Blogs from Jerusalem, Jerusalem District, Israel, Middle East - page 56

Our first session this morning was a panel discussion of "the Israel experience" with three people who work on different aspects of trips to Israel. It was a very lively discussion, with a lot of participation by the class and the presenters. We then did an exercise to help us think about our feelings about Israel as a lead in to splitting into small groups to sketch out ideas for Israel visits. After lunch we reconvened to present our ideas and discuss them with the group. We then had the rest of the afternoon free, so I took a nap. We were free for dinner and the evening, and I met with Robin, Rachel, and Michael to work on our group presentation at dinner.... read more

Today we dove back into our program after the long weekend. In the morning, we had an activity exploring the Kinneret Declaration. This was a statement issued by a group trying to build understanding among the various voices in Israeli society. The exercise was aimed at helping us use the document to think about our own feelings towards Israel and its role in the world Jewish community. After that session, we split into three groups. Sean and Addie went to the New Israel Fund to look at their philanthropic work. Cobi, Michael, and Josh went to AIPAC to talk about their advocacy work in Israel. Rachel, Robin, Elana, and I went to Melitz, a Zionist education organization, to look at how their educational programming has changed in light of the recent drop in tourism. After meeting ... read more

Our first visit this morning was to Hamishpacha, a weekly haredi newspaper. It was very interesting to see in that the staff there are more liberal than the stereotypical image of haredim. The circulation is fairly large (120,000), and they seem confident that they represent the mainstream of the haredi movement. After lunch, we went to Beit Shemesh (a town between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv) to meet with the director of their Partnership 2000 activities. They have a joint partnership with Washington, DC, and the South African Jewish community. We heard a lot about how they are working together with Jewish communities in the Diaspora to strengthen Israel.... read more

We continued our exploration of the different voices present in Israeli society today. Our first meeting was with Rav Dorr, the headmaster of Yeshivat Chorev, a modern Orthodox school. In particular, the school is associated with the National Religious Party, so we got to hear some of Rav Dorr's perspectives on balancing religious life with obligations to the state. We then went to the studios of T'chelet TV, a new television statement that is focused on providing wholesome and educational programming about Judaism for both children and adults. It has been on the air since around Pesach, and its initial ratings have been very high. Their mission is to engage Israeli Jews in Judaism (some Israelis, especially secular, have surprisingly little knowledge about Judaism). After having the afternoon free, we had dinner at the home of ... read more

After an unsuccessful attempt to go to services this morning (although I did have a rather pleasant walk), I returned to Ramat Rachel for a nap and then lunch with the group. We had a text study after lunch, where we looked at the different views in Torah with regard to how Jews are obligated to treat strangers among us. We had the rest of the afternoon free until we got together for havdalah before heading out for the evening.... read more