Blogs from Israel, Middle East - page 193

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

Today was our only day in Haifa. We began with an overview of the city from one of the promenades on the hill, and then walked over for an overlook of the Bahai Gardens. We then met with Ophir Yarden, an educator who does a lot of work with Israeli Arabs. After a discussion of the situation of Arabs in Israel, we went to visit the Sisters of Nazareth School, an Arab Christian school in Haifa. Haifa has a more mixed population than any other city in Israel, and generally has had good relations between Jews and Arabs. The school we visited was very different than what one would expect from seeing the news in the US. The neighborhood is upper middle class, and the school is beatiful and well equipped in terms of lab and ... read more

We started this morning with meditation and breakfast on the beach in Tel Aviv. We then had a short walk through the city, with an eye towards understanding the history of the city from its secular origins and as the place where the State of Israel was declared. We ended at Independence Hall, where we saw a presentation about the declaration of the state and had a chance to discuss our own views of the important elements of Israeli society today. After lunch at a restaurant in the Yemenite quarter of the city, we split up for our project group meetings. The youth group went to the office of the municipal youth council. We met with the president of the council for grades 7-9. She explained their activities, which focus on advocacy and student issues. For ... read more