Day 9: Farewell (But Not Yet!) - March 22, 2013

The eventful day began with a dauntingly early wake-up for most.  However, this exhaustion only meant one thing:  a trip to the public high schools!  The Americans’ high school friends awaited the Israelis’ visit for weeks, and today, March 21st, was finally the day.  The Israelis, being light years ahead of the Americans in school classes, were able to take an active role and participate in the classes.  They were engaged in classes such as science and math, even correcting the teacher’s mistakes.  It was a valuable experience for both the Americans and the Israelis to see that these classes involving numbers became a universal language, and as my chemistry teacher put it, “we created international formulas”.  The Israelis were surprised to see the different culture of a public high school.  They were fascinated by everything from lockers lining the hallways, to the cafeteria, to switching classes without a break in between.

When all the Israelis were picked up and brought back to Whippany, they had a Ma’agal comparing the three different types of schools they have experienced: private schools, public schools, and Israeli schools.  They made note of the similarities and differences between the schools and discussed what worked in each, and what didn't. Afterwards, the Americans arrived at the Federation, where we had a workshop and anxiously awaited the farewell dinner while spending time with our 39 best friends. We thought it would be a sad event, because it was the beginning of the end of our time with the Israelis in New Jersey, but we were very wrong. It started off with a delicious dinner! As the night continued we listened to a series of speeches from the farewell committee (Lauren, Seth, Coby, Julian, and Juliet). They summed up the NAS perfectly. We saw a montage filled with the pictures of us throughout the ten days in New Jersey together, which went way too fast. And if you think that the excitement ends there, you’re wrong. All of the Diller teens stampeded to the front of the room for picture chaos. After giving our families home-made hamsas as a gift, we circled around for the Diller famous Achim dance. As always, it took almost an hour to separate all of the Dillers. The building was closing but we just couldn't say goodbye, even though we will see each other tomorrow. Although this marks the end of the NAS, the farewell dinner was terrific, we have the Shabbaton to look forward to, and a bond that will last a lifetime. 

- Sarah Nelson & Seth Appel

Day 8: NYC Culture - March 20, 2013

I don’t know how the stars and planets must have aligned throughout the Universe in order for me to have the misfortune of writing about how the Americans spent today, the eighth day of the North American Seminar.  For the first time since we met our Israeli Dillers just last week, we spent essentially the entire day apart.  While the Israelis enjoyed a memorable day in Times Square and Broadway, the Americans spent the day like any other, in school, studying, wishing we were with the Israelis.  So while today was an early wake-up for most of us, especially coming off of delayed openings yesterday, our days did not really begin until nine o’clock when we welcomed the Israelis back into our home.  Omer told me about Broadway and Times Square and shopping and dinner and the whole megillah.  We’re talking also about our expectations for public school day tomorrow and our thoughts about President Obama’s first trip to Israel, beginning today.  Unfortunately, we are now challenged with fitting all this discussion and reflection into not a whole afternoon, but only a few short hours before we call it a night.  Tomorrow, while we will again have to spend most of the day apart from the entire Metro LeZion group, I know that all of us are looking forward to the Farewell Dinner tomorrow night, and that none of us are looking forward to the farewell.

-Eli Schechner

Today, March 20, the Israelis went to New York City! Their first stop: the Brooklyn Bridge, where they met Leah’s brother, an officer in the New York City Police Department. After, they headed over to the theater district, where they caught a noon showing of the Broadway show Cinderella! All of the Israelis marveled at the massive sets and the intricacy of the performance. Then, they walked to Times Square, where they were briefed about safety by their JC’s. The counselors let the Israelis roam around in the areas between the Hershey Store and the M&M store, where they were responsible for buying dinner on their own. The girls did a lot of shopping in places like American Eagle Outfitters and Forever 21, while the boys mostly hung out in the candy stores. After they all shopped their hearts out and took enough pictures to last them a lifetime, the Israelis got onto the bus and headed back to the JCC, hoping to get a good night sleep in preparation for their visit to school with their Americans tomorrow!

- Hannah Kanter

Day 7: Jewish Education in NJ - March 19, 2013

Today, March 19^th, the Israeli Dillers toured Jewish day schools, Golda Och Academy and Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School. Earlier in the morning (after the delayed opening!), the Dillers traveled to Golda Och, where they spoke with Linda Coppleson, a teacher and Soferet. A Soferet, the scribe of the Torah and other Judaic arts, gave a short presentation about how she became interested in Judaism and becoming a Soferet, something that is atypical for a woman to be. Coppleson showed the kids some of the Ketubot that she written and illustrated. After her presentation, the Israelis each had the opportunity to write a letter in the Torah that she is currently writing. This was an exciting and spiritual moment for all, something that no one will ever forget. Then, the Dillers traveled to Kushner and toured around the school. They also went into some of the classes, including Spanish and Talmud classes. Sitting in on these classes was both educational and interesting, especially for those who do not typically have the experience of learning about Talmud on a regular basis. It was also interesting to see the differences in the Conservative and Orthodox day schools and how they each incorporated Jewish values and Zionism into their daily lives. The Israelis ended their tours back at the Whippany Federation where they got to spend time with their favorite Americans!

-Eden Posner

Today at the workshop, we started out by schmoozing while waiting for the Israelis to finish with their activity. Michael Paisner was kind enough to treat us all to homemade chocolate chip cookies! When we joined with the Israelis, we all got right to work on the Israeli Summer Seminar (ISS). We broke up into our groups and were very productive. Then, we paused for an Italian dinner. We then were introduced to four different Rabbis (one orthodox, one conservative, one reconstructionist, and one reform) who spoke briefly about their beliefs. We broke up into four groups and spoke to the Rabbis individually as they rotated every ten minutes. It was truly riveting as we were engaged in philosophical debates with Rabbis we normally do not get to ask questions to. When the allotted time had elapsed, we still had half an hour that we used to organize the Camp and Seminar for the ISS. This was very hectic, but all groups accomplished an amazing amount of work. Finally, we all got into a circle to hear some announcements, but what was really special was that Liav, our fearless leader of the day, made us all notes with an important message on them: “Everyone has their own voice, their own opinion and world-view. However, when all the voices come together, harmony is created between all the voices, tremendous music is formed, and the nation becomes united.” - A perfect way to sum up our day. 

- Coby Bernstein

Thank you, Michael for the delicious treat!

Day 6: The Next Step - March 18, 2013

Today the Israelis went to Rutgers University in New Brunswick. They were very surprised by the spacious campus and the Jewish opportunities on campus as well, The Chabad House. They ate lunch at Hillel and heard from Tahli Hanuka from Stand with Us, and Israel Education Organization. She shared her experience with the anti Israel bigotry while in college. Dekel expressed his feelings toward the Jewish students, and how they are very strong and determined to rise above the hate. After the tour of Rutgers, they went to temple Sinai and ran an "Israel Day" for the 1st and 2nd graders. At one of the stations they ran, the children made chocolate balls which had a very interesting meaning. The idea that the round chocolate ball resembles the world and the cultural diversity of the Jewish people. After the baking, everyone made signs with there names and its meaning. Then they watched a short film about Israel and the different places with in the land. After the film, the children asked the teachers if they were going to see them again. To end a perfect day, the Israelis went outside were greeted by snow.
- Michael Nimaroff

Today, in "The amazing life of Izhak and Sam", a lot has happened! It started with a Sababa breakfast of scrambled eggs, cooked by Sam, and then Izhak and Shir went to see the 9/11 memorial in Montclair. After that, Izhak and the other Israeli Dillers went to Rutgers University and spoke about Israel Advocacy. After that, they went and played with young children at a Temple Sinai and taught the children about Israel, put on a play for them, and taught them how to cook Taim Israeli food! Sam patiently awaited Izhak's return, and had a very tough time focusing on school work while he waited. On the way home, we were lucky enough to get snow! What a gift. The day was concluded with Izhak, Caleb (Sam's brother), and Sam cooking a splendid dinner of chicken, potatoes, and green beans, all followed by a scrumptious banana cake. What a wonderful series of events to add to the Diller odyssey!
- Sam Grossman

Day 5: A Day of Good Deeds - March 17, 2013

Today, everyone had an amazing time at Good Deeds Day! It was an amazing day full of volunteering, eating, and just enjoying time with our Diller counterparts from half way across the world.  Every Diller went to volunteer with their family and their Israeli different places: such as the Jewish Relief Fund, planting flowers, painting a nursery, and much more.  It was exciting to be able to volunteer for the first time with our Israelis as it was something that we have never done together before!  For example; my Israeli, another Diller and his Israeli, and I packed boxes with food for Passover for families.  Then, after all the boxes were packed, the family went to deliver the food to a house.  It was a wonderful feeling to give the box to the household and to hear them say thank you for our deed.

Afterward, everyone met in the Federation at Whippany for a lunch celebrating Good Deeds Day with pizza, pasta, and salad.  All the parents and the Dillers had an amazing time just talking and eating and spending the free time that we have all together.  We enjoyed a small presentation that the Good Deeds Day staff put together and then we said good bye to our parents and other Good Deeds Day volunteers to get down to business in our Diller joint programming.  

We began our Diller programming with a Afternoon Ma'agal/Circle, and had a check in.  We talked about a rose, a thorn, and a bud: a positive experience, a challenge, and something that we are looking forward to.  A rose for most people were the connections we have made.  A thorn was stresses such as not being able to get our school work done.  A popular bud was our Shabbaton that we are all looking forward to next weekend and the Israel Summer Seminar! Israel is so far away, but actually it is closer than we all think.  Today, we already started making plans for our camp and seminar we are running during the summer! It is going to be an especially amazing summer as we are actually going to be running 2 summer experiences in Israel: A Day Camp for Ethiopian elementary aged children and a Overnight Seminar on Tikun Olam/Social Justice for Ethiopian middle-school aged kids. We were split into committees: Counselor, Enrichment, or Coordinators and Spirit. Thinking about the summer already has already gotten everyone excited for what is to come during the summer!As the last part of our workshop today, the Israeli Leader of the Day, Gal, ran a competition like Master Chef.  Together, we all made our delicious dinner: hummus, shaksuka, Israeli salad, and malawach.  The winner of the competition… durmroll please… was the salad group! After a long, amusing day with our fellow Dillers, it was time to go home with our Israelis until next time. 
- Michael Paisner

Day 4: Shabbat in the Home - March 16, 2013

The first Shabbat was spent at the homes of the Diller teens of GreaterMetroWest. Some Dillers went to Beit K’nesset/Synagogue with their hosts and stayed in the area; while others traveled to different places, like New York and Philly. The Israelis were extremely excited to see snow fall for the first time! Some of us played in the snow and had a blast! After Shabbat, Julian welcomed us all to his house, where we hung out for hours! We talked, danced, and got to know each other better. At about 12:30, when EVERYBODY was pretty much passing out, we headed home to get rested for Good deeds day.

- Lindsey Blenden

On Saturday March 16th, Michael and I were looking forward to sleeping in then going out for a nice birthday lunch. Michael decided to sleep in until 11:30 but apologized greatly for "keep me waiting". While we were eating breakfast Michael explained to me how much he loves birthdays and said happy birthday for the first of many times. 

After breakfast we both got ready to go out to lunch at Don Jose with my family and I. Then the party started as we arrived back home and I introduced my Randolph friends to "Israeli Mike". We had three Michaels at my house so we need to have some distinction between the names and Diller Michael came up with the nickname "Israeli Mike". After a lot of FIFA, ping pong, music, and just hanging out and talking, Michael and I decided to get to bed for a long day of writing books for little kids was ahead of us!!

- Corey Basciano

Day 3: Bringing it to Reality - March 15, 2013

On day three of the NAS, we were forced to part from our Israelis for another agonizing day at school while they met up again at the JCC in West Orange.  Since we are already growing so much closer to our partners, it was nearly impossible to think or talk about anything other than Diller at school!  While the Americans learned and worked our little tuchas’ off at school, the Israelis participated in a fun day of learning about the Jewish community in Greater Metrowest, New Jersey.  They toured around the JCC and met with all sorts of people, from the elders to the nursery school children.  After exploring the JCC and enjoying a delicious lunch, they were beyond ecstatic for their first journey on an American yellow school bus.  (Can you imagine the excitement?!) Their next adventure brought them to temple B’nai Avraham where they heard an engaging speech about the synagogue and the lifestyle of an average Jewish American.

After a long and fun day, both the Israelis and Americans were more than thrilled to be reunited with each other for our first Shabbat together.  Each family took the free night to celebrate in a multitude of ways.  In my opinion, the most unique thing about our group is how varying we all are, yet we still are able to relate and appreciate our differences.  Some families took the opportunity to travel into the Big City, while others had a quiet and relaxing Shabbos dinner.  Either way, I think it’s easy to say that everyone had a remarkable time either traveling around New Jersey or reuniting with their partners.  After only three days, we feel so connected and open to each other and can only imagine how close Metro-Letzion Diller 6 will grow to be throughout the rest of our journey!

Tehenu vetenatzlu kol rega, make the best of the every minute!

-Juliet Felsen

Happy Birthday to our Amazing Israeli Junior Counselor, Lahav!

Day 2: Deep Within Our Roots - March 14, 2013

Today, while the Metro west Diller’s were at school, our Israeli partners, the Rishon Diller’s were out touring and working on Tikkun Olam, repairing the world.
There were a few options for volunteering this morning. Many of the Israelis traveled to a church in Newark where they helped serve food at a soup kitchen and prepare bags of meals at a food pantry. In the words of Omer, one of the Israeli Diller’s, “It was really exciting and nice!”. They prepared 650 bags for families in need, no small task! 

At the same time, part of the group went to speak with elderly members of the Jewish community about the current political situation in Israel. After discussing politics, they served them food and sat down to talk less formally with them, sharing past experiences from their lives, and in some cases, speaking for an entire hour and a half without interruption.

After serving food and hearing from the Soup Kitchen staff about what it is like to serve on a regular basis, the group joined went on a tour of Old Jewish Newark to learn about how Jewish life really began in Greater MetroWest. What made this experience more unique is that they were joined by a group of senior citizens, many of whom grew up in the very neighborhoods they toured. They gladly shared much of their life stories and experiences with the vibrant young group of Israeli teens.The Israeli group visited a Ahavas Shalom, the only remaining functioning synagogue in Newark, and then visited other historically Jewish locations throughout the city.

We then joined together, Americans and Israeli’s, and shared the histories of some of our families, which quickly led to us realizing that even though we live halfway across the world from each other, only a couple of generations back, we were all living pretty much together, in the same places.

- Julian Biller

Waking up this morning was a major struggle after a long night of talking and laughing and meeting our best friends for the next 12 days. The only thing that kept me awake throughout the day was the knowledge that I would be seeing the rest of the Dillers again that very night. After an agonizing day of waiting to go to Metrowest, we finally arrived for our workshop. Weeks in advance we were told to prepare stories and pictures about our families and how they came to either America or Israel so that we could connect with the group for our "roots" themed conversations and activities. After our arrival we hugged and greeted each other as if we had been apart for years instead of only a day and stood in a circle for a game of Chinese soccer. We had to stand with our legs apart so that our feet were touching the people's feet who were next to us and throw the ball through the legs of people on the other side of the circle from us but the catch was that to defend yourself you weren't allowed to bend your knees to reach the ball. The game was extremely entertaining and everyone managed to stay in...for the most part, but the idea behind the fun was that we were using a globe as a ball to show that we come from all over the world but we are all here together for the North American Seminar to learn about each other and become one big group. After the game it was time to get serious. 

Our wonderful Junior Counselors laid out little slips of paper with different values on them and we were given the instructions to pick five values that we would take with us if we had to leave our homes for a new community. After splitting up into our different discussion groups we talked about why we chose the values that we did and began to argue and debate about whether we would compromise our values when faced with a different community that does not support what we believe in. It was enjoyable to be able to talk with not only the Metrowest Dillers as we have many times in activities like this, but also to debate with the Rishon Dillers and hear their thoughts and ideas and beliefs. Once we were all talked out we had delicious Chinese food (to match the Chinese soccer!) and chatted and teased one another until it was time to get back to work. We then shared our stories and pictures that we had prepared what seemed so long ago. It was interesting to learn about where everyone came from and to see their life from a different perspective. With stronger connections, full stomachs, and lots of laughs, we officially ended the night with the famous Achim Dance that we had dreamed about doing as a big Metro-Litzion and hugged goodbye. It seems like years until we meet again on Sunday but we cannot wait to spend more time with each other and have even more fun. Root Sof, Over and Out.

-Lauren Goldman

Check out the first ever Vlog (Video Blog) by Lauren & Tal and hear more about the evening's joint activity!

 http://youtu.be/CQtCrsPrDgs

Finally! Our first Meeting - NAS Day 1: March 13, 2013

Today we met the Israelis for the first time! Yay!  Throughout the entire day, as the Israelis were exploring the Jewish experience to America, we were all very excited and anxious to meet our new friends. I mean, who wouldn’t be, right? Before arriving at the Federation, the Americans made signs with his/her Israeli’s name on it, similar to how a taxi driver creates a sign with the name of his client. All of our excitement made it difficult to get things done because all we wanted to do was see the Israelis. To put our excitement into perspective imagine that your pesty Aunt Elga and her not so great family are coming to visit you for an entire week. They’re the family no one actually cares for, but are nonetheless still invited to all family gatherings. Now, the day before her intended arrival, she sends you a message saying that unfortunately her family would be unable to visit. WHAM!  Your screaming in joy and elation! Well, if it were possible to funnel emotions into others, this would be the one that us Americans felt waiting for the Israelis. Our months of doing Diller were finally to reach consummation. 

As each person from Greater MetroWest Diller arrived our excitement grew because each time someone walked through the door we thought it might be the Israeli group. It must have saddening to have been the person arriving late: everyone is excited for a moment, just until they realize its simply another American. I’m just teasing. To try and calm our nerves, we attempted to play a game of Ninja. Without going into details, the game got slightly out of hand and we were forced to end it before Seth and Corey had a chance to face off in what most likely would have been a pretty great fight to watch. We also tried to play a game of Waa (yes, Waa) which went better. We were all laughing and getting very excited and decided we should try to calm ourselves down for the big arrival.

When Rachel and Meital, our junior counselors, said they were going to get Leah and the Israeli Dillers, we could not contain ourselves. Each time we heard footsteps near the door our stomachs turned more and more until the moment finally came when they walked in. We all were holding our signs and had our confetti “explosions” and the accompanying adrenalin rush of meeting our new friends. It was pure happiness in the room. Everyone was hugging each other and introducing themselves. It was very chaotic but in the good sense. Once the initial meeting was over we sat down, introduced ourself again, and our Israeli counterparts presented us with small gifts: a journal and a small book, which I am unsure of the contents of sine I haven’t had a chance to open it yet. We then went around the circle said our names and played some ice breakers. The time went by very quickly.

Everyone was very exhausted afterwards. When we arrived home, we had an opportunity to bound with our new Israeli. We were bewildered how instantaneous our friendships were. It was as if we had known each other for years. We can't wait for the next 11 days!

Sincerely,

Rebecca and Eric