Thursday 13 December 2012

Fourth Workshop: Hanukkah!

The first activity in our fourth Diller workshop was Ninja, but with a bit of a twist! Instead of each person having to eliminate the others, we were separated into two teams: The Greeks and the Maccabees. Just like in the story of Chanukah, the Maccabees won! 


Since the workshop was near Chanukah, we ate Chanukah gelt, sufganiot and other delicious Chanukah treats. Yum! In the story of Chanukah, many Jews were assimilated and gave up their traditions and culture. During the workshop, we spoke about the importance of an identity/Jewish identity and applied it to our lives. 


Many of us often wonder what others will say when we voice our opinions and beliefs. Not only does Diller encourage us to speak our mind, but it is a safe zone where we can share our ideas openly and without the fear of being criticized. This is what we discussed during this workshop. A long row of plastic cups covered the floor, each of them labeled with a different topic. The topics varied from silly questions to more serious questions which involved more thought and explanation. We sat around the cups and each Diller teen received a bag of candy with red, green and yellow gummies. Our task was to put a certain coloured candy in the cup, depending on your opinion on the question or statement. This activity was a great way to see the differences and similarities among our cohort's beliefs. Many of us shared contrasting views on issues but everyone was respectful to each other's opinion. There are so many people in the world who do not have freedom of speech and have restrictions on what you are allowed to think, say and read! Living in a country where freedom of speech is permitted makes such way of life hard to comprehend.



Another important activity was "Tzedakah Dragons". During this activity, we were supposed to promote a charity and get the dragons (Alon, Katherine and Maayan) to donate funds to an existing charitable organization. This activity helped us learn how to advocate for a cause. By the end of our Diller journey, we will need to advocate and promote our own social action project and this activity helped us about the techniques we can use to influence others. 


By: Hannah Evans