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! 

2nd Shabbaton: 50% Self-Management Part 2 by Noah Rocklin

For dinner on the Saturday night of our shabbaton, we were split into small groups and given a sheet full of questions for us to answer and discuss together, as we made our own pizzas. This really helped us bond and become closer as a group. After dinner, we were split into groups of 3 or 4, and sent on a scavenger hunt throughout the main floor of the Retreat Centre in pursuit of a prize. Our hunt included riddles, trivia, and a puzzle, which led us to our Diller sweatshirts!

We finished of the night with a rather impactful Maagal Laila run by our JC's. We were each given a paper with a question written on it, that we answered to everybody. This let us really understand one another on a more personal level. The next morning, after a nice breakfast of lox and bagels, we filmed a video to send to our Israelis, directed by the Communication group. We lined up outside in the freezing cold in our matching sweatshirts and quickly turned to the camera and says our names.

Before leaving, we had a quick feedback and clean up session. Overall, the shabbaton was an incredible experience for our group. Special thanks to Sarah, Moriel, Tair, Alon, and our JC's Spencer and Rebecca for making our time so exciting!

By Noah Rocklin

2nd Shabbaton: 50% Self-Management Part 1 by Hannah Bicher

Our 2nd shabbaton was super fun and chill. We went to camp Kinneret which is near Mont Tremblant. 

Once we arrived at the Y at 1:00pm, we went straight to camp. Once we got there, we unloaded our bags and supplies and prepared for Shabbat that was soon to arrive. 

The Rituals group hosted Shabbat candle lighting where girls and some of the boys lit some candles that were in a shape of a Magen David. Then we did Kabbalat Shabbat, which included services and some trivia questions, and ate dinner which was really good. 

We had a program run by the Partnership group later in the evening where we did many activities like testing our Israel knowledge. We were each given a year and the group in charge read an event in Israeli history. Then, the person from each team who had the correct date, had to go up and eat a licorice really fast in order to tell them the date. We also did activities about our pen pals, to see if we really knew our Israeli. One of the activities was where group two placed papers of fun facts about everyone's Israelis and we had to pick the paper that has the fun fact about our pen pal.  

We did Ma'agal Laila both nights to get us to connect with each other. The Friday night, we sat in a circle and closed our eyes and Sarah tapped someone on the head and asked questions like "who in the room makes you laugh a lot" and you had to tap someone who you thought made you laugh. Afterwards, we all hung out together before going to bed.

  

Saturday morning, we had breakfast and then we did a program led by Rebecca and Sarah about prayers. We started with small pairing discussions related to random materials, and when we brought them back to the group we learned that these were the materials mentioned in Parashat Terumah, for the construction of the ark. This led to a discussion about individual vs. group prayer. We ended off with a guided meditation and personal prayer.

Later on in the morning, the Leadership group ran their program. We had to put on a skit about any values related to leadership like honesty, communication, etc. Everyone enjoyed it very much and we discussed what type of leaders we are.

During our break, we ate lunch and played outside in the freezing cold for only 10-30 minutes because it was -35 out. Then we all chilled inside and played some cards for a little while. 

Later in the afternoon, Tair and Alon who are a shinshinit and shaliach from Israel hosted a dialogue program where we talked about the Women of the Wall and Israel. They also provided us with some guidelines to help us have meaningful discussions with each other and with our Israelis when they come. We would like to say thank you for talking to us about this interesting issue and we enjoyed listening to an Israeli's  perspective about the Women of the Wall.

Afterwards, we played games like  the apple game where we had to squish together in a tight circle and we had to pass around the apple from behind our backs while someone in the middle had to guess where the apple is. Some fellows even tried taking a bite out of the apple secretly. This was fun and it made everyone more awake. 

Right before supper, the Rituals group was in charge of havdallah. We sang a lot of songs like Baruch hagever and Ani maamin. We really connected. We even sang our national anthem.

To conclude, I am so happy I am in Diller because I got to meet so many nice people and it's so fun to hang out with all of them. 

By: Hannah Bicher