (a famous Israeli singer) b...