Melbourne Diller Teen Fellows

It had been two week and we we hadn’t seen each other at all. After being together all day and night while we were in Israel, it had been extremely eerie not seeing each other for that long. It was an amazing feeling watching everyone walk through the door and reuniting after our Israel trip. After a lengthy reunion and a bit of snacks, we got started on a peer led run by Emily and Matthew. The main focus of the peer led was to recap and remember all the incredible experiences we had in Israel. We started off being split into two teams, where each team had to point out the location of an Israeli Diller cohort on a map of Israel. It was extremely difficult trying to remember 16 different groups spread across Israel, as well as their international partnership community, but we got there in the end. We continued the peer led with an incredible Kahoot created by Emily and Matthew. This trivia challenge asked us many questions about the places we had been to and the people we had met wh

Since arriving at Congress it has been a very busy past 2 days for the fellows.  Following a free Shabbat, where teens experienced life throughout the Golan, on  Sunday the fellows arrived at Congress after a leisurely drive to Tel Hai, especially in comparison to Cohorts such as Eilat which left at 3.30am. After  arriving at our accommodation in kibbutz Manara (photo of the beautiful view attached), and meeting the other partnership communities located at Manara, the fellows attended the Opening Ceremony for Congress.  This was a beautiful evening with food stalls and an opportunity to start mingling with some of the 700 fellows. As well as an evening filled with videos, dances and lots of fun, the fellows were privileged to hear from Helen Diller's daughter, Jacqui Safier. It was a lovely, but very hot, evening, with beautiful photos to come as Diller had drone photography the event. On Monday morning the fellows went to Tel Hai University campus where the main semin

DAY TWO AND THREE Today we started off with the salad trail. We walked around the plantation looking at and eating all the different things within reach. We bumped into some Perth kids and many pairs of Melbourne-Perth friends were reunited. Once we finish this we went to a park dedicated to all Australian soldiers who helped defend Israel in Be''er Sheba.  Once we had taken the time to appreciate this connection to the land we went to at social cafe which was founded to give kids at risk work and bring them off the streets and onto a healthier path. We then moved onto a replica of a Bedouin village where we had a camel ride (we gave our camels names of some of which included the Trude, showers, Billy and Tony). In this village, drinking tea and coffee we had a talk about how the establishment of the state of Israel changed Bedouin lives. We spoke of the integration of the Israeli state into Bedouin lives and the positives and challenges this brought and still brings. 

DAY ONE: Hello there diller fam bams, and welcome to the first instalment of the un named diller checkin letter/journal/update.  Us 20 diller fellows (-kivi who met us in Israel) and the tzevet, took a long and very interesting 2 flights to Israel. Both flights, were very eventful, with interesting meals and seething positions. However the fun and the experience did not stop there. Once through security in Israel, the group came to the realisation that half the flights luggage had been left in the hot(but not as hot as Israel) Bangkok Airport.  Either way the day went on, and the bags are on their way. We began the day with a trip to Yerucham, where we learnt about the history of the town and how it reflects Israel and its diverse population. The group was then visited the very welcoming household of Shula, were we were served an amazing home cooked meal. The group was then driven to Sde boker, where we were greeted by a magnificent view with the company of animals called Ibex (

This Diller workshop, we started off with a reflection on Shavuot. We each had a turn talking about our favourite cheesecake and shared an interesting experience we had since our last meeting. We then had a fantastic peer led session led by Tali and Tommy. We played two games. The first game was called zombie chairs. Everyone in the room was spread out with a chair and there was one zombie walking towards the only available chair, trying to get to sit in it. The aim of the game was to try and occupy the chairs before the zombies. As the game proceeded more zombies were added, making the difficulty of the game increase. The second game that was played was the 21 number games. In this game, we went around in a circle counting. The person that reached 21 added a rule. As the game went on, the rules increased making it harder to remember the rule to follow on a certain number. At the end of the two games, we had a discussion about constructive ways to deal with exam

In preparation for our self-management shabbaton, we were all assigned groups and set times which we had to plan for, within the theme of “diversity of Judaism and how Judaism impacts our identity". In the weeks leading up to the weekend, each group met and planned tochiot on a variety of topics. Mia Burman and Gabe Jenchel were chosen as our roshim and they had the very difficult job of overseeing the entire weekend. They could not have done a better job!! Go Mia and Gabe! The self-management shabbaton was an opportunity for us each to put into practice our leadership skills. We as a cohort ran the entire weekend, start to finish. Creating a weekend ourselves, showed the immense amount of time and effort it takes to plan something amazing. The shabbaton was a success because we all put in effort and it really showed. Our group is made up of such diverse people but everyone contributed something and each let their strengths shine. The shabbaton began Friday lunchtime, whi