Thursday, January 10, 2013

Diller 6 Overnight: From Israel to Identity to Leadership - January 5-6, 2013

On Saturday night, Diller was reunited once again and it took no time to get deep into conversation. However, there was stuff to be done. First, we were introduced to one of the JC’s from last year, named Max, (that is one awesome name!). We then played a hilarious game called “Monologues” where we said we loved things we hated, and hated things we love. It was all pretty funny. After that, our very own fellows, Eden and Julian, led an activity where we got the chance to sit one-on-one with another fellow and get to know them on a more personal level. There were candles to set the mood, and dessert-to-share that filled our tummies. Then, we moved on to introducing the Rishon LeZion Dillers to each other. It was so great to learn about our other half, and we cannot wait to meet them very soon! Afterwards, we had our Ma’agal Lilah where we passed around a box that had something inside. One at a time, we individually looked at what was inside the box and had to say one word that came to our mind when we saw it, all without saying what was inside. It was very interesting to hear the different things that people said about the same object and depending on where you were sitting, knowing or not knowing what was in the box was a different experience. Following that was pajama time and then the Social Committee showed the all-time fabulous “Monsters Inc.” At the end, there were three people watching the movie, others were playing Jungle Speed or just chatting. We went to sleep after that, or at least tried to for the day ahead of us.


After waking up from what was a 5 hour nap at best, Diller 6 awoke and did what Jews do best, eat bagels. Diller 5 JC and current JC mentor, Max, then led us in a thought provoking workshop. He started off with a puzzle. He explained a theory that he was taught in his college philosophy class and it went like this:  through advanced science, Greg’s brain has been placed in a jar. Even though Greg’s brain is nowhere near his body, he is still able to communicate with his body. Considering our tech-savvy generation, we chose to think of it like a Wi-Fi signal. The brain could still easily send messages to the body telling it what to do. Greg is fully functional. Max then posed the question, where is Greg? Is he in the body or the jar with is brain? After discussing in groups, we found that no one totally agreed. The theory was a matter of opinion; there was no right or wrong answer. This was not science test, but a way of asking the question, “Who are we?” Does our mind or our bodies define us? We were then given t-shirts and Leah’s sacred markers and told to write, “I am” and then our names on the front. Every Diller gave their name a little twist, whether it was adding a pocket or a small doodle. We then flipped the shirt over and wrote physical characteristics, and well and internal and morals and values who made us who we are. We wrote what we were scared of and who we thought we were as people. Our existence on a tee-shirt. After we were done, we wore our new shirts with pride and explained to each other why we wrote what we wrote. We share our thoughts and opened our minds to look further into ourselves and discover who we truly are.
Our last activity on Sunday was something called the leadership compass. The leadership compass is an activity in which we had to be introspective and honest with ourselves. We were given a list filled with characteristics under four categories, North (The Warrior), South (The Healer), East (The Visionary), and West (The Teacher). All of these are different types of leaders with different strengths and weaknesses  Once we completed the questions, we put all of answers on a graph. When the graph was done we saw where we fell, whether it be North, South, East, West, or somewhere in between. We then discussed where we placed ourselves and if it was in fact a good fit. We also talked about our reaction to where we were placed, because for some of us, it was a real shock to find ourselves in the West, when we thought we were North. We then stood on a big compass Leah taped on the floor in the center of the room. Standing on the compass was very interesting because it allowed us all to see where we fell as leaders, our strengths and weaknesses as a group, and how we really formed a circle, showing that we had every type of leader in our group. The Leadership Compass was a very good activity to end our meeting with, because Diller is all about becoming a good leader, and learning about one’s self is the first step to becoming one. Once the activity was finished we hugged and said our last goodbyes. Then, we all left, waiting for our next meeting.