Date: July 10, 2016
Author: Sam Shepherd
Theme: Kennes

Today was our last day of Kennes,and just like our first and second day, it was highly eventful and exciting. After breakfast, we all headed down to the auditorium for a very thought-provoking group discussion about Jewish history and life for Jews around the world today. Together, as a multi-national Diller group, we discussed the six major exiles of the Jews throughout our history. It was fascinating to see a group of energetic, optimistic Jewish teens recount some of the worst acts of persecution and discrimination in our long and eventful history. Directly afterwards, the cohorts played a fun, interactive game in which we had to guess which countries had the highest Jewish population. The energy in the room was palpable as we argued which countries belonged where on the list of the Top 11 Countries with the Highest Jewish Populations. 
The rest of the day was devoted primarily to bus tours, in which the Toronto Diller cohort was spread across the city of Jerusalem learning about the city and its culture through a variety of distinct, unique tours. The bus tours ranged from exploring places of worship for other faiths to venturing to the Knesset to learn about Israeli government. I had the fortunate disposition of having the opportunity to explore a Jerusalem Shook on a food-centric tour. I tasted the famous Marzipan rugelach, hummus, ice cream and juices (all wonderful), and afterwards, we were treated to a fascinating conversation about gentrification and how the market has changed over the years. Jerusalem is a fascinating city because it has one of the most illustrious histories of any city in the world and is a cornerstone to all three of the major monotheistic religions. All of the tours helped us see the city from a different angle, experience the culture first-hand, and teach us how we can better our community.
Finally, the night ended with a closing ceremony, which was full of laughter, excitement and joy from Diller Teen Fellows, JCs and staff alike. Even though we were only together for a few short days, the growing unity amongst the group was outstanding. If this is what it's like when half of us are together, Congress is bound to be even more incredible! Tomorrow we are going to see our Eilat buddies for Community Week. So exciting!