Youth Movements roundup

The Diller group who volunteered at Manna Preschool standing in front of the rainbow mural they painted

A Diller look into community
Diller’s two-day community initiative was a time for the cohort to take a step back and actively engage with our community, learn about what goes on behind the scenes and give back to the less fortunate.

Day one took place at the Cullinan Hotel with leaders of the UJC, WIZO, SAUJS, the SAJBD, Zionist Federation and CSO in attendance. We spent the first part of the day discussing what it meant to be part of a community and the technical aspects of our community such as logistics, finances and person-based volunteering. At the end of the day our parents joined us for tea and got to experience a taste of a Diller workshop.

On the second day the cohort was split between Manna preschool and the JCS food bank. At Manna we packed care packages and painted murals on classroom walls and at the JCS foodbank we packed Pesach food packages for Jewish families of our community. This day put into practice the key Diller values of Tikkun Olam and community. JCS can always use volunteers or donations and Manna, in their infancy as a preschool, would welcome donations of school equipment and help with upgrading their property.

Diller Community Day was a valuable and enriching experience. We were able to take a step back and see the inner-workings of our community, what it means to be part of one and how important it is to look out for others. Finally, we’d like to thank the six members of the leadership panel as well as Lauren Cohn and Debbie Katz-Durant for their time, passion and leadership.
— Adam Selikowitz and Ben Vogelman


Bnei Akiva
Bnei Akiva Cape Town have started the year off busy. We have a great new team of leaders and excited channichim. Family meet-ups have started, activities like matzah-pizza-making have been great, volunteering is happening, soccer games and school visits have been amazing! There are lots more exciting things to come. We can’t wait to keep you updated for all the big, exciting, fun and safe things happening this year.


SAUJS
This year SAUJS ran a two-week online campaign to combat the mistruths and hatred spread during Israel Apartheid Week. The first week of our #OwnYourTruth campaign focused on shedding light on important topics within our student community, such as LGBTQI+ rights. The second week of the campaign was run to directly combat Israel Apartheid Week. During this week SAUJS focused on reclaiming the Zionist narrative. This campaign was an incredible success as was evidenced by the mass amounts of engagement from students over various social media platforms, in which they stood proudly as Zionists.  

During the week we were fortunate enough to have a panel discussion, Reclaiming Zionism with incredible panelists Einat Wilf and Ran Bar Yashafat. The attendance of and feedback from this event were overwhelmingly positive, and assisted SAUJS in our fight to own our truth.

To conclude the week, SAUJS ran the first of a five-part crash course on the history of the Middle East conflict. During this series of courses we will provide our members the knowledge to be able to stand up and defend their truths in preparation for future Israel Apartheid Weeks.

To sign up for the crash course and follow what SAUJS is up to, find us on Facebook @SAUJS Western Cape!
— Cassandra Mayekiso, Western Cape Director, SAUJS


Netzer and Habonim join forces before heading off to Israel
The Netzer and Habonim South African Shnatties began their Shnat Process together in South Africa. With an incredible three part programme all over South Africa, the Shnatties could not have had more fun waiting for Israel to open its borders. They began their journey together in The Crags, near Plettenberg Bay, where they bonded, volunteered in the Kurland Village, hiked all of Robberg and Nature’s Valley and learned about various agricultural farming techniques from the local Garden Route farms.

They then split off into their respective movements for a week of their own learning, working, hiking and volunteering in Cape Town and Hermanus only to once again meet up in Johannesburg where they stayed at the Thlolego Eco Village and Learning Center. Here they learned about Eco-Living, they volunteered, herded cattle, gardened and even harvested the vegetables for their own dinner. 

What an amazing experience it was for all involved! We look forward to more partnerships in the future.

Keep up to date!
Habonim: website: Habonim Dror SA, Facebook HabonimSA
Netzer: website: Netzer.org.za, Instagram netzer_southafrica
Bnei Akiva: website: Beni Akiva South Africa, Facebook Bnei Akiva Cape Town
SAUJS Western Cape: Facebook @SAUJS, Instagram @saujs_westerncape
Diller Teen Fellows: website: Diller Teen Fellows , Facebook Diller Teen Fellows, Instagram @diller.capetown

Find the SA Zionist Federation – Cape Council online:
FacebookTwitterInstagramwww.sazfcape.co.za

• Published in the print edition of the May 2021 issue. Download the May 2021 issue PDF here.

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