ISS July 5 by Madison Gold

The Diller Montreal Israel Summer Seminar began on Tuesday July 5th. After we left the Y we headed straight for the airport. Everyone was so excited but we all behaved so well as we checked in few by few. After check in we all got in line to go through security.  Not that many issues at security other than some water, Gatorade and NUTELLA being taken away. But who cares it is all fun and games! What we didn't know was that one of our fellows was unable to check in, but we didn't know what was happening so we just continued on. We were then given some free time in the Montreal airport to buy some food before setting out on our long journey to Israel.  On time, actually even early, we all met at the gate so we could all get on the flight together.  At the gate we all patiently awaited Sarah hoping everything would be ok with the last fellow's check in. When Sarah finally came through security alone, we all happily surrounded her and showed her how much we appreciated what she goes through for us and does for us. Thank You Sarah! 

Once in the air flying to Toronto we were able to feel the excitement in the air. That flight flew by and juat made the actual excitement even better. We landed in Toronto at 2:30 and our flight to Israel started boarding at 3:45. So we first went to the gate and then we sat in a circle. This circle gave me the opportunity to run a short program about Tefilat HaDerech with the group. I summarized what the prayer was about, why we say it, and what the customs of saying the prayer were. After that we all read the prayer together in Hebrew and then in English so everyone could understand what we were saying.  I thought it was really interesting to see everyone learn about this important prayer. Once again we were given a little bit of time to get some food in the area before entering the secure area in the airport for our flight to Israel.  Once in there we all gathered together for a count off. Then finally the time had come and we were off to Israel.  The excitement at the back of the plane was and still is amazing.  Nobody can wait till we land as this flight is getting a bit long but it is completely worth it. 

Since this isn't my first time going to Israel it was really interesting to see how excited everyone was who had never been before. It was seriously an amazing, warming feeling. Also since I don't sleep on planes it has been a ton of fun to look around and see what the rest of the group has been up to and maybe even take a few pictures of those sleeping fellows and maybe even staff!! 

So this first day has been fantastic and we can't wait for even better ones to come once we've landed.

Madison, Leader of the Day day 1 

PS don't worry if you don't hear for your kids a lot we will be off having too much fun to have time to talk to you!

Workshop 8: Why you should apply for Diller by Madison Gold

Another wonderful workshop has passed us. The theme of this weeks work shop was marketing and recruitment. This is really important in Diller since this is how cohorts are formed. The reason for this workshop being this week is that we are in prime time for recruitment. There is an information session being held on Wednesday the 4th and applications are due on May 15th.

          The workshop was split into two components. The first part was a guest speaker talking about how to promote something we are passionate about in this case, Diller. The second part we worked on possible ways to get someone's attention to recruit them for Diller.

            Our lovely guest speakers name is Tanya Toledano. She spoke about how she got involved in marketing. It was really interesting to hear her story and take in the advice she had for us. She told us some good ways that she used to get herself known and get her message out to the people. One of the techniques she spoke about is called an "elevator pitch" this means pretend you are in an elevator and you only have the time that it takes to get to the floor you are heading for to get your point across. If you didn't realize this is around 30 seconds, not much time. This technique is great to use to be short and sweet in getting your message across.

            During the second part of the workshop, we focused on how to make a pitch. As a group we made two lists. One explaining what Diller is, what to expect from the program and what you can gain. The second one was about what kind of people we are looking for to apply. We made these lists as it would help us with brainstorming ideas for an amazing pitch. After that activity we were given time to try and write our own pitches to use while recruiting. Lastly, we did a little activity where we had to role play and pretend our staff were thinking about Diller and we needed to convince them why they should apply.

Now I'm going to take a little shot at making an amazing pitch for you, here I go:

            Diller, what a life changing experience! This is an experience of a life time, you will learn leadership skills while exploring your Judaism, learning about Israel and partaking in the Jewish idea of Tikun Olam. My name is Madison Gold and I am currently a Diller Teen Fellow in Montreal Cohort 8. Diller is an international program involving 26 communities including 13 from Israel, 2 from South Africa and 1 from Australia. To participate in this program you need to be going into either grades 10 or 11. This program is one of a kind. This is not an ordinary Israel summer program, it isn't even just an Israel summer program. It is a 15 month teen leadership program that has a 10 day hosting opportunity for you and a 3 week trip to Israel during summer vacation. I have had such an amazing time in Diller. I have made new friends and some of whom have become my best friends. The group has also become my family along with my new friendships and family in Israel that was formed during JCM. Other than these new amazing friendships I have also gained so many new qualities. I have learnt to become a leader and break out of my shell. If you have any questions feel free to reach out to me. 

JCM Shabbaton by Joy Malorni and Jared Boretsky

For our third Shabbaton we were headed to Camp Bnai Brith of Montreal. Since this one was a little different, we had to make a stop first, at the airport to pick up twenty new friends who were going to be joining us for the next 10 days!

We arrived with signs, balloons, party horns, gift bags and smiles and we greeted our penpals. It was really overwhelming, there were so many people, hugs and names to remember but it was exciting, definitely a very special moment. Our bus ride to CBB was our first chance to have one on one conversations. My prediction from that drive was that we would become a very close group, very fast (spoiler: I was right!) Once we arrived, we were told to go to bed but the eagerness still had not worn off so we hung out a little (or a lot) before we went to sleep.

Friday morning we had our first meal with the Israelis and Canadians together, and then our staff did a little skit presenting the theme for our Shabbaton: Trust. We discussed levels of trust, where we are now, and where we would like to be by the end of the Shabbaton and by the end of the week. I really liked this theme and it was interesting to see how all the following activities tied in with it.

Our icebreaker committee, formed of both Israelis and Canadians prepared activities and games for us that were formulated for us to work together and to break the ice of course!
We sat down for lunch, it was amazing, with every meal, we could feel the bonds strengthening more and more! Once we were finished eating, talking and cleaning, we got on to the bus to go to Tremblant. The outing missions/bus games committee arranged games for us on the bus to get to know each other better, it was a success. They split us into teams and we had a picture scavenger hunt all around Tremblant. When we were finished we had free time, it was so much fun to show the Israelis around, especially to take them to make and eat frozen maple syrup on a stick! (Eh?)

We got back to CBB and began to prepare for our first shabbat together. Each Canadian wrote a Shabbat-o-gram to an Israeli, each Israeli to a Canadian and everybody wrote one wish. Once we were all dressed up we met to light the candles and we were each given one anonymous wish to make come true over shabbat, and an adorable note to start our Shabbat off positively. We split into 3 groups for prayers; Orthodox, Alternative and Camp Style and then got back together to eat our meal.

Saturday morning started off with praying. There were two services offered: a traditional orthodox service and an alternative yoga lesson. I went to the the alternative services, where we had the chance to practice yoga, meditate, and reflect (and for some of us, nap).

We then had a program that was run by a few members of Diller international staff, Leah and Keren. In this program, we talked about the story of the Two and a Half Tribes. In this program, we assumed the role of one of Moses's advisors, and we were given a chance to share our opinions on whether the tribes of Reuven and Gad should be permitted to stay on the east of the Jordan. In the end, we learned that Moses allowed the two tribes to stay, but half of Menashe was assigned to stay with them as well. This program led to interesting discussion, and really showed the complexity and controversy behind what I always thought to be a simple story.

We then had lunch all together. Once again, the meals were a good chance to bond and to talk to the Israelis. After lunch, we all went outside. We had a huge snowball fight, and took advantage of the free time to bond and have fun. This was definitely a highlight of the weekend for me, and I am sure it was an especially memorable experience for the Israelis, who do not usually have the opportunity to play in the snow like this.

After this, we had a program run by Avital and Alon, the Israeli shinshinit and shaliach to Montreal. In this program, we played 5 different games related to trust. Each one of these games also tied in to a different part of the story of Adam and Eve. It was very cool to watch some people step out of their comfort zone and participate in a trust fall off the stage.

Later that night we had havdallah. We all stood in a circle, and afterwards we all sang songs together. After this we started community week planning. We separated into Israeli and Canadian groups, and each group voted on 8 words that they wanted to a part of the vision of the week. We then combined the groups, and all together narrowed it down to 6 words. It was very exciting to finally start down the road of community.

All ready we can feel the excitement growing, and if this weekend was any indication, everyone will work together for an amazing experience. We then all hung out till curfew (and maybe a bit past it), before going to sleep.

In the morning, we had a short feedback session before getting on the bus back to Montreal. There was a mix of sadness that we had to end this amazing weekend, and excitement that we would finally be welcoming our pen pals into our homes and into our city.

by Joy Malorni and Jared Boretsky

Workshop 7: Purim Party and the Last Meeting Before JCM! by Emily Cohen

This past Sunday was our last workshop before the Israelis come to Montreal and it could not have worked out better!

This workshop was at the Adath synagogue, unlike the other workshops so far which were held at the Y, so that we could spend the first half volunteering at the Purim party. Most of us dressed up for the occasion. Us girls had planned a group costume: we were the rainbow and I had the honour of being pink.

We helped out with the party doing various tasks such as making hamentaschen, playing with the kids and supervising the bouncy castle. Then we went downstairs for the serious part of the workshop.

Avital, who recently came back from her visit home to Israel, gave us a talk about culture gaps between Israel and Canada, seeing as we are going to meet the Israelis very soon. It started off where we had papers on which we wrote phrases that represented ways to describe people and made two columns, one for Israel and one for Canada. We wrote things along the lines of “always says sorry”, “never apologizes”, “sleeps a lot”, “doesn’t sleep a lot”, “always on time”, “never on time”. After having made two long columns, we went over them and realized that, omitting “hockey”, most of the things we wrote were stereotypes.

Avital then told us about a study conducted with IBM employees around the world, including Canadians and Israelis, that looked at how people were different in certain ways that are often overlooked. We learned that the study looked at many aspects including Power Distance in the different countries. Power Distance means the extent to which lower ranking individuals accept and expect that power is distributed unequally. Canada had one of the highest Power Distance percentages which led to the stereotype of “always on time”, while Israelis had a very low Power Distance percentage which is why they might be stereotyped as "pushy". Another big discrepancy was found in the Individualism percentages - where Canada was much higher than Israel. From this we understood that Israelis are more likely to think about what is best for the group then for themselves individually when making decisions. We discussed the impact that these qualities could have on Diller cohorts. What she had to say was very interesting and we hope to get her back again soon!

After that program we took some time to go over the JCM schedule and work on our assignments. The schedule seems packed and everyone was working hard. The excitement is brewing and we cannot wait to meet the Israelis. We’re counting down the days to April 7^th… 

By Emily Cohen

Workshop 6: BDS and Preparing for JCM by Ian Langleben

The workshop we had last Sunday was both very interesting and a lot of fun. Two McGill students came in to speak to us about the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and what happened in recent weeks at McGill -- a motion to support BDS passed at the most recent Students' Society of McGill University General Assembly, but did not subsequently pass after the online student vote. Unfortunately there was also a rise in anti-semitic statements and sentiments during this time.

We discussed the reasons many social justice groups (such as feminists, black activists, etc) tend to side with this movement: it seems that BDS has identified itself as being among this class of activist groups.

We discussed how even though the underlying principles of BDS – equal rights and support to the Palestinian people – were commendable from a moral standpoint, the BDS movement in fact has more a negative effect on them, as it causes industries that supply the Palestinians with jobs to close (e.g. Sodastream). Additionally, our guest speakers explained that the BDS movement does not promote discussion or peace, and rather aims to wipe Israel off the map completely. After discussing an article about BDS at McGill, we spent time in small groups coming up with ways that we would create campaigns to fight this movement. Overall, the discussion was very interesting.

After a break, we made creamy perfect hummus dip. Or, at least, we tried! We followed a recipe that Moriel had provided. However, after following it and putting the right amount of each ingredient into the blender, we found that it didn’t quite match our standards for taste. Oh, well. Either way, we had a lot of fun making it, and it will only be a few months before we can get the real thing in Israel!

Finally, our parents came for an info session on the upcoming Jewish Community Mifgash between our community and our sister community, Be’er Sheva-B'nei Shimon. Everybody is very excited for the Mifgash, and we’re all looking forward to hosting the Israelis!