A Suspended State

Yesterday, all of us were in the Federation for the Solidarity Rally. Congressmen and civilians alike applauded us as it was announced that we would be leaving for Israel in 48 hours. News stations interviewed us. Amanda could barely keep us contained because of our excitement. 24 hours later, everything has come crashing down around us.

Last night, news began to trickle in. Baltimore, Boston, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, LA- all cancelled. In our group chat, we started worrying. We went to sleep knowing that our day would be full of packing. By the morning, eight of the ten cohorts had cancelled. We feared the worst. I sent a Facebook message to Amanda.

Arielle: Amanda, are we still going?

Amanda: An email will be coming soon.

And then we all went into panic mode. An hour later, our worst fears came true. In 24 hours, we will not be on a plane to Israel. We will not be 30,000 feet in the air, trying to sleep in order to combat the fatigue that will come with the first day at the Dead Sea. Our feet will be firmly planted on New Jersey soil. Without our Israeli brothers and sisters.

Everyone’s reaction was basically the same: anger. We wanted to scream, punch walls, curl up into balls and cry ourselves to sleep. For the past six years, our Diller cohorts have never had this issue. But Diller 7 is unique. And we’re going to deal with it.

There is a silver lining, though. We’re receiving the ultimate Hanukkah gift: we’re spending part of the holiday in the Holy Land. Tentatively, we will now go to Israel from December 20-January 2.

Right now, we’re trying to find new plans. Will a smaller group go to Israel tomorrow anyway? Will we meet some other North American cohorts instead? Will we all go on a cruise together? Will we go to another country together? These are just some of the ideas that have been tossed around in our private Facebook chat. But for now, we’re awaiting another update from Federation.

How do I feel personally? I’m really, really angry. I want to cry. I want to lock myself in my room and not leave until school starts. But that’s just not logical. Instead, I’m trying to keep positive. In an attempt to cope, I’ve made a list of seven positives (because we’re Diller 7, get it??) regarding our trip:

1.       When we go in December, our trip is going to be so much more powerful because we’ve waited so long.

2.       It will not be unbearably hot in December.

3.       It’s going to be a great reprieve from the freezing New Jersey winter.

4.       Israel on Hanukah!

5.       We’ll be in Israel when Seth and Micaela turn 18…one day apart from each other!

6.        The current situation will be resolved, and we’ll be able to see much more of the country.

7.       At least we still get to go.

The next few hours, days, and weeks are going to be stressful, crazy, and hectic, but I know that we will get through it. We are Diller 7, and after this news, we can get through anything.

-Arielle Dror/DJ Drora the Explora

One Day More!

Today our cohort was not in Israel physically but in spirit we all were.  We went to the Solidarity Rally for Israel at the federation in Whippany.  The overwhelming love for Israel and thirst for peace that the hundreds of people around me made me feel like I was standing in the Holy Land.  Senators, rabbis, reverends, and more all stood up and spoke beautifully about peace, showing that Israel is not alone.  I was very moved by all of these speeches; Israel has become a big part of my life now and hearing people who share my love for it, and all the things they've done to help it, warmed my heart.  We sang the national anthem at the front of the room to start off the rally, I felt like a celebrity singing before a football game.  The rally was very inspirational to me and I loved watching it, even if I did have to sit on the floor and could only see the back of the seat in front of me.

After the rally we all had lunch together.  By this time in Diller our lunches are less about eating and more about hysterically laughing.  After our lunch we worked on making a video for social media to show the greatest things about Israel.  The great and beautiful Annabelle Hanflig of Diller 6 helped us out with our videos.  My groups video focused on Israeli food and was a masterpiece- I was being called a young Steven Spielberg.

After our video was finished Annabelle answered any last minute questions we had about Israel, and it was time to go.  The morning was very meaningful and being able to spend the afternoon with my Dillers was not too bad.

-JoeyHart/DJ “Hart” Attack

No vlog today...it was a difficult day to vlog because of many logistical conflicts.

(No) Sleep, Sun, and Fun!

Footsteps on the carpet. Jubilant laughter fills the room. Friends who have now become second family surround me. We are sitting in the JCC, playing Cards Against Humanity. I know that no matter what we do, we end up crying from cracking up.

After eight rounds of Cards Against Humanity, we are too riled up to continue. We take a half hour break to calm down and settle in to our home for overnights. After brushing our teeth and washing our faces, we are ready. It is time for the Maagal.

This was Amanda's first Maagal. We hadn't had one in a while, and we were anxious to get started. This night circle was made by our peers, Claire, Micaela, Meredith and Arielle in order to introduce Amanda to the idea and talk about group dynamic. Their goal was to make us feel united as a group heading into Israel, and it worked. We switched into serious mode, and voiced our concerns on things that we normally wouldn't say without the safe and open environment Maagal provides.

After Maagal, many people stayed up late, much to the dismay of others. While some climbed into their makeshift beds for the night, others were out dancing in the hall and just having an overall good time. At about 3 AM, the last of the group called it quits. It was a great start to our weekend!

-Sarah Rogers/DJ Roger that

Sunday started with a lovely wake up call from our awesome new coordinator, Amanda. After making lunches of bagels and cookies, cooking waffles for breakfast and downing some coffee to rejuvenate our sleep deprived bodies, the Dillers hit the road for some community service. We went to a lot in Union Beach that was full of debris from Hurricane Sandy and sorted trash and organic materials to be taken away. It was all hands on deck! Even the Diller Dads pitched in to help! It was very meaningful to be able to help out in a community that was affected during Hurricane Sandy. As the music blasted from the car radio, everyone had a great time! After finishing, we headed to the beach in Deal. The Dillers had a great time in the ocean and playing games in the sand. At first, we were hesitant to dip our toes into the waves because the water was super cold. Eventually, everyone was jumping in the waves and tossing footballs around in the sand. In due time, the water finally felt refreshing and the waves were tons of fun. Then we ended the day with a dinner at Dougie’s, an amazing and delicious gift from a sponsor at Federation. It was a truly spectacular day and we all smiled as we piled into cars to go home. A huge thanks to the parents that helped out and a huge Happy birthday, Dan!

-Meredith Weinerman/DJ Merry Go Round

Our last 24 hours have been filled with sleep deprivation, sunburn, hard work, and TONS OF FUN! Check ‘em out!

A Sense of Family

Close your eyes.

An air conditioning unit kicks in. Laughter at a myriad of jokes; the chattering of a committee working hard. Amanda calls for the group's finite amount of attention. A hard fought silence comes over the group as we shift in our chairs; questions asked and answered, sighs of joy and disappointment from every direction.

Take a deep breath.

Chinese food. Women's conditioner. Cologne. Freshly cleaned carpet. Munchkins of many flavours. A frappa-mocha-coffee-something from Starbucks.

Flex your fingers.

The soft stitching of the chairs, the cold of the metal.

Open your eyes.

We sit, as usual, in a circle led by our coordinator. While Leah keeps us safe in the future and secures our wonderful trip, Amanda leads us in a discussion about not just the condition in Israel but how to combat the many forms of verbal hatred and misinformation that exists in our world. As we watch an educational video on the main points of being proactive in a discussion about Israel, I notice how easily and quickly Amanda has been accepted into our family. I see the many different emotions on everyone's face, from exhaustion to elation.

As our amazing trip nears, I wanted to take a moment and reflect on the small things that go into our meetings. With each of our senses we notice so many different things; it is these small unnoticed moments that have personally helped me get through the varying degree of emotions that have followed the situation in Israel. Today we learned about pro-activity, teamwork, and how to be flexible in the face of adversity. I cannot wait for our trip next week, and I know the coming days will be preparation for one of the most unique experiences of our lives.

-Ross Levin/DJ “Levined” Bread

Shabbat Shalom! Here’s the vlog for the day!

Yesterday to "Twoday"

Today, the Dillers went to Ellis Island. It was a pretty remarkable sight considering very few of us have been, even though it's very close to our homes.  While waiting for the ferry, we discussed what it was like to hide an identity as many changed their names and tried to assimilate when they came to the United States. We got to see the Statue of Liberty up close and tour around the Ellis Island museum with our tour guide, Rick.

As Dillers, we all learned and experienced the hard lives of the immigrants of the time. We learned that Charlie Chaplin almost didn't even make it into America! Officers at Ellis Island thought he was a lunatic because he walked up the stairs on his hands! Ha! After, we walked into the Lower East Side of New York City to experience Manhattan in your not-so-typical way! After a relaxing lunch in Battery Park, we trekked 2.5 miles to the Lower East Side. There, we did a very fun and exciting scavenger hunt. We got to find different food places that most people wouldn't even know existed in the city, as well as have an amazing time bonding with our friends. We visited a bialy bakery, a pickle store, a deli, a gelato shop, and more! I was in a group with Max Bruch, Alexa Smith, Greg Artman, Ross Levin, Paige Epstein, and Sarah Rogers. Together we conquered and won the challenge! Alexa even sold a bialy to a stranger on the street! It gave us an interesting perspective of what life was like for immigrants- especially our Jewish ancestors- from a culinary lens.

We also found out we will be going to ISRAEL for certain!!! It was another amazing day with 19 of my closest friends and I can't wait for many more to come!

-Sophie Wainberg/DJ Wain Wain

Our Daily Vlog!:

First Blog Post of ISS...?

So this is the blog post that all the parents at home have been anxiously awaiting. The first blog of ISS, the amazing, life-changing three week pilgrimage to Israel that we have eagerly been waiting for during this whole 9-month (wow, has it really been that long?) process that we call the Diller Teen Fellows program. So as you would have all expected, the drive to Newark airport was smooth, we quickly got through security and checked our bags, and nervously sat around the terminal waiting. When we finally got onto the plane, we were so excited that we couldn't even sleep during the whole 12 hour flight--wait, none of this happened. Thanks, Hamas.

So as I’m sure all of you know, today was not the first day of our ISS in Israel as it was marked on your calendar from so many months back when got the final schedule for Diller. Because of the escalations and conflict in Israel right now, our trip was delayed a week, and was modified to maximize not only the safety of the trip, but also the meaning of it despite it being one week briefer than we all hoped it would be. This does not however, mean that this week would be lost time. Thankfully, due to the quick planning by Amanda, Leah, and Moshe, we have a week full of activities that are both fun and meaningful to our Diller journey.

So considerably less excited than we would have been if we were driving to the Federation to get on a shuttle to Newark Airport, we all made the expedition to Whippany today for a full day of Diller. We had time to hang out and catch up with each other since the last time we met (Sunday), and then started on activities. We did a lot of much needed “fun” activities today. I am not going to waste your time by explaining them all, but for example one of the things we did was decorating the amazing, wonderful, stunning, super fashionable fanny packs that we will all be sporting in the homeland. Another thing we did was play a really great word association game not just for fun, but also to help get to know and bond with our phenomenal new coordinator, Amanda.

The really important idea that I (and I hope everyone else) got out of the day came to me while talking to a fellow Diller while we were all enjoying frozen yogurt at the local place we walked to. We were talking when we realized that at that moment, we should have all been on a plane to Israel about to embark on the carefully planned Diller itinerary that every cohort before us had the fortune of enjoying. I suddenly felt depressed thinking of the opportunity that we were robbed of because of events in Israel that we couldn’t even control. My friend and fellow Diller told me that she felt that we just have to keep optimistic, not let it bother us, and just think about all the great possibilities before us, and the fact that at this point, we still are going to Israel, so we just have to take the options we have this week and enjoy them, not think about what we might be missing. This really resonated with me because it also made me contemplate something my Israeli friend, Matan (the person who I hosted during NAS AND the person who would be hosting me during ISS) and his family said to me and my family the other day. He told us how at time like these, life in Israel goes on. Yes, they might constantly have to run down to bomb shelters, yes, their days may be filled with more anxiety than anyone should have to have, yes, they may constantly have to check the news to see where this conflict is going and how it might affect them, but life moves on. They still go to work, they still go to the markets, they still go out at night to hang with friends. They take the opportunities they have in their current circumstance and they run with it. Thats when I realized that we have to do the same. Of course our situation isn’t nearly as terrible and serious as having to live worrying about missile strikes, but we can still apply that Israeli mentality to our lives. We will take our situation and make the most of it because just like the Israelis, we can't let an unfortunate situation take away from our lives. No matter how much it stinks that our trip was delayed, and no matter what news we may or may not receive tomorrow, it will all be ok (Ok, well, if the trip is completely cancelled it might not be ok, but we’ll deal with that if we get there).

-Ethan Gelman (The super good looking and funny kid you all saw at the meeting Sunday night).

Blog committee note: Here’s our vlog for today! Stay tuned for more!

Just Hold On, We’re Going Home

Welcome to the ISS Blog! Each night through August 8th, there will be a post here discussing our adventures as Diller 7. As you will see below, our travel plans have changed a bit, but the blog will still be updated regularly. Love, the blog committee (Arielle Dror, Max Needle, and Claire Singer)

I was sifting through piles of clothing on the floor in a sorry attempt at packing when my phone started buzzing erratically. Knowing it was the Diller group chat, I slowly reached for it, figuring it would be more speculation and discussion about what was going on in Israel. I started reading through the messages and my heart stopped when I realized what had happened. The trip had been postponed a week. I felt numb. This meant the situation was truly worse than I had chosen to believe. Someone sent an article that said Hamas was targeting Ben Gurion airport and I felt angry at Hamas and sick to my stomach. Everyone was freaking out on the chat and asking each other to send the email that had only been received by the parents. Screenshots surfaced and the terrible news was true.

We thought of our Israeli partners as questions swirled through the chat. Some offered to send strongly worded emails to Hamas explaining the inconvenience and others preferred the brevity of a sincere tweet. The chaos was taken to the American and Israeli group chat where one of our Israeli friends offered to go explain the situation to Hamas in person. The jokes temporarily alleviated our fears but I still had rocks in the pit of my stomach as I worried about our friends and our Jewish state. The chats eventually calmed down as some voices of reason broke through, urging us to be positive and happy that we would still be going and reminding us this postponement was because there was actual danger our friends were facing. We made a stay strong video that is attached to this blog post and vowed to spend the week together.

The two days between the “Postponement Announcement” and the meeting at Max B.’s house were confusing, to say the least. In the immediate hours following the announcement, the Facebook group that contains all 400 Dillers lit up with controversy. “We need to voice our anger at this decision,” some said. “Diller knows best. They’re only watching out for our safety,” said the others. Concerns were voiced amongst Diller 7. What are we going to do for the next week? (Answer: fun stuff!) Should we keep on planning for Community Week? (Answer: utter confusion) What exactly is going to happen on our trip now? (Answer: we will see when we get to Max’s house) Will it really be safe to go to Israel a week from July 16? (Answer: hopefully) These questions and discussions transcended the internet into the real world. When some of the Dillers went to see Beyonce on Friday night, instead of discussions about Bey’s fashion sense and Jay-Z’s raps, we discussed Israel- our friends, our trip, our fears. Eventually, we proposed a “No Israel Discussion” rule because we felt it was infringing on the experience. Yet, we could only keep mum on the subject for so long. Minutes later, we were back to Israel. Israel is all we can think about. We’ve waited for this trip for so long and now the trip might not be happening. Yet, we are all hoping that the trip will happen...it’s just experiencing a bit of an inconvenient delay!

An information session, graciously hosted by the Bruch Family, was held on Sunday night, July 13th, in order to give the Diller fellows and parents an opportunity to learn more about the revised ISS schedule. At this meeting, Leah, Amanda, and Moshe explained all of the changes that have or will be applied to the ISS itinerary. For starters, the trip will be postponed from its original departure date of July 16th to the new departure date, July 24th. Our first week in Israel will now be our Community Week and it will now take place in Arad instead of Rishon Lezion. We hope to be able to keep our plans for Community Week and transfer them to their equivalent in Arad. Our next week will be Congress, but it will be shortened by one day to accommodate our shortened time in Israel. After Congress, we will be touring and sightseeing in northern Israel. We will depart on our original departure date and arrive back home at our original arrival time.

There was a concern voiced at the meeting about the safety of the Diller fellows during any sirens that might occur while we are in Israel. As the group moves to new places, we will be instructed on where to find the nearest shelter and the group will practice several fake “siren scenarios” when we arrive in Israel. In addition, every building in Israel has a safe-room to go to in case of a siren.

        Still, the trip is not concrete because the situation in Israel is still hectic. Therefore, there will be a re-assessment date on Thursday, July 17th. Once again, Diller International will evaluate whether or not it is safe for us to go to Israel.

        Since the trip has been postponed for a week, we will be here in America for another week with nothing to do. In order to still have the experience of the trip without being in Israel, we will still be meeting for activities on the week of July 16th, such as volunteering and fun, recreational events.

After a group meeting of the parents and the fellows, the fellows were sent downstairs to make the gift bags that we plan to give to pre-school students at the Matnas (Ethiopian Community Center) in Rishon. When we first went into the basement, chaos ensued. Most of us seemed more interested in socializing and making jokes than assembling the bags. After many minutes of yelling to try and get the group under control, we began our assembly line of bags, while munching on Twizzlers and the Diller Classic Snack: Fruit-By-The-Foot.

When we were done, we went back upstairs and ate more food, socialized, and played with Max’s adorable dog, Lola. While all the kids went about our normal banter, our parents also mingled. It was awesome to seem them getting along as well as we do. Eventually, the clock struck 10:30, and we all decided to depart home, knowing that we would be together in just a few days.

We are all disappointed by this change but we realize it is for our own safety and we look forward to spending time together this week in America. We are so grateful to our parents for putting up with us one week longer and we greatly appreciate everything Moshe, Leah, and Amanda have done in this last minute and tense situation. Stay tuned to this blog to read about all of our adventures both here in America and across the ocean in Israel, but for now....  

PS. Shoutout to JCs, Nitay and Juliet. We miss you guys so, so, so much and we cannot wait to see ya soon!!