Workshop 3 by Amanda Marciano

This past Sunday, our cohort had another great workshop. The theme of this workshop was Current Events and Media Bias.  We talked about current events happening around the world and how they affect us. We also learned a lot about media through discussions and games.

When we first arrived, we were shown media posts and headlines about Israeli bias in social media. We then went back to have a great discussion on what the media had to say about Israel and how biases exist on both sides. We also discussed the kind of information that the media gives us and how media works and how sometimes it can give false information. We discussed together as a group the pros and cons of this and how it affects all of us.

We then moved on to playing a fun game organized by our JCs.  We were split up into two groups and were given statements made by Jews, Christians, Muslims or other people and we had to guess by who this statement was given by. It opened our minds and gave us a chance to reflect on the points of view of other religions.

 After a nice break to talk, relax and eat some snacks, we moved on to our next activity. We were again split up into four groups and each group was given a different article to read and discuss. Each article stated something different on similar topics. For example, one article talked about discrimination toward Palestine. It talked about how there are people who are against Palestine and some are for them. Everyone has their own opinion about this. The article also talked about how there are people who discriminate against Palestine and think that all Palestinians are terrorists and bad people. After everyone came back together, each group got the chance to talk about their article and share with the rest of us what was discussed within their group.

Afterwards, we were very excited to learn that we will soon get the chance to speak to our Israeli pen pals. Since Sunday was the first night of Chanukah, we all lit the menorah together and recited the blessing for Chanukah. It was very nice to be able to light the menorah together. Lastly, we made a short video to send to our Israelis wishing them a happy Chanukah!

I think that we all left the workshop with something a new point of view on things. I look forward to meeting our Israeli pen pals. Overall, it was another great and successful workshop. I am very excited for the next meeting. I can’t wait to see what we will learn next! 

by Amanda Marciano