4/10/14
Thursday started off with all of the Israeli teens waking up bright and early with the Americans, just like the rest of the week. While we were at school, the Israelis were visiting several places. They went to the JCC to work with the children that go to pre-school there. Shira told me that it was really fun to be with the kids. They also went to see CDS, a Jewish school in squirrel hill. They saw the Cathedral of Learning too. Shira said that it was really cool and that she thought it was really interesting to learn about it. She liked that there was an Israel room inside of it too. They got to see what it was like in Oakland also. Lastly, they went to Hillel. Shira also told me that it was very interesting. Each day for the Israelis was so special and they all seemed like they really enjoyed it. We met Thursday night, at the JCC with our families too. The Israelis sat with their host families, and we all enjoyed the time together. It was cool to look around and see that in just 3 nights, most of the teens felt like they were a part of another family. The parents (and siblings) then left to go downstairs and participate in a parent program led by Chris and Nir. The teens stayed up stairs. We dragged all of our chairs into a circle and sat with with the head of Diller International, Tal Gale. She led us through an interesting program. She asked us, "why Pittsburgh?" or "why Karmiel- Misgav?" We then learned about a story from the Torah, where the Jews had to make a decision to all fight for the land of Israel or split up. We discussed why certain decisions were made and then discovered that it related to Diller. Since they decided that they would all go fight, then half of the group would go back to Jordan, and the other half would stay in Israel, we are like the split tribe. We are the connection between Jews in Israel and the rest of the world. We then had separate Ma'agal lilahs. The Israelis got letters and got to see videos from their parents. That night we went home and were super excited. The next day we would be bringing our Israelis to school with us. Me and Shira barely slept the night before, because we were so excited.
-Jess Hertzberg
Thursday started off with all of the Israeli teens waking up bright and early with the Americans, just like the rest of the week. While we were at school, the Israelis were visiting several places. They went to the JCC to work with the children that go to pre-school there. Shira told me that it was really fun to be with the kids. They also went to see CDS, a Jewish school in squirrel hill. They saw the Cathedral of Learning too. Shira said that it was really cool and that she thought it was really interesting to learn about it. She liked that there was an Israel room inside of it too. They got to see what it was like in Oakland also. Lastly, they went to Hillel. Shira also told me that it was very interesting. Each day for the Israelis was so special and they all seemed like they really enjoyed it. We met Thursday night, at the JCC with our families too. The Israelis sat with their host families, and we all enjoyed the time together. It was cool to look around and see that in just 3 nights, most of the teens felt like they were a part of another family. The parents (and siblings) then left to go downstairs and participate in a parent program led by Chris and Nir. The teens stayed up stairs. We dragged all of our chairs into a circle and sat with with the head of Diller International, Tal Gale. She led us through an interesting program. She asked us, "why Pittsburgh?" or "why Karmiel- Misgav?" We then learned about a story from the Torah, where the Jews had to make a decision to all fight for the land of Israel or split up. We discussed why certain decisions were made and then discovered that it related to Diller. Since they decided that they would all go fight, then half of the group would go back to Jordan, and the other half would stay in Israel, we are like the split tribe. We are the connection between Jews in Israel and the rest of the world. We then had separate Ma'agal lilahs. The Israelis got letters and got to see videos from their parents. That night we went home and were super excited. The next day we would be bringing our Israelis to school with us. Me and Shira barely slept the night before, because we were so excited.
-Jess Hertzberg