"The Journey of Bread and Water"
That was the title of this month's workshop. I thought at first we would be learning about food or something to do with keeping kosher, but the things we learned-despite Chris' thoughts that it was going to be "boring"- were actually very exciting. We started off the workshop with our opening ceremony presenters. Jacob presented first and taught us about Japanese. There was a multitude of resounding "Konnichiwa"s but by the time his five minutes were up, we had all learned how to speak further than just saying "Hello"; Konnichiwa, Namae Wa Jess Des. Juu go sai des. Ju Ichi Nen Sei Des. Yoroshiku Onegai Shimasu. (Hello, My name is Jess. I am 16 years old. I am in 11th grade. Nice to meet you!) Next, Elly presented us with some of the scripts she has from trying out for roles for tv shows. She told us about how to read them, and what different cues and symbols meant. She brought in tons of copies of Disney tv shows like Ant Farm and even a script from the Hunger Games. It wasn't hard to tell when half the room tried to get Elly to sing Rue's song. The Israeli committee presented us with some facts they learned about Israel recently,too.
We then spent time talking about leadership and discussing the "Characteristics of a Perfect Leader" that we left off on from last workshop. Although, in the past we spent time discussing and narrowing these characteristics down, after examine special cards with famous Israeli leaders on them, we discovered that it is rare and not practical for a leader to possess all of the qualities. We then came to the group consensus that a perfect leader does not need to possess every leadership quality. As long as they have the skill set needed for their situation, they will be the best leader for that scenario.
Shortly after, the pizza arrived and per usual, the whole room was practically flinging themselves at the pizza boxes. We got our food and then were meant to go to the other room to view a slide show. As a break between programs we went outside to do an activity. We had a snowball fight! It was definitely a good many degrees below zero, and between shellings of spherical ice flying through the air, Allie, Becca and Gabe made sure to get a picture of everyone in C5 to send to the Diller Teens in Karmiel-Misgav as a way to introduce ourselves to our Israeli counterparts. Each person did their own thing so that the picture best depicted their personality.
We next went back inside to watch the slideshow about "The Journey of Bread and Water". "What do you think the bread and water represents?" Chris asked. We talked about it and discovered that it is meant to mean the basics. You have to have the basics down before you can get any further. We talked about the importance of self-management, especially in Diller. It is no secret that Diller, as fun and amazing as it is, is a time commitment and you have to put in what you want to get out. Sure it's fun to go to workshops and Shabbatonim, but the greatest value is going to come from the things we, as teens can do for the organization, for each other, and for the community. We then learned that we would have to prove our managing skills by planning our second Shabbaton on our own. This was meant to be done in a special process. When you want to accomplish something, it is most likely to be done when you are clear on what you want to achieve and how you will achieve it. We learned this by relating it to a tree. At the base of the tree are roots. The roots represent the "mission". The mission is to define the reason behind what you are doing and why you do it. Often organizations have mission statements. Next, is the trunk. This is the "vision". The vision is a more clear depiction of what is meant to be done. It is, in essence, a view of what should be accomplished in the future. We learned what the vision for the second Shabbaton is, "Will allow all Fellows to have an opportunity to practice their leadership in a supportive community of fellows". We split into committees and started working on our individual and committee visions and ideas for this Shabbaton. Next on the tree, is the branches. These are the goals. The goals are "specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bounded" objectives. Lastly, are the leaves- the objectives. The objectives are the specific steps allow the way that we follow to achieve our goals and eventually work towards our visions and demonstrate our mission. As committees we determined our goals and objectives for this workshop. We have plenty of work left to do and are meant to meet with our committees sometime before the next workshop to ensure that we put in the proper effort and time that it takes to have an amazing, self-coordinated shabbaton. I have noticed that almost out of no where the friendships we are making are becoming closer and stronger and function as if we were never strangers. With one last woosh at the end we said goodbye with no intention of waiting until the next workshop to see each other.
-Jess Hertzberg