July 28th - Partnership

Date: July 28th, 2015

By: Zack Fox

Celebrating a birthday with friends is always a fun experience. Celebrating in Israel with 38 amazing teenage leaders while taking part in great programing can’t be topped! We started the day by going to Kibbutz Ketura in Eilot and learning about their solar panels. It really surprised me to learn that, despite the fact the Israel is a very high-tech country, the first solar field was only installed in 2011. At Ketura, we discussed various reasons why Federation in Toronto would help with such a project and one answer that stuck out to me was that this is something that could help the world, not just this one kibbutz. After Ketura we drove back to Eilat, to the fire station where we had a tour and a conversation with a firefighter. Some of us even put on the whole firefighting outfit! Here, we got to see the truck with a big UJA logo on the side, as well as I learned that Federation also helps with emotional assistance for some firefighters. This shows that the partnership is not just through money, and that there is a real emotional connection between the cities. After this, we went to Yoseftal hospital where we heard from the CEO of the hospital, who also happens to be the father of one of the Eilat Diller Fellows. We saw the state of the art ER, and discussed their connection not only to Federation, but also with Mt. Sinai hospital back home in Toronto. From there, the group went to have some fun at a local swimming pool. To end the day, we had a closing dinner with all the parents and fellows. It was a truly amazing community week, and I am happy we could all experience it together (even the parents...the kids don’t write this for nothing) and Kol Hakovd to everyone that helped make it that way, Zack

Kibbutz Kotura

July 27th - Environment & Culture

Date: July 27th, 2015

By: Alex Barkin

Today was an amazingly exciting day filled with beauty and learning. We started with a program by our amazing coordinators, Shir and Raquel. This program allowed us to explore our memory as ourselves, our nation's, and our people. It was very thought provoking and interesting! Next we hopped on the bus and zipped over to snorkeling at the beach! This was an amazing time where we got to see all the wildlife and even coral! Sagi the JC from eilat took my camera (waterproof) and swam to the bottom to take some killer photos of us from under the sea! (Insert little mermaid song here). Once we had finished that, we had a fantastic lunch on the beach. Then we moved down the shore front to the eilat underwater aquarium!! This was so cool because we got a tour (from a canadian) of the shark tanks and then had an hour to go check out the viewing area from above or below sea level! With a couple other fellows I decided to go both above and below. Above deck was particularly special, because you could see 4 countries at once (Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and of course Israel)! 

When we had finished here, we moved to the heat of the desert. A guide showed us around and explained how the dried up river bed floods every couple of years!! He then took a thorn and made it germinate to show how they survive the blazing sun. This was really cool because when the pod is ready it shoots the seeds out which popped and flew out at the fellows. Then we made music videos for a song which are really cool and when they are put together will look amazing!

July 25th & 26th - Shabbat and Tisha B'av

Date: July 25th & 26th, 2015

By: Abby Libbus

The beautiful thing about Shabbat with our host families is that everyone has their own individual experiences that they can share. So as I reflect on my own perfect day, there are also 19 other, completely different but equally perfect days that were had on Saturday. For me, Saturday was a sleep in, which was greatly appreciated after the busy week we'd had. The night before my partner, Ligia, had her best friend come to sleep over. After the relaxing start to the day, all three of us headed down to the beach, where a lot of the other Dillers had chosen to spend their Saturday. The beach was amazing, so hot and beautiful. It was great fun everyone being together and hanging out in the Red Sea. I was lucky enough to meet Ligia's friends at the beach. So I got to meet so many amazing new people, which was honestly so great. After our beach day, Ligia and I headed home for dinner and of course, a much needed shower. Then, we headed out to Hadas' house, one of the Eilat fellows for some late night programming. There, we learned about and discussed Tisha ba'av and talked a little bit about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. Of course we were all exhausted, but the engaging programs kept us awake and interested all through the night. Very, very late the programming came to a close. Half of the fellows decided to have a sleep over at Hadas' house, while the others headed home. Overall, it was a fantastic and wonderful day. And a very informative way to start a very important day for the Jewish people.

July 26th - Tisha B'av

Date: July 26th, 2015

By: Aaron Ambrose

Today we explored the theme of Judaism and struggles in society. Continuing our narrative of tikkun olam, the Toronto and Eilat/Eilot fellows volunteered to paint the inside of the youth futures house in Eilat. With lots of hard work and effort, our amazing effort paid off. We completely transformed the room into a beautiful oasis for troubled youth. We then had a chance to talk with the director of the operation, we found out that UJA of greater Toronto is one of their main donors, a continuation of the amazing Toronto-Eilat/Eilot partnership. After finishing at the Youth Futures House, we travelled to the port where we boarded a beautiful boat. On the boat we analyzed the boarders that the city of Eilat shares. We were very surprised to see how peaceful the borders seemed to be. Later on the the evening, many of the fellows broke the fast of Tish Abaav with a meal on the boat. By the end of the night we had an amazing party on the boat where everyone danced, sang and had an amazing time. Aaron Ambrose

Harbour at Night

July 24 - Leadership Day

Date: July 24th, 2015

By: Josh Saltzman

Today's theme was Leadership. We started off the day at 8:30 at the library. Soon after arriving, the Jeep Tour began. Several Jeeps came to pick us up at the library. We drove around the Arava Valley and learned a lot about the area. It was an amazing experience for everyone. The views were outstanding! Following the Jeep Tour, all the fellows were given free time to walk around and eat lunch. Bar, Harrison, Ido and I went to a restaurant called Café Café and we all enjoyed a delicious lunch. We then went to watch a movie about leadership. We watched the movie Coach Carter and then discussed the type of leadership that was exhibited in this movie. It was interesting to hear the perspectives of the fellows and it was a nice break from the scorching sun. We then traveled to the Botanical Gardens of Eilat which was a very picturesque place. We had a quick tour and learned about the plants and trees located there. We then participated in a special activity pre-Shabbat activity. Everybody received a rose and had to give their rose to another fellow who they were appreciative of. After this activity we all left the gardens and went home to get ready for Shabbat. It was another great day in Eilat and I am looking forward to tomorrow!

July 23 - A Day through the Eyes of a Soldier

Date: July 23rd, 2015

By: Ori Talmor

What a day! From the planning process all the way to our culminating delivery of the fun and insightful day. It was an amazing experience. I was part of the team of 5 whom planned the day, and even though we had our doubts and challenges, the execution went really well. We started the day off at the university of Eilat's rooftop where we had an activity on the iron dome and learned a bit more about how it works, and looked into our relationship with the system. We then went over to the Birdwatching park were we meet an amazing person named Dani. Dani is the parent of a soldier, Idron Amar, who was killed during a special operation in Gaza. We learned about the ”classroom” (monument) that Dani, his family, and his friends built so that people will learn more about Idron, and about the fate of many soldiers in the Israeli army. After spending quite a long time with Dani, we learned a lot about Idron, and about his life, and about the monument. After meeting with Dani, we headed to one of the main high schools in Eilat where we had lead and participated in a few stations that had to do with military training. We had a lot of fun, and had a little taste as to how fit soldiers need to be. Then, we went on to a really cool army base called Lotar, which is a reserve special unit that deals with anti-terror and hostage situation threats. It was really interesting to see the gear that the soldiers there have and to be able to feel and hold the wait that they carry on their shoulders often, both physically and mentally. Lastly, we went to the parent panel, which consisted of parents and family members of the Eilati fellows we were able to tell us a bit about the

ir time in the army, and answer the abundant amount of questions that we had. Overall, today was a really fun day, where we got to experience a small glimpse as to what it is like to be a soldier, as well as the price that people pay in order to protect the Jewish State of Israel. As we learned today, the three core values of the IDF is, Human Dignity, Civilian Defense, and love towards the country and state. With this in mind, we focused today through the lens of empathy for the State of Israel and its people, and all in all, we had a really fun and educational day! Can’t wait for tomorrow!

July 22 - A great introduction to Eilat-Eilot

Date: July 22nd, 2015

By: Benji McLean


Following an excellent evening with our host families, we started the first day of community week with a bang. The Eilonto fellows went to the Camel Ranch in Eilat, where we enjoyed some delicious pita (made on a fire in front of us) with labane. We then experienced riding a camel on a beautiful path surrounded by hills. We proceeded to the Eilat museum where we learned the history of Eilat. Personally, I found the story of the ink flag very interesting (the Ink Flag was a handmade Israeli Flag that was raised when Eilat was captured during the War of Independence). We learned about famous Eilatis and important occurrences in Eilat. The fellows capped off the activity by watching a short documentary regarding Israel's Navy Seals. This film depicted a dangerous mission, in which the elite unit seized an Iranian boat filled with weapons that was destined for Gaza. We continued the action packed first day with a program regarding Jewish values in relation to being a guest and a host. We read through the story of Rabbi Yannai in groups. 

making homemade Labne on open pit

camel ride!

From here, we went to Yotvata. We learned about how the kibbutz was founded and went on a bus tour, stopping at key sites within the kibbutz. As we drove by, we saw the Jordanian border which was represented by two doves, each with one country's flag. We looked at the variety of crops that are grown in Yotvata and we tasted juicy dates that were picked at the trees that we had just looked at. We discussed kibbutz life with our guide and learned many interesting facts about the life of a kibbutznik. We then went to the inn at Yotvata where each fellow selected ice cream from a mouthwatering array of flavours. We came back to Eilat and I enjoyed an amazing dinner with my host family. We finished the day with a lovely walk in Eilat. This was truly an awesome introduction to Eilat!

July 21 - From Kennes to Eilat - the journey continues!

Date: July 21st, 2015

By: Jonah Levitt

Today was such an eventful day! It started off with a 4:30 AM wake up at Sde Boker and a drive to Masada. After a bumpy drive on a windy road that resulted in multiple vomiting teenagers, we finally arrived at the base of the Roman Ramp path. We ate breakfast and then climbed to the top of Masada in 38 degree heat! While on top of Masada, we split into our colour groups with teenagers from other cohorts and participated in a program facilitated by the international Diller staff that analyzed the historical validity of the famous Jewish Zealot story. Afterwards, we rode the cable car down to the base of the mountain and as a cohort, we discussed Kennes and our final reflections from it. We then ate lunch and drove down to the Dead Sea, where we floated in the extremely salty water and covered ourselves in Dead Sea mud. As we prepared to leave to Eilat, our new bus broke down, forcing us to wait for almost an hour and a half at the Dead Sea until it got fixed. We finally got on our way and arrived at Yan's Beach in Eilat, where we participated in an opening ceremony and dinner that officially began what is sure to be an incredible Community Week. We are now settled in at our host homes with our Israeli partners and catching up on our sleep! We can't wait until tomorrow, when we will officially begin Community Week programming! Laila Tov!
PS, happy birthday Mummy!

July 20 - Kennes Day 2 - Ben Gurion's vision

Date: July 20th, 2015
By: Hannah Rosenberg


We started off the day, bright and early as usual, with a session inspired by David Ben Gurion, Israel's first Prime Minister. After an amusing presentation involving some fake hair made of cotton balls, we split off into colour groups to determine the future of the State of Israel, much the same as DBG did with his team 67 years ago. This included the name of the state, the official language of the state, the choice to include God in the Declaration of Independence, and the borders of the new state. As it must have been in real life, this was very challenging to agree upon, but at the end of the day each group was able to come to a consensus.
Our next activity got us into the mindset of thinking about our impact projects coming up in the fall. We had a presentation on a project done in a past year. This was followed by individual discussion groups on a topic of our choice. I chose to attend a discussion on the many problems that are facing the elderly in our communities. This is an issue that I feel connected to as I have volunteered at Baycrest since I was in grade nine. We conversed about the multitude of problems including high levels of poverty, the lack of infrastructure to support the aging population, and the prevalence of loneliness and depression among seniors. In the afternoon, we had a presentation that was essentially a crash course on how Jews became scattered across the globe. It was conducted by the President of Diller Teen Fellows International. Personally, I felt that iit was a lot of detail to go over in the short time. Although, I can understand how someone who has never studied Jewish history in the past could have found it useful. After this, we learned the stories of the first Jews to come to North America and South Africa. We were then tasked with trying to select the cities in North America with the largest Jewish populations and then order them by size. Interestingly, my colour group listed Toronto significantly higher on the list than its true position. We speculated that this could be because the Toronto Jewish community feels larger since its Jews tend to be more involved and more likely to identify as Jews than in most American communities. Our last session of the day involved listening to the song "Rak Po" (Only Here) by a famous Israeli band called Hadag Nahash. The theme of the song revolved around the positive and negative aspects that make Israel feel like home to them. After listening to the song, we each wrote a couple verses of our own about our home. It was very fascinating to hear the unique aspects of everyone's experiences that make them feel at home. In the evening, we were very lucky to get to hear from Molly Livingstone, an Israeli-American comedian. A good laugh was a really great way to end an overall interesting and meaningful day.

July 19th - Kennes begins!

Date: July 19th, 2015

By: Zoe Sherman

Today, July 19th, was our very own Jess Levett's BIRTHDAY!!!. She turned 17 today! We had sung her happy birthday on Ben Yehuda street last night, and to continue the celebratory feel, Jess wore the Birthday Girl button all day. We even managed to embarrass her a little bit at our first Kennes dinner by singing her Happy Birthday in front of 11 cohorts!

Sadly, we left Jerusalem today. We brought our bags down, ate breakfast, loaded the bus, and were off for the 3 hour ride to Kibbutz Sde Boker. On the bus ride, our guide Maor taught us about the lack of rain in Israel, military towns, and who Israel creates urban growth and new airports in the Negev. 

We finally arrived at Kennes, the meeting of all South African and North American Diller teens. There was, of course, much excitement over seeing so many teens! We had a walking tour of the facilities, we presented an amazing 90-second intro to launch our community in Kennes. I may be a little biased, but I promise ours was the best. After that, we split into our colour groups that included 2 people from each cohort, 2 JCs, and 1 coordinator. We had some fun ice breakers. To finish off our day, we heard from Neill Lazarus about the Arab-Israeli conflict and how North America fits into it. It was a very controversial discussion, and sparked a really great talk within our group. 

Today was filled with 200+ awesome, interesting people who were such a pleasure to meet and talk to.

Goodnight, Toronto!

Exploring History - Jerusalem and Me

Date: July 18th, 2015

By: Maya Rotstein

This morning when I woke up, there was a different feeling in the atomesphere. I looked out the window and everything was quiet. All the shops were closed, transit wasn't running and the streets were dead. I realized, it was shabbat! After a yummy breakfast we all got to choose from 4 different shabbat services to go to. Being unaffiliated with a synagogue, i decided to try something new, and went to the orthodox synagogue. It was a beautiful building, with stain glass and hundreds of seats. The service was short which i was surprised by, but very interesting and we had some peaceful resttime at the hotel when we got back. Our next activity was run by Ma'or, our tour guide and Raquel. We sat at a sunny park in a beautiful part of the city, not too far from our hotel where we were invited to ask any sort of questions we had about Israel, its history and its complicated politics. It was really interesting to hear some of the questions people asked and how we sort of turned it into a discussion. Hearing different people's opinions really made me think about how lucky we are to be a very diverse group of people, and probably the most diverse throughout all of Diller. From then, we made our way down to the Old City, where we had a walking tour run by Ma'or. We vistied different sites that were important to the Jewish people's history and how we came to have the part of Jerusalem we have today. Certain sites stood out to me like the monument for the 48 Jews killed defending their homes, and the Zion Gate, where you could actually see bullet holes across the giant wall during an attack. Knowing about how we got to where we are today is really important because it creates a sense of belonging and continuity, as if you're own family had been living in this holy city for thousands of years. On our way back home, we met up with some other Diller cities and had Seudah Shlishit with them which was very nice. Meeting some of the fellows before Kennes makes me even more excited and gets rid of some of that nervousness that i get when meeting a group of new people. 
We then had an amazing spiritual Havdallah in the courtyard near our hotel, where we performed the rituals and sang songs on the guitar. Then came the fun part! We had a couple hours on Ben Yehuda street where we grabbed a bite to eat with family and friends and did some shopping. Buskers and other kids our age filled the streets and it felt so right to be there with these people having similar, but totally different experiences as you. When i reflect on this day, i thought about all the history we talked and learnt about. Being both Jewish and Muslim, it is extremely important to me to know where your roots come from and the hardships we endured to get to where we are now, and this past day strengthened that feeling even more for me which i am very greatful for. I can't wait for tomorrow where we finally get to meet all the North American (and South African) cities and feel how it will be to become part of an International community of kids. Love, Maya

Day 3: Preserving the memory of the past, Protecting our future

Date: July 16th, 2015

By: Tamara Weiss

Back in Toronto, as I was reading the itinerary for today, I was very excited as I've been learning about Mount Hertzel since I was young. Seeing the graves of various critical Israeli political figures and soldiers was very emotional. After visiting Mount Hertzel, we arrived at Yad Vashem. This past year I went on the March of the Living, which, in contrast to previous visits, allowed to have a greater understanding of the museum. After our tour, we arrived at Machane Yehuda which was amazing! The food was great, I stocked up on different fruits, and loved being apart of the busy streets. 

Once we got back, we prepared to go to the Western Wall (The Kotel) to welcome the Shabbat. As we arrived it was beautiful to see so many people gathered to celebrate such an important part of our lives as Jews. We later went to dinner and were surprised to see kids from Diller who are from different parts of the world! It was so cool to speak to kids from South Africa, Montreal, San Francisco, and Pittsburgh all gathered together in Israel. Tomorrow is the start of the North America & South Africa conference, and it's great to have already met some kids!

We had an amazing day, and I'm super exited for tomorrow!

Day 2: From the Heights of the Golan to the Heart of Jerusalem

Date: July 16th, 2015

By: Jessica Levitt

Today we started off our day bright and early with a 6:45 wake up. Then we went on a beautiful hike on the Jilibun trail. We trekked in the forest, tried not to slip in the streams, made sure we didn't fall off the cliffs, and avoid getting stung by swarms of bees. We made it to a gorgeous waterfall and went for a refreshing dip in the water. It was amazing and not only because we got to cool off. After that we had our final expedition up the stoney steps of the mountain. The theme of our day today was awareness and I know that I certainly kept this in mind while doing the hike. It was extremely refreshing to be able to take in all of the incredible scenery and not have to worry about anything else. As a reward for all of our hard work we ate a delicious pizza lunch and then hopped back on the bus for a 3 hour drive to Jerusalem. The drive certainly wasn't boring and it was very useful for catching up on sleep. Once arriving in Jerusalem we went to the OneFamily Fund headquarters where we watched a couple of videos about the different projects that the organization carries out and heard from a victim of a terror attack. OneFamily Fund is an organization that helps victims of terror attacks cope with their traumatic experiences. It was fascinating to the see the impact that they have on so many people. I personally felt connected to this organization because when I went on The March of the Living in April we were visited by three families who were all affected by the same terror attack and are now working with OneFamily. Since I was already slightly familiar with the organization I feel like I had a unique experience today. The day concluded with a trip to Ben Yehudah street. Day 2 complete, can't wait for day 3!

Day 1: Travel and Golan Heights

Date: July 15th, 2015

By: Sivan Piatigorsky-Roth

We arrived yesterday at the airport, no later than 3:30 pm. Following rigorous ElAl interrogation and a wonderful twelve hour plane ride, we arrived at last in Israel. We were very tired but we managed to proceed with hats and sunscreen to the bus, where we were greeted by Maor, our lovely tour guide. We drove around the beautiful Golan heights and then down past the Kinneret, which was 200 meters below sea level. From there we got into four jeeps and drive around the Golan heights, which was breathtakingly beautiful. Among the many sights were fruits such as mangoes, figs, watermelons, and pomelo; the lovely scent of chicken coop; many cows; and gorgeous hills and trees. Then we drove to the kibbutz where we had dinner and a meeting before going to bed early, as most of us hadn't slept in hours. Despite being exhausted, our first day (or half day) in Israel was more beautiful than we could have imagined, and the Golan Heights was the perfect introduction to Israel.