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Published: June 20th 2010
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Musical Instrument Workshop
We got to play with all kinds of percussion instruments as well as flutes and recorders. Summer is upon us - hot, hazy skies and cool, buggy nights. This Shabbat I went to visit my friend Tamar and we went swimming in the warm Mediterranean. Summer often brings medusahs, huge jellyfish, to the shore, and although we didn't see any, traces of their stingingness was in the water and left little electric shock welts on my legs. Still, it was worth it for the cool air and the saltiness on my skin and the refreshing breeze of the sea.
Living This week one of the other Jerusalem Fellows and I joined the School of Educational Leadership, Mandel's premier Israeli program, for their end of the year trip. The theme was music and it was a delightful, inspiring three days, refreshing in its own way. We traveled to the north, to Zichron Yaakov, where we heard a flute and harp duet, and then up to various towns around Haifa. A lot of the trip was listening to interesting musicians - an Arab oud player who showed us the difference between western scales and eastern scales; a group that used the oud as the primary instrument to create eastern-sounding renditions of Beatles melodies; an outstanding youth choir
Bat Shir Choir
This amazing youth choir in Haifa sings a repertoire that includes classical music, Jewish liturgy, Bulgarian folk songs and Broadway musical material. in a community center in Haifa; an all-female a capella group. We also got to spend a day with Giora Feidman, one of the world's most important klezmer/clarinet players, who performed for us with a quartet of flute, oud, bass and drums, in a 700 year old building in Tzfat. I sat next to Mr Feidman on the bus and spoke at great length with him about his music and how his spiritual journey feeds his music. I told him about the conversation we had a few years ago at Hillel with another klezmer clarinetist, David Krakower, about whether there is such a thing as Jewish music. Mr. Feidman vehemently rejected the notion that there can be Jewish music; music is a language in and of itself that brings people together and creates commonalities, whereas religious or ethnic designations keep people apart. I asked him if that language can have a particular accent and he conceded that yes, it can. He gave me one of his CD's.
We also participated in several workshops exploring our own musical sides. We shared a meaningful piece of music with each other, played with various musical instruments and explored voice and movement. It
Giora Feidman
His clarinet is a vehicle for his inner voice. was a great opportunity to get to know some of the Israeli Fellows in a new way and to experience a non-cognitive way of knowing and learning with them. Mandel is often such an intellectual and head-oriented place. It was a treat to try something different. And the more I get to know the other Fellows, the more amazed I am. For example, my roommate was a woman who served with the police before coming to Mandel. She told me that she had grown up in the settler movement; her parents were very involved from the very beginning. During the second intifada, she was appointed to prosecute settlers who perpetrated violence against Palestinians. The settlers couldn't believe that "one of their own" would agree to do such a thing and they actually picketed her home for three weeks. I was deeply moved by her strength and courage and commitment to democracy in the face of such pressure from people she grew up with and who still are neighbors and friends of her family.
We also stayed at an interesting place called Nes Amim. It is a Christian kibbutz, just north of Akko, where volunteers mostly from Europe come to
The Lower Galilee
Looking down from the area around Tzfat to the Sea of Galilee on a clear yet hazy day. help cultivate the land (they mostly grow avocados now) and more recently to help facilitate dialogue between Jews and Arabs in the Galilee. It was fun hearing German being spoken around the dining hall and to see a different side to kibbutz life.
Learning We are almost officially finished with the program! I handed in my final paper, which ended up being a theoretical description of the project as well as a preliminary teacher training manual. The project itself has two parts: a year-long hands-on justice initiative, chosen by the students, and supporting training/educational sessions that emphasize contemplation through acquiring desirable personal characteristics (or middot), exploring the experience of other Jews who have dealt with similar justice issues, learning sophisticated strategies for justice work, group building and reflection. Some of the things that make this program different than other programs is an assumption that the inner and outer worlds reflect each other, an emphasis on lived experience as the basis of the curriculum, a commitment to dealing openly and wisely with resistance and disagreement and on-going staff training. (This is obviously a very brief overview of the project. I would be delighted to share details with anyone who is interested in a particular aspect of it.)
We also had our final presentations on the project. I did my first ever powerpoint presentation to describe the various parts of the program and its distinguishing features. I was honored to have Jonathan Sarna and Rabbi David Lazar give formal responses. The overall response was encouraging and positive.
We have one more week before the formal end of the program. I am beginning to really internalize the fact of the coming transition back to life in San Diego. In some ways the emphasis on music this week was a helpful tool for thinking about the transition. Music opens the heart, touches the emotional world, creates connections between people. Those are good things to take with me for the coming days.
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alan nevin
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welcome home almost
we had a highly productive annual meeting. more than 50 attended. it came off like clockwork. lori did a great job of putting it together. was most pleased that steve morris and marjery kaplan attended. looking forward to seeing you again in san diego.