On 2 July Cape Town’s second Diller cohort was off to Israel for three weeks.
Having experienced a Diller summer before, I knew what the fellows were in for, and I was so excited for them to have this special experience. “It was an opportunity that changed my life” Lila Kibel . “Israel was an indescribable journey that has led me to new questions and answers that have changed and influenced my life forever” Tali Scher.
The narrative that framed the Israel experience was The Many Faces of Israel. This meant that the fellows met all the different cultures and people that live in Israel, and not only the different people but also all the different stories and histories that Israel holds. “It was an experience that changed my life for the better.” Jaidon Sherman
Our Israel trip was broken up into six different parts; travel days, international Shabbaton, community week, Congress, Sikkim Shabbaton and Sikkim days. Trying to fit six very different experiences in the space of three weeks meant that we were on the go all the time with not much sleep, but a lot of excitement and hummus. “It was a global network Jewish experience that included peoplehood, friendships and a whole lot of fun” Tyla Mendelsohn. “My Jewish leadership journey filled with new experiences, amazing memories, acquired knowledge and new friendships. A truly life changing experience” Jenavieve Utian.
Our travel days consisted of touring the north of Israel, going from meeting the Druze people in Pekiin, to meeting scribe writer in Tzfat and to meeting with Arab teens in Deir al-Asad. Our international Shabbaton was held in Jerusalem with all 16 international communities around the world. Community week was a very enriching week spent in Shoham, with our Israeli partner city.
This community week was completely planned and run by both the Cape Town and Shoham teens. Then the big congress, which was held in Tel Chai, which involved all 32 Diller communities, 640 fellows experiencing a week of learning and growing together. Our Sikkim Shabbaton was all the way down south in Sde Boker. This Shabbaton was spent with Shoham; together we tied up all the loose ends and ended our incredible Israel experience together. After saying goodbye to our Shoham fellows, Cape Town teens made their way up to Tel Aviv for their Sikkim days, before saying goodbye to their wonderful experience in Israel. “For me, the Israel experience of Diller was the incredible interaction of so many different Jewish teens from many countries who other than their accents, were just like me — we shared the same views, goals and practices — we were all a unified Jewish front.” Maddie Wingerin
After an unbelievable experience in Israel, the second Cape Town Diller cohort came back to Cape Town as one big happy family, who shared a life changing and special experience together which they will have forever. “The Israel trip as a whole was truly unexplainable. The amount of knowledge that I gained from this experience was immense and unbelievable.” Adam Davimes
