A Quick Look Back Into the Diller Teen Fellows 2011-2012 Program Year

As the Diller Teen Fellows start to prepare for their Israel Summer Seminar, we look back at their experiences this past year through this program. Over the past year, Diller Teen Fellows from across North America in six different cities have attended workshops in their hometowns about leadership and Judaism, have explored Israel’s culture, and have even participated in the 2012 North American Seminar with their partner city in Israel, where Diller teens from Israel traveled to North America to learn about the culture and way of life of American Jews, and compare their counterpart’s lifestyle to their own lifestyle in Israel. This summer, North American Diller Teen Fellows will be able to apply the skills they have developed through this past program year in the annual Diller Israel Summer Seminar, where Dillers from twelve cities from both North America and Israel will be exposed to different cultures and lifestyles, and new ideas about leadership and Judaism in a 3-week trip to Israel.

Before they head off to the holy land, here are a few highlights from each cohort’s past year in the program, including a post about the San Francisco cohort’s tikkun olam project planting a garden at a low-income housing project and a post from MetroWest describing one Israeli’s eye-opening and exciting time in New York City.

Los Angeles Diller cohort’s first havdalah together

Baltimore

First Diller Shabbaton….AMAZING!!
Leah Gold, November 4, 2011

Los Angeles

North American Seminar|
Rachael Goldman, April 5, 2012

Last Shabbaton Before Israel
Chelsea, June 26, 2012

MetroWest cohort showing their Israeli partnership New York City!

MetroWest New Jersey

Who is a Jew?
Noah Lisser & Omer Kinor, March 27, 2012

American Culture: the BIG Apple
Peleg Kazaz, March 28, 2012

It’s Monday morning, but that doesn’t mean “good bye”
April 6, 2012

San Francisco

The 2012 North American Seminar–Reflections on Partnership
Jenny, April 17, 2012

The Diller Teen Fellows J-Serve-ing the Community
Gabriel Kaufman & EJ Weiss, April 27, 2012

For more information about the Diller Teen Fellows, visit our website.

Building long-lasting bridges, in Israel and beyond

By Dr. Murray Zucker, Israel and Overseas Committee Member

Yifat Ovadya, founder of Olim B'yachad

My wife and I just returned from a trip to Israel, which as always, was exciting and inspirational. I wanted to share with you a very moving experience we had visiting Olim B’yachad. Yifat Ovadya, who presented to our group here in San Francisco a few months ago, invited us to see one of the training sessions in Tel Aviv. The Ethiopians in the class were so enthusiastic, fun loving, gracious, bright and motivated.

The instructors and mentors represented everything wonderful about Israel. One mentor was the head of HR at Teva and felt this was the most meaningful thing she’s every done in her life. Teva now employs a significant number of Ethiopians and the program is succeeding in making it ‘cool’ in Israeli corporate culture to hire Ethiopians. We can all be proud to have a part in this program – an immeasurable return on investment.

34 year-old Ethiopian-Israeli Yuval Getahun found a job through Olim B'yachad

A few days later in Rosh Pina our son hosted a ‘reunion’ of his Manhigutisrey group (he was a Diller teen 7 year ago). They have kept up their relationships and many of the families of the Diller Teens have relationships with the families of the Manhigutisrey group. It was a very moving scene and “building bridges” at its best. The Manhigut alumni were very eloquent about what they got out of the program and how they have taken the learned experience of pluralism/diversity and shared it with others as well as incorporated it into their lives.

I am sharing these vignettes because I think sometimes we may lose sight of the success and long-lasting impact of programs like these that our Federation supports.

Stories from Israel
Federation donors are having an impact on the lives of Israelis every single day. Meet them now.

My Tikkun Olam Award was just the beginning

By Fred Scarf, 2008 Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Award winner

Fred Scarf

Three years ago, I was honored as a recipient of the Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards. As a winner, I received $36,000 to put toward college or to further implement my vision for tikkun olam, repair of the world. I put all of it towards my nonprofit, No Worries Now, and it has been instrumental in supporting the organization’s growth and success.

No Worries Now began as the Shiri Foundation. My best friend Shiri passed away from a rare form of bone cancer at only 16, and I have worked hard to turn this tragedy into hope and as we raised money and awareness to support research into curing osteosarcoma. And, since Shiri and I were never able to make it to our prom together, I have organized annual proms for other teens with life-threatening illnesses. The organization has grown to serve teens battling terminal illnesses, providing events, programs and other resources to empower them and allow them the opportunity to connect with similar individuals and grow their support system.

Just last week we put on our fifth prom, held at Madame Tussauds in Hollywood, for 500 kids with life-threatening diseases such as cancer—many of whom will not live long enough to attend their own proms. The red-carpet affair drew attention from the Huffington Post and various local news outlets.

Even though the dance floor has been rolled up, however, the excitement among the No Worries Now community is still at an all-time high. The organization is expanding to include a Prom in a Box program, which will give volunteers throughout the country the tools and resources they need to throw their own Now Proms. Another new program will pair teen volunteers with individual patients and send these pairs on monthly outings in order to keep the just-being-a-teen feeling of the prom going all year.

And in the largest expansion of the organization’s mission, No Worries Now and Cal Cord Blood are mobilizing supporters to try to win $25,000 to promote public umbilical cord blood banking through the Pepsi Refresh Project.

Umbilical cord blood is a rich source of blood-forming stem cells, which, like bone marrow, can be used to treat more than seventy life-threatening medical conditions, such as leukemia, lymphoma, sickle cell anemia and testicular cancer. Donating cord blood is a quick, painless and risk-free procedure for both the mother and infant that involves drawing blood form a vein in the umbilical cord and freezing the cells. Comparatively, bone marrow transplants require a painful, invasive and time-sensitive donation procedure. Bone marrow transplantation also requires a precise match, and people are up to one-hundred times more likely to find a suitable match with cord blood.

Despite its potential, 97% of California’s umbilical cord blood is discarded for lack of a public banking system. New parents do not even have the option to donate cord blood publically rather than paying out of pocket to bank it privately for their own personal use. Meanwhile, according to the National Marrow Donor Program, there are 10,000 people who could benefit from cord blood transplants each year. Only about 25% of these people receive a transplant, and many others die as a result of being unable to find a suitable match.

This is a public voting contest to determine who will get the Pepsi funding, and anyone can vote up to once a day at www.refresheverything.com/cordblood. More information is available at the No Worries Now Pepsi Campaign Team page.

Alumni goals in the DTF mission statement

Ariel in 2008 using the Diller values

The core values that the Diller Teen Fellowship has been founded on are an enticing and respectable collection of ethics. Excellence, pluralism, responsibility, partnership and peoplehood are values that Jewish philanthropists, such as Helen Diller, strive to spread throughout humanity. There’s no question that Helen Diller has created a successful program that highlights each core value within the programs curriculum. Within the context of the curriculum each Diller Teen participant is taught how to utilize these values to strengthen their leadership skills.

Core Values                                            ערכי ליבה

Excellence Pluralism Responsibility Partnership Peoplehood

מצוינות רב גוניות/פלורליזם אחריות שותפות עמיות

Not only does the DTF program focus on these core values that are listed in English and Hebrew above, but there are seven goals that the participants strive to achieve. Among these seven goals three of them are centered on what the participants will gain after they graduate from the program. This alumni component of the Diller Teen Fellowship is heavily written about in the mission statement. However, thirteen years after the launch of the Diller Teen Fellowship, this component has been solely up to the graduates to achieve.  As alumni you may be interested in what the foundation has invested in you to accomplish after you’ve completed the retreats, workshops and Israel Summer Seminar. The goals devoted to alumni are as follows:

1. Graduates of the DTF Program will be empowered, with self awareness of their potential.
2. Graduates of the DTF Program will generate a positive ripple effect in their local communities (families, counterparts, etc.)
3. Graduates of the DTF Program and their families will have an increased sense of belonging and commitment to their Partnership community and a heightened connection to Israel and the Jewish People.

The goals for the alumni (stated above) that are outlined in the mission statement are respectable and certainly achievable. With such positive responses from the program it’s hard not to imagine that each alumni who graduates from DTF will individually be empowered to accomplish all of these goals on their own. Being connected and communicating what you have achieved as alumni is a component that I would like to generate, starting now! Please let this blog be an outlet for you to comment and share with the community what your ripple effect has been. Keep inspiring yourselves and others to be great leaders.

International DTF highlights from their second week in Israel

This week has provided the International Diller Teen Community with hard work and great rewards. Each community delved into their service projects and teens both led and participated in educational programming. The inspiring projects that were led by the Diller Teens engaged Israeli citizens and immigrants from the underprivileged, abused and physically challenged communities. 

Metro West, NJ Diller Teens with Ethiopian Israelis in Rishon L'Tzion

The Metro West DTF Cohort has been preparing for months with their Israeli counterparts in Rishon Lezion to create a camp for underprivileged Ethiopian Israelis. Through email, Facebook and Skype the Diller Teen Fellows and Manhigut Esreh were able to organize a camp in Rishon Lezion that focuses on creating connections cross culturally through body language. Earlier this week the Metro West Cohort learned the importance of non-conventional communication. The teens experienced a meal in the dark: they were blind-folded while the meal was brought to them by the organization Na Lega’at which means, “please touch.” The meal was followed by attending a show where the actors were both blind and deaf. The “take-away” from these experiences helped them to communicate more effectively with their campers at the Ethiopian Israeli camp in Rishon L’Tzion. The teens have had many remarkable moments throughout the week that have empowered them to see Israel as a diverse country comprised of not only Israelis but Ethiopians, Americans, physically challenged and many other groups of people as well.

Meanwhile the Diller Teen Fellows from Montreal have spent a very warm week in the desert being activists, volunteers and pioneers. The teens planned a speech and activity on Gilad Shalit at the Beer Sheva Courthouse. As volunteers the teens took part in two amazing projects which they organized and ran. The first project, “The Happening,” took place at the Maslan shelter in Beer Sheva, which provides support for women and children who have been abused. The teens planned a carnival for the residents at the Maslan Shelter which had an array of booths, cotton candy and a large bazaar, where goods were sold for two Shekels. The second project took place at the Australian Soldiers Park, also in Beer Sheva. The park is specially designed to accommodate children with special needs. The teens utilized this unique space to lead inspirational activities. Finally, the Montreal Diller Teens were pioneers as they ventured through Mitzpe Ramon on a hike and overnight camping trip just as their ancestors did before them. 

The Baltimore community has had an intense Israel Seminar experience thus far. On Tisha B’av many of the teens chose to fast which created a spiritual day as they toured Har Hertzel and saw the Paratrooper Memorial, the Memorial for the War of Independence and the Dakar Submarine Memorial. The intensity of this group of teens has allowed for an even greater Jewish experience as they tour sites such as Yad Vashem and the grave site of paratrooper Hannah Sennesh.

 The San Francisco community was able to observe Tisha B’av in their own way as well. After a full day in Tel Aviv, the teens went to the Jaffa Institute where they assembled packages of food for families who could not afford to celebrate the breaking of the Tisha B’Av fast. As the teens traveled to the North of Israel to meet with their Israeli counterparts they were able to hear first hand stories of Northern Israel during times of war.  The teens listened to a father speak about his son, Liron Saadia’s, life and tragic death in the 2nd Lebanon War in 2006 as a fallen solider.

  The teens from Pittsburg spent a day exploring the religious richness that comprises Israel’s history. To begin this educational and religious journey the teens traveled to Tzippori which previously was the center for the Jewish people during the time of the Roman invasion in Israel. The main focus of their visit was to contrast the events that occurred in Tzippori to those of Masada, where the Jews committed mass suicide instead of surrendering to the Romans. The Dillers learned that, in Tzippori, the Jews went along with the Romans and were all spared. Thus Tzippori was able to become a thriving Jewish city. To continue on their religious exploration the teens traveled to the” Jumping Mountain” and then to Nazareth. In Nazareth they learned about the historical importance of the many buildings that still remain and visited churches with significant meaning to the stories of Mary and Jesus. Many realizations were reached in this past week’s Israel Summer Seminar. For many of the teens, this is their first venture to Israel and their expectations are being more than fulfilled!

Diller Teen Fellows experience their first week in Israel earlier in July

Each week the International Diller Teen Initiatives San Francisco office creates a report to update the community on how our International Diller Teen Fellows are doing and what they have been up to in Israel. The DTF curriculum has developed into something truly extraordinary. Please read the report below to get a glimpse into how incredible this program is for our current Diller Teen Fellows and hopefully it will bring you some nostalgia as you remember how meaningful your Israel Seminars once were.
The 2010 Israel Summer Seminar began this week with all teens and staff arriving safely and eager to jump in to what was to be, for most, their first visit to Eretz Yisrael.

The first few days proved to be thrilling for all. While in Jerusalem teens visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Yad Vashem, walked through the tunnels underneath the Old City, and went through and heard about how the Temple Mount was constructed and how it has changed and developed throughout the past three thousand years. Undoubtedly visiting the Kotel was a highlight for all and some laid t’fillin and placed prayers in the Wall. One Fellow from Baltimore reported that “The wall’s historical significance filled our hearts with pride for Jewish people and our history.”

A teen from Pittsburgh wrote this beautiful account: “First, as I approached the Kotel, countless Charedim surrounded me, davening, shuckling, even wailing or insistently chanting the Kabbalat Shabbat service. Never before has the power of religion to shape a person’s life been so evident to me, and it was a humbling experience. The second moment occurred around 20 minutes later, after we had left the official Kotel grounds and were standing outside the compound. As I listened to the distant chanting of the Charedim, the Muslim Call to Prayer startled my ears. I mentioned it out loud, clearly moved by this incredible synthesis of prayer. As we had driven to the Kotel by bus, I could see the division of neighborhoods in Jerusalem, at one moment seeing Charedim filling the streets and the next, many Arabs and the Arab Bank. Hearing both prayers at once reminded me how closely all citizens of Israel live, and the importance of finding a way to resolve some of the current conflicts they face.”

Teens from all communities reported that meeting their Israeli counterparts for the first time, face to face, after waiting months to meet them, was amazing and emotional. Ben from Pittsburgh described the encounter: “…the Israelis finally arrived! The reunion was wonderful, complete with hugging and reuniting… We played a game organized by the Israelis to tell everybody what they had been doing for the past few months, then all got back onto the bus to the hotel to change for Shabbat.

Shabbat began soon after the teens arrived in Israel. The Shabbat experience included traditional and alternative services and discussions about the weekly Torah portion. Everyone was very respectful, even though many of them had different opinions about the role that Judaism plays in their lives. A teen from the San Francisco community shared the following: “As part of the service, we told stories with a partner and created a fictional Shabbat in Israel. The way that the activity made us think creatively with a partner was a wonderful way to get into the mindset of the holiday and really hone our focus so we could get the most out of Shabbat in Jerusalem, our first together in Israel.”

Welcome to the DTF alumni blog

The International Diller Teen Initiatives is launching their first Alumni Program!  The Helen Diller Family Foundation and the San Francisco Jewish Community Federation would like to establish an ongoing connection with the people who have graduated from the Diller Teen Fellowship. As you may already know, the fellowship now extends to eight cities across North America. It is my hope that we can utilize our connection as past Diller Teen Fellow’s and current Jewish leaders to create a strong Diller community that extends to those who have graduated from the program.

This DTF Alumni blog will provide updates and opportunities from the International Diller Teen Initiatives office. Please stay posted and active as this blog will give you updates on what the current Diller Teen Fellow’s are up to and will offer unique opportunities for alumni in your current communities as well. I hope this blog can become an interactive space for our alumni to network, connect to the International Diller Community and utilize this space to enrich the Jewish leadership that lies within all DTF alumni.

Thanks and Lehitra’ot!