As a whole, I feel that my NAS was more meaningful than I ever could have expected when I first signed up for Diller more than a year ago. Yes, this is mostly because I didn't even know that I would be hosting an Israeli until the actual Diller interview weeks after I signed upon online, showed up, heard people talking about it, and had to pretend that I knew what they were talking about. In all seriousness, the NAS as a whole was an unbelievably amazing experience, and I only hope that I can remember the seminar in the years to come as vividly as I can now. There are many single points in the NAS which I can point to and say that that moment was meaningful to me, ranging from doing intricate workshops with the Israelis to just sitting down and hanging out with Matan (my Israeli partner) after a long day. Yet as I sit here recalling the NAS, there is one unbelievable experience that stands out to me as most meaningful, even though I didn't know it would be at the time. The experience that I remember as being truly meaningful was the closing Havdalah at the Shabbaton at Fairview lake.
At Diller, our traditional Havdalah service involves us getting together in a circle (Magal) in the dark (outside or inside depending on the weather) and singing the closing prayers while passing around the burning braided candle. Everyone puts their arms around each other tightly, sings, and even stomps their feet. Although this may sound simple, it truly is a cathartic experience. What I found to be truly special and unique was not just the feeling that I'm sure everyone experienced during it, but the fact that we, as two groups that were complete strangers just 3 days before, came together, held each other arm in arm like family, and created this singular moment. I truly believe this is something that is special not just to Diller, but to our immediate Metro-Lezion Cohort.
Looking back this single event becomes even more important because now we are so much closer to our Israeli cohort. This is because I see that closing Havdalah as the first major event in which the two groups really did seem as one. In that moment in which everyone was stomping their feet, singing along, and putting their arms around each other, we truly were one cohort. Although there were many other moments going forward in which I felt we were one cohort, until all the moments meshed and we were truly fused, this will always stand out to me because I felt it was the first moment in which we were all truly together.
-Ethan Gelman
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