We began the day with a group picture of every Diller Teen Fellow wearing the new Diller T-shirts we got. Then we were given a short break before we began our next activity. When we all gathered in the audiorium, we didn't really know what to expect, all we were told was that there was going to be a panel of leaders answering questions. Finally, they walked onto stage and the panel began. Tal asked a series of questions about modern Jewish issues and "the Jewish problem". In the second portion of the activity. In this part, we broke off into smaller groups with a specific specific leader. I had Leah Garber, a head coordinator of the JCC in Israel. Leah's job is to foster and facilitate relationships between cities/ communities in the USA and Canada with cities/communities in Israel. For example, her organization joined Greater MetroWest with Ofakim. She told us about her belief that every Jew has to have a strong connection with Israel, and part of her mission is to form that relationship. She told us that one of her struggles is that in New York City, where the highest population of Jews exists (Israel not included of course) only 35% of the jews there come to Israel. She also spoke about how many of the Jews in Israel only think about the Jews in Israel, not the Jews in the diaspora. She recounted that when she finally came to the US to Pittsburg, and she met Jews not in Israel, she discovered how amazing our communities were and she discovered a new portion of her Jewish identity. This was my favorite activity that we've done, because it gave me such a refreshing point of view and she was also a really cool person. After that we had free time and lunch. We then met with our tribes and prepared a closing ceremony. At the closing ceremony we had a BBQ dinner and all of the groups put on little shows that were really funny and exciting to watch. For example, my tribe rewrote lyrics to "We Will Rock You" and performed it in front of everyone. Our Israeli JC, Mor Filo, even had her acting debut as she was one of the MCs of the night. At the end the counselors put on a show that included dancing and other songs. Finally, we ended the night with a crazy White Tent dance party that lasted until 2 AM.
- Josh Cohen
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