Diller is sold as an international network of North American and Israeli Jewish teens. Yet it took until today, almost two-thirds of the way through the Israeli Summer Seminar, for the entire international Diller network to come together. At 9:30 this morning, the eight Israeli cohorts joined the eight North American cohorts at Givat Haviva, thus ending North American Kennes and beginning the International Congress. Congress, much like Kennes, greatly resembles the seminar that we had just organized in Ramat Eliyahu. It is really interesting to experience the same kind of programming from the other side—now as chanichim.
We began to digest the lecture delivered yesterday by Avraham Infeld in which he laid out the five legs of the Jewish table. In our first activity with the Israelis joining us, we played several games to break the ice and get to know each other. Our programming for the day touched upon two of the five legs as described by Avraham Infeld: family and the covenant. We traced our family heritages and genealogies while talking about the values that we value in family relationships.
Congress is giving us the opportunity to meet Jewish teenagers from across the world and bring our own rich histories to the table for an international discussion. While we spend most of the days divided in our tribes with one or zero other MetroWest Dillers, our nightly Ma'agal Leilah allows us to once again spend time with our New Jersey cohort. Tonight, before beginning our Ma'agal Leilah, we celebrated Juliet's birthday with the Rishon LeZion Israelis. Tomorrow is the second day of Congress. In the evening, the first Shabbat spent with all of the North Americans and Israelis in Diller will begin. While the days remaining in this amazing Israel Summer Seminar are dwindling, we look forward to ending the trip and finishing Congress with a bang.
- Eli Schechner
P.S. Shout out to my sisters and my parents: I already started work on the common app today, so it's all good!
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