Monday: Who is a Jew?

Four days ago, The Israelis arrived in America. They went to the welcoming party which I could not attend and met all of my Diller friends. A few miles away, I was worrying about how I would deal with hosting a person of a different gender and nationality. The next day, all of the Israelis and Americans literally piled into a bus and went to a camp in the middle of nowhere. It was on that bus that everything changed. Fifteen minutes in and we were dancing to music as if we’d known each other for years. We only got closer at the shabbaton. By the time we got back I already knew all of the Israelis’ names and had conversations with most of them. The best part though, was that night I was studying for a test that I had the next day and Adi, the Israeli I was hosting, came and helped me. For the first time I actually had fun studying and I got closer with her at the same time.

Today all of us Israelis went to the JCC in West Orange. At first, we talked with Alan Feldman, the Director of the JCC, who explained to us a little bit about the jewish community in West Orange and about the different things that brings Jews together. I remember a sentence he said “What bring us all together are the experiences we share”, which is something that I will remember forever. After having a tour in the JCC, we set to eat lunch with the seniors who were really nice! We talked about many things, from their time in Israel, in the military, and their children. When we got back into the federation we had a Rabbis panel where we met with 4 different rabbis, each representing a different stream of Judaism. We were able to ask them questions and hear what’s their perspectives are on Judaism. That was really interesting and we learned a lot from it. Then, we headed to B'nai Shalom, the synagogue that Leah grew up in and met with the Rabbi. It was here that we really began to understand that syangogues in American are not just a place to pray, but a place of culture and celebration.
At the end we were all going to “cups” to eat a great ice cream, both Israelis and americans, and we had a lot of fun !

-Eric Lederman & Adi Shalom

Our feelings on the NAS:

March, 22nd, a Thursday, my life changed forever. Like every other day, the sun rose and the sun set, but today and for the next eleven days, Omer Kinor, would bless my household with his presence. It started of simple. After a quick drive form Whippany to Short Hills, Omer and I arrived at 22 Tioga Pass. Once introduced to my sisters, father, and mother, I showed Omer his room where he then proceeded to take a glorious shower after 19 hours of flight. Refreshed and ready to go, it was decided that the natural course of action would be to lie on the couch and watch t.v. Immediately Omer was engulfed in the family banter: Cara’s distress at not getting One Directiontickets, Cara’s distress at not having clothes, Cara’s distress at not having clothes orOne Direction tickets, the usual. Sensing Omer’s capacity to handle the “Cara-ness” was nearing its limits, I thought it would be a good idea to delve into some American history. We descended down into the basement where Tropic Thunder, the epic movie of actors portraying actors portraying Vietnam soldiers on a deadly mission, was playing. After a few good laughs and a long discussion of how even when America loses a war, we still win, the Dynamic Duo was told it was time for bed. Exhausted yet excited, both Dillers slept anxiously awaiting the coming retreat where even more time together would be had.

- Noah Lisser & Omer Kinor