Diller 5 Does Chanukah!

Last Wednesday, Diller 5 had yet another excuse to leave the house, (aka the mounds of homework sitting on my desk that I probably should’ve attended to earlier...) and hang out with each other. How much better could a Wednesday night get?

But then again, us Dillers always have something up our sleeves, don’t we?

The evening began with Yossi Katz, a teacher from the Alexander Muss High School in Israel, and in addition, truly a brilliant speaker. Yossi spoke about heroines; specifically, Jewish heroines. He discussed the idea that there weren’t enough women recognized for the work they’d done for Judaism and with that, he began his story. Yossi spoke about Hannah Senesh, a girl who grew up during the Holocaust. Hannah transformed from a care-free fourteen year old girl living in Budapest, Hungary, to a nineteen year old Zionist who felt it was her duty to make Aliyah (move to Israel). Coming from a city, you’d expect Hannah to maybe move to Tel Aviv, yet instead she learns to be a farmer and decides to work in a Kibbutz. While in Israel she writes countless poems and prayers in her diary about what she was going through. In turn, those poems prayers are known and taught throughout Israel and North America.
Here is one of her most famous poems, entitled Eli, Eli:

Oh Lord, My G-d,
I pray that these things never end,
The sand and the sea,
The rush of the waters,
The crash of the heavens,
The prayer of the heart.

Hannah was a true Jewish heroine and exemplifies the leadership that Diller is all about. While on the Kibbutz, Hannah wanted to defend Israel and become a paratrooper. And despite the fact that she was met with uneasiness from those around her, Hannah persisted, and through this persistence, Hannah would land a spot among thirty two other paratroopers. (One hundred applied, and only thirty two were selected. Of the thirty two, only three women, including Hannah, were chosen.)

Hannah and her team parachuted into Europe and would save over a thousand pilots. One night, Hannah wrote one last poem that she would give to a fellow paratrooper. He read the poem called Blessed is the Match. He begged Hannah to be more hopeful and with that, he tossed the note into the bushes. But something, who knows what, made him go back to the bushes later that night. He found the poem, flattened it out, and put it in his pocket. That paratrooper would go on to survive the war, bring the poem back to Israel, and allow the poem to become a prayer instilled into Israeli school children’s minds to this day.
The following is the poem Hannah wrote that night:

Blessed is the Match
Blessed is the match, consumed in kindling flame.
Blessed is the flame that burns in the heart's secret places.
Blessed is the heart that knows, for honors sake, to stop its beating.
Blessed is the match, consumed in kindling flame.

In Judaism, most consider the flame to be blessed, the candles to be blessed, or things like the challah to be blessed, but Hannah, considered the match to be blessed. In giving off the light we use in so many ways, it gave its own life, by be being consumed in the flame. She compared this to her own life, and came to the conclusion that to save others, she must be consumed in the flame, just as the match, by giving up her own life.

If you’d like to learn more about Hannah’s life, the documentary film Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh, can be found and watched for free at: http://www.hulu.com/watch/191667/blessed-is-the-match-the-life-and-death-of-hannah-senesh
As for the rest of the evening, it was filled with fun and games, along with pressing questions such as how we deal with stress, how we celebrate the holiday, and by far the most pressing question, how do you spell [C](h)an[n]*ukk?a(h)?

We met with Diller alumni from Diller 2, 3, and 4, and it was truly an amazing evening. We even got a special video from Dillers from from Rishon Le'Zion from all 5 cohorts (see video below)! The main activity of the night was splitting the entire group into two circles; one circle on one side of the room, and the other on the opposite side. While one group passed around questions to be answered by group members, the other passed around a present, whilst singing their favorite holiday tunes, to be slowly unwrapped to reveal questions and chocolate gelt (coins).

At the end of the night, when only one more layer of wrapping paper was left on the present, the two groups came together, were asked once more to sing a holiday tune, and whomever the present landed on, was asked to finally open the present. Our own Diller 5 fellow Nitay was the lucky Diller to open the present, which revealed personalized Diller Dreidels for each of us!

It was an amazing night to which we will all look back on fondly. With that being said, a big thank you goes out to the Hanukkah Committee for putting together a wonderful night filled with joy, and the true spirit of Hanukkah.

Lastly, I’d like to thank all the Dillers who came. Without all of you, it wouldn’t have been as amazing, as fun, as... well, I’m running out of adjectives to describe how great the night was, but you all are so awesome and I’m so happy that this program and all of you are a part of my life! Oh... and HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOAH!!

The Chanukah Video all the way from Rishon!