NAS Shabbaton!!!

Fun in the snow on our shabbaton at Camp Papillon!

Thursday April 3^rd 2014

As months went on, the Montrealers were eager for this day to come, the time when our Israeli pen pals were officially arriving in Canada.  We left the YM-YWHA and went to the airport at 9pm. As we waited patiently for our new friends to walk through the gates, our faces went from smiling with no teeth to smiling with teeth; the excitement was huge. From the airport, we started our North American Seminar journey with a shabbaton at Camp Papillon.

Friday April 4^th 2014

Morning came; the sun rose and we all ate breakfast. We started off by playing some icebreakers so we could get to know one another and start the friendships that we know will last a lifetime. The programs on this day varied from indoor to outdoor activities. In between activities we had 10-15 minute breaks which gave us time to talk to our friends and EAT!! The weather was great, although the ground was a tad slippery.  The Jewish programming led to many discussion topics about the differences and similarities between Be'er Sheva-B'nei Shimon and Montreal.

As Shabbat came, we had a meaningful service. We started off praying altogether, and shortly after all the girls lit the candles and shared the moment together. Then we sat down at the Shabbat table and we did a wonderful Kiddush and had a fantastic meal. 

Saturday April 5^th 2014

It’s the next morning...BEEP BEEP BEEP (the alarm goes off) it's 8 am and we all wake up to get breakfast.  We start the day with a leadership activity that got us working together in our different groups to trust one another.  Shortly afterwards we had our lunch, and a long break for those who needed their “Shabbat rest”. Following our break, we had two programs: one that started to get us thinking about what are goals were for this summer as a group, Is friendship more important than respect? Is Jewish programming better than just fun programs? Our discussion really varied depending on the person in the group and their explanation. Our second program was made by our wonderful JC’s, which was the most fun Disney race ever! As Shabbat ended, we did Havdallah followed by our separate Maagals which led to a super fun evening dance party DJ-ed by one of our fellow Diller members - Matthew Steinberg.

Sunday April 6^th 2014

The last day of our shabbaton ended with an excellent program with Tal Gale from Diller North America.  She spoke about things that made us think and question, we were all really happy she came because we got to meet and have fun with someone just as important as our coordinators. Followed by that we had our last program which was the feedback, it was great we were all honest. When we arrived back in Montreal, we did some community service at MADA, peeling vegetables for Passover baskets. From there we each went our respective houses and started our hosting!

By Jamie Wajcman

Overnight at the Y

On March 22, we had our first overnight at the Y. After some socializing and updating each other on various events of each others’ lives, we were divided into pairs. In these pairs, we were given a sheet of paper with questions to ask each other. During this activity, there was laughter and there were tears, it was a bonding experience.

After this activity, the girls and the boys were separated. The girls went with Maxwell, where he told us all we needed to know about the upcoming North American Seminar and answered all of our questions and concerns. Afterwards, the boys went with Maxwell and the girls went with Sarah, where we watched the episode of the Simpsons where they go to Israel. While watching, we had to take notes on all the stereotypes that we saw during the show. We then discussed stereotypes, how they are created and how there is sometimes some truth in them.

Shortly after, we exchanged gifts for our secret buddy activity. At the previous workshop, everyone picked a name out of a hat and had to buy a gift for the person whose name they had chosen. The rest of the night was full of junk food and fun memories. The following morning, we had breakfast which included bagels, cream cheese, nutella, cereal and obviously lox. We then did an activity about time management. We learned how to effectively manage all that we have to do in the time that is given to us each day. All in all, a good time was had by everyone. 

By: Rebecca Gotteiner

Workshop #6 By Ben and Steven

Diller Montreal, pretty excited to hear all about the great things that Auberge Shalom does for women

On Sunday March 9th at our Diller workshop, we started off watching all the Cribs videos of all our fellows, which was really fun. These were the videos that we sent to our Israeli partners to introduce them to our homes and tell them more about us.

Next we got into a program where we passed around controversial statements regarding Israel, and we had to put a green sticker on it if we agreed, or a red sticker if we disagreed. For example: You cannot be a Zionist unless you live in Israel or make aliyah. Anti-semitism sustains the Jewish people; without it, Jews assimilate. A Jew who visits Israel is just like any other tourist. And so on. We had a great dialogue afterwards where all the fellows shared their personnel ideas and debated whether they agreed or disagreed with each statement.

We also had a special guest who joined us on behalf of a women’s abuse and violence protection program, called Auberge Shalom. She told us about the services available to women and families in need, and shared some of her experiences there. We donated to her a box of melons in honour of International Women's Day, and Nutrition Month at the YM-YWHA. We posted this to Facebook as our #feedthedeed!

Finally, we deeply discussed the North American Seminar that is coming up from April 3rd-13th 2014. We received a booklet of all the rules and advice that were quite funny. This Saturday is White Night, a very cool evening where we sleep overnight at the Y. The social committee has organized a cool program for Pourim, first we put everyone’s name into a hat then the person’s name you pull out, you have to make them a Mishloach Manot! We'll be exchanging them this weekend.

All the committees and thoughts of each and every Diller member truly make Diller one big family!

Written by Ben and Steven

Baking Hamantashen for Save a Child's Heart

            

Joseph, Rebecca and Matthew rolling and cutting the dough

            As I am sure you must know, an important Jewish holiday, Purim, is coming up this Saturday/Sunday. Purim is the story of Ester and her uncle, Mordecai, saving many Jews from Haman, a royal advisor who sought to eliminate all the Jews in Persia. This is one of the happier holidays that we celebrate because a great tragedy was stopped before it actually happened and we celebrate by making noise with graggers, or noisemakers, when we hear Haman’s name read in synagogue. We also eat hamantashen! Hamantashen are triangle shaped pastries filled with poppy seeds, prunes, chocolate, apricots, etc. and are shaped to resemble the three-cornered hat that Haman wore.

            So, in light of the upcoming holiday, the Montréal Diller Teen Fellows Cohort decided to go to the Shaar Hashomayim to make some hamantashen with Eve Rochman, which she sold to raise money for Save a Child’s Heart , a charity based in Israel that helps children with cardiac imperfections in developing countries get the heart surgery they need to survive. The charity performs over 200 surgeries a year and is truly a worthwhile charity to support. Save a Child’s Heart is motivated by the age-old Jewish tradition of Tikkun Olam – repairing the world – which is also one of the five pillars of Diller, and they are dedicated to the idea that every child deserves the best medical treatment available, regardless of the child's nationality, religion, colour, gender or financial situation.

Being somebody who has issues cutting straight lines, I wasn't quite sure how I was going to fare in the crafting of delicate pastries. At first we were asked to construct boxes for the hamantashen, which was easy enough; however, the real challenge was what came next: making the hamantashen. While the dough and fillings (poppy, cinnamon, chocolate and prune) were made before we had arrived, we still had to cut circles of dough, fill them and transform them into triangles before they went into the oven. While my first few turned out lopsided and flimsy, by the end I was actually making decent pastries. I can honestly say I enjoyed the experience and so did all the other fellows who were there with me, and I am happy I got to support Save a Child’s Heart because they do such great things.

Written by Joseph Wiltzer

Joseph admiring his handiwork

Shabbaton #2: Saturday and Sunday

The 2nd shabbaton continues...

Decorating cookies on Saturday night!

Saturday morning everyone met up in the staff’s cabin for breakfast, which included bagel-cream cheese-and a lot of lox . We then spoke about prayers and what they mean to everyone. I found it interesting because everyone had a different meaning as to what prayer is. 

Then, we spoke about the timeline that we had to put in order on Friday. There were some very interesting things that we learned about Israel. We then did a leadership activity. Now this was extremely complicated. Six people were in the middle of the room and blindfolded, then the circle around them had to tell them what to do, but they had their backs to the people with blindfolds and they had to communicate with the people in front of them who weren’t allowed to talk. Complicated right? They had to get the blindfolded people to make a star of David. So that didn’t work out very well but it was still fun and we learned about ourselves as leaders.

Later, we went outside for the “outdoor training” run by our JC's. We had to work in teams. It was like a scavenger hunt in the woods. Then we tied a rope (made of plastic bags) to two trees. We had to get everyone to the other side of the rope by going over it. Speaking as the first person to get thrown over the rope, it wasn’t easy. This was a tough activity, but we worked together and we did just fine. Once we got changed from the “outdoor clothes”, we had some free time. I used this time to get to know better some of the Diller Teen Fellows.

After the free time, we did the prayer for the Shabbat lunch and ate. And now came some more leadership activities. There were pictures of some important and inspiring leaders spread on the floor. We had to choose a picture and explain why we choose those people and say one trait they have as a leader. We discussed those traits and explained why it s important for a leader to have those traits. Then, we were separated into three teams and each team got the name of a leader from the bible: Abraham, Moses, and Joshua. We had to read a passage about them and then make a little campaign for them.

After all these activities, we did seudah shlishit-שעודה שלישית and had a snack. We had an interesting conversation with our well-informed JC, Maxwell, about politics in Israel and in Canada. Then came the havdallah that was done, very well, by Steven, Levana, Rebecca and myself. I liked it because it’s very different than how we do it at my house. We were all together singing around the table, it was a pleasant moment.

Now this is one of my favorite moments, the group who was in charge of the games (Matthew, Phil and Noah A) decided that we were going to play “Baby, I Love You!”. In this game, there is one person in the middle and they have to go tell someone in the circle “Baby, I love you! Can you please smile for me?” and the person would have to answer back “Baby, I love you too but I just can’t smile for you!”. If the person smiled, then they had to go to the middle. So here is why I enjoyed it: I was the “target”, everyone tried to break me and it was fun to watch. The things that they tried were funny and unexpected but we all had a good laugh.

Then we did some T-shirt decorating. We came to the decision that we would use Michaela’s beautiful drawing for the front and Levana and Phil’s (also very nice) design for the back.

Shortly after dinner, unfortunately a few people had to leave so the group was a little smaller. With the cookie dough, we shaped our cookies and put them in the oven. Meanwhile, we had our maagal laila. It was just us and our wonderful JCs. I really appreciated this moment because it was all about us. We got to share our stories and learned about more about the others. After that, most of us went back to the staff’s cabin to decorate the cookies.

Then came Sunday morning. Everyone was tired from a long and delightful week-end. First we had breakfast, and then a short maagal. We had to pick a card with the word that explains our hopes for the continuation of the Diller experience. Before loading the bus, we had feedback. The next thing I knew, we were at the Y.

I know I wrote a lot, but this shabbaton can’t be explained with only a few words. If I had to sum it up, I would say it was just the beginning of a wonderful experience. Merci! Et a bientot! Alexia (AKA The Girl Who Doesn’t Smile:)

Baby I love you, but I just can't smile for you!

Since it’s me, I had to put in at least a few words in french! So again: A Bientot!

Written by: Alexia Brami