August 5 - It's a wrap!

Date: August 5, 2015

By: Harrison Levine

Dear Blog, 

I sit here tasked with the job of writing a blog entry summarizing our departure and the trip as a whole.Our time at the airport was extremely easy as everyone was checked in within 30 minutes. Then we went through security with an even great ease. In quick summarization, we passed through the airport so quickly that we had almost 2 hours of free time before we needed to board our plane. Those last hours on land were filled with last minute shopping and an aggressive search for a free outlet to charge our phones. In the end, everyone charged their phone and was ready to fly. Then as we board the plane, we, Diller Toronto, met Billium Israel who we shared a returning flight home with. We boarded the plane only to wait 1 hour taxiing because of a lady's medical complications. After all was dealt with 12 fellows, 1 JC, and our coordinator, Raquel, departed from the Holy land, Israel. The 12-hour flight was, all in all simple. Those who slept, slept the entire flight and those who stayed awake kept themselves entertained. I had the pleasure of sleeping the majority of the journey but I think there is a lot to say about the travel.


The quickest way for any Torontonian to fly to Israel is 12 hours or half a day. Not to mention the time spent in the airport. These 12 hours, in my opinion, mean so much more than a measurement of time but rather the significance of one's connection to Israel. These hours, though long and often tedious, are endured by many people. Why? Because in one-way or another, all Jews have a connection to Israel. And now I return from spending 21 days in Israel on the exact same 12-hour flight. This flight in all honesty is tiring, uncomfortable, and nerve-racking. Despite all these barriers, I have found this time to find my connection to Israel. In basic thought, the 12-hour trip is just a small burden until the reward comes. On the contrary, I believe that everyone subconsciously thinks about Israel in his or her own way. No matter if you are traveling there or on your way back, Israel is with you. Personally, I found this trip invigorating as I felt I gained a strong understanding of Israel and what it means to have a Jewish state. Israel is more than just borders and lines on a map. It is an idea. During international congress, 500 Diller Fellows and staff were unified on the basic idea that we shared a Jewish Home.
Now, ask anyone else on the trip. I promise you every person will have his or her own words to say whether it is their seventh time or their first. This is what makes Israel so special. This is why the length of flight is so significant. This time allows one both traveling there and traveling back to reflect on memories and aspire to new ones.

On a final note, I think I can speak on behalf of my cohort, thank you to Raquel and all the people who made this trip possible.

August 4 - In the Footsteps of our Founders

Date: August 4, 2015

By: Alex Barkin

Oh what a day to finish the trip! Today was an amazing day filled with so much joy and a bit of sadness of saying goodbye to our Israelis. But today was also two birthdays; Sammi and I! Let me just start of by saying we had amazing birthdays in Israel! The day started by us going to Independence Hall where I happened to run into someone I know from Toronto! At the hall, we learned all about the signing of the Declaration of Independence and got to see where it was done! Then we moved along to a really cool graffiti tour around Florentine neighbourhood of Tel Aviv! We saw a lot of really cool graffiti that had some really interesting meanings! Our guide also took some really nice professional photos, which will be coming soon! After this we went to Rabin square to eat lunch and learn about the death of Yitzhak Rabin. This was a very interesting experience because right afterwards we got to see where it all took place! Now it was time to go to the beach!!this was honestly such all great way to finish off in israel all nd we all just had fun chilling together, and we even had a closing chat afterwards! (Warning for anyone who doesn't like tears please don't read the next part) and then we said goodbye. Everyone hugged everyone and many tears were shed! Once we had all recovered from saying goodbye, we head off to dinner. Dinner was great, and many more thank yous were said. Then we left for the airport! Arriving at the airport was great because 3 other diller groups were there too!! Once we made it through security we had a lot of time to walk around, or in my group run around! Someone from my group got a text from Chicago that they were boarding so we ran from one end of the airport to the other to say goodbye. Now that I was tired around hot, we went and met up with LA. I had made many friends from LA and it was so sad to have to say goodbye arundel know it would be for the last time in arundel while. San Francisco was also there and that was another group to say goodbye to! That's a lot of goodbyes for one day! I will personally muss everyone so much and cannot wait for some sort of staying in touch! Also, sammi and I would like to thank everyone for making our birthday extra special!

August 3 - From Congress to Tel Aviv

Date: August 3, 2015

By: Ben Shore

Today was an interesting day. We started off staying up late for "closing ceremonies" (even though there were more ceremonies afterwards) which were followed by a ma'agal lailah (goodnight circle) which I personally enjoyed due to the heated (by fire) discussion. We then had an early wake up so we could reflect on congress. After some painful goodbyes with our new friends from around the world, we drove to Tel Aviv. When we arrived we visited the Shuk for lunch followed by a scavenger hunt that took us through the amazing city of Tel Aviv. This showed me some interesting parts of the city. We then retired to the hotel for the night for some much needed rest. I hope our last 2 days on the program will be as interesting as this one!

July 30 - Congress - Developing our Jewish Identity

Date: July 30th, 2015
By: Samara Bell

Today we had our first official day of International Congress. We were fortunate to listen to an incredible guest speaker, Avraham Infeld. He spoke about the Jewish peoplehood, the 5 legs of Judaism--Memory, Mt.Sinai, family, Hebrew and The land of Israel/The state of Israel. Following the lecture, we divided into our "tribes" and discussed the intricate language of Hebrew. We listened to a song called the "HebrewMen", that described the relationship between our ancestors connection to the hebrew language. Then we were introduced to a panel of leaders in the International Jewish community. We were split up into smaller groups for Q&A sessions with individuals from the panel. The leaders ranged from the Diller executive staff to people who are integral to connecting the Jews in the diaspora to Israel (the Shinshinim concept). It was extremely interesting to hear their experiences; both in Israel and outside of Israel in regard to the Jewish community. All 500 fellows + staff gathered on the basketball court for a photo. We were all wearing the same Diller shirts-- at this moment we all felt united and involved in something bigger then just our Eilonto cohort. It was a long process, but one that we can always look back at with appreciation. We went back to our "tribe" rooms and spent an hour and a half learning about one of the five legs from Avraham Infeld's lecture, which was Mt. Sinai. Our groups studied the story of Mt. Sinai and what we can learn from it. A challenging part of this program was the task to taking out a commandment from the Ten Commandments, and replacing it with two modern day ones. It was a very interesting program that I gained a lot from. We ended a great day with a Ma'agal with our cohort and a chance to meet different people from the program!! Shabbat Shalom! Samara

July 29 - Diving into Congress!

Date: July 29th, 2015

By: Jordan Pike

Today was an incredible day of both beginnings and endings. We said goodbye to an incredible community week where we shared unforgettable experiences with our Israeli buddies. Starting nice and early at 6:45 AM we had a beautiful, scenic drive from Eilat to Gan Smuel where we had the opening ceremonies for Congress. Upon our arrival at Gan Smuel, we ate our lunches and got sorted into tribes, groups of approximately 20 people from all over the world that we'll be spending most of our Congress Experience with. After the sorting of the tribes, we watched an extremely entertaining opening ceremonies with hilarious dances from the junior counslers to inspiring words from Diller international staff. It was such a meaningful experience to be in the same room with 500 other Jewish kids my age all connected by the same passions. After the opening ceremonies we headed to givat haviva, the community we'll be spending the next 5 days in. Next, we did some quick ice breaker activities in our tribes to familiarize ourselves with one another. Then, we went to dinner where I ate with a mixture of kids from my tribe, Toronto kids and international fellows. Following dinner, we had a thought provoking discussion with our tribes about family, where our families come from and what defines a family. It was incredibly fascinating to hear the diverse opinions, some responses resembled my thoughts well and some were perspectives I had never gotten a chance to ever think about. After this fantastic activity, we ended with a fabulous maagal Laila where as a Toronto cohort, we reflected on our experiences thus far and our expectations and wishes for the rest of the trip. Overall, it was a busy, eye opening day full of new experiences.