On Sunday January 5th, C5 held our fifth workshop at the JCC in Squirrel Hill. The theme of this workshop was “What candy are you?” Jess initiated the meeting by introducing us to a fun and relaxing game that required us to use our creative writing skills. We made short stories by passing papers around but only allowing the next person to see the last line of what was written. My story transition from an average person living in New York to a penguin travelling to space! It was definitely a great way to start off the meeting.
Next, Yarden led an activity to teach us about Israeli leaders and their philosophies. At first, she showed us how to make paper fortune tellers that would determine the Israeli leader we would each individually learn about. It brought some old memories back to when a lot of us used to make them when we were young. With much difficulty, we managed to complete the task and choose one of the following leaders to learn about; Shulamit Aloni, David Ben Gurion, Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Rabin, Ehud Olmert, Ariel Sharon, etc. We explored the various philosophies that these leaders lived by and discussed their significant impact. Importantly, we realized that no two leaders are identical and different circumstances require different types of leaders.
Chris took us on a small field trip next door to assist with one of Cohort Four’s Tikkun Olam projects. We helped create cat scratchers for the animal shelter. It was gratifying to be apart of such a meaningful project. While making the cat scratchers, we talked with some of the teens from Cohort Four who generously share their experiences on Diller. Before we left, some of us got a little creative in using the extra rope to construct a fashionable hairdo!
After that, we finally discovered why the workshop was titled “What candy are you?” when we saw Chris, Henry, and Jared bring out large bags of candy. Of course, the sight of this made us all excited and intrigued as to what we would be doing and more importantly, how soon we would be able to eat the candy. First, we were each given a packet titled “Leadership Compass” with four different candies and a list of their characteristics. We explored different styles of leadership through jawbreakers, marshmallows, blow-pops, and chocolate. Each candy’s approach to leadership was unique and we each tried to fit ourselves into one of the four categories. Interestingly, not many of us were successful in defining ourselves as one type of leader; most of us were a mix. We then mapped it out, assigning each candy a direction on the compass, and realized that no two of us were the same. Chris told us to use our strengths to compliment each other and utilize our skills in our Shabbaton committees.
With that said, we each grabbed a bunch of candy and got to work planning for our upcoming Shabbaton. Each committee was assigned to a different task. We took the goals and aspirations of our committees, previously determined at the last meeting, and started to develop them.
We ended the meeting with some final instructions about our committees and we each received the book “The First Thirty” written by Greg Forbes Siegman to read in order to prepare for our next meeting. I am so fortunate to be in such a great cohort and we already feel like one large family. We then said our goodbyes and parted ways. Fortunately, our next meeting is in less than a month. I look forward to seeing everyone again!
~Yael Itskowitz
Next, Yarden led an activity to teach us about Israeli leaders and their philosophies. At first, she showed us how to make paper fortune tellers that would determine the Israeli leader we would each individually learn about. It brought some old memories back to when a lot of us used to make them when we were young. With much difficulty, we managed to complete the task and choose one of the following leaders to learn about; Shulamit Aloni, David Ben Gurion, Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Rabin, Ehud Olmert, Ariel Sharon, etc. We explored the various philosophies that these leaders lived by and discussed their significant impact. Importantly, we realized that no two leaders are identical and different circumstances require different types of leaders.
Chris took us on a small field trip next door to assist with one of Cohort Four’s Tikkun Olam projects. We helped create cat scratchers for the animal shelter. It was gratifying to be apart of such a meaningful project. While making the cat scratchers, we talked with some of the teens from Cohort Four who generously share their experiences on Diller. Before we left, some of us got a little creative in using the extra rope to construct a fashionable hairdo!
After that, we finally discovered why the workshop was titled “What candy are you?” when we saw Chris, Henry, and Jared bring out large bags of candy. Of course, the sight of this made us all excited and intrigued as to what we would be doing and more importantly, how soon we would be able to eat the candy. First, we were each given a packet titled “Leadership Compass” with four different candies and a list of their characteristics. We explored different styles of leadership through jawbreakers, marshmallows, blow-pops, and chocolate. Each candy’s approach to leadership was unique and we each tried to fit ourselves into one of the four categories. Interestingly, not many of us were successful in defining ourselves as one type of leader; most of us were a mix. We then mapped it out, assigning each candy a direction on the compass, and realized that no two of us were the same. Chris told us to use our strengths to compliment each other and utilize our skills in our Shabbaton committees.
With that said, we each grabbed a bunch of candy and got to work planning for our upcoming Shabbaton. Each committee was assigned to a different task. We took the goals and aspirations of our committees, previously determined at the last meeting, and started to develop them.
We ended the meeting with some final instructions about our committees and we each received the book “The First Thirty” written by Greg Forbes Siegman to read in order to prepare for our next meeting. I am so fortunate to be in such a great cohort and we already feel like one large family. We then said our goodbyes and parted ways. Fortunately, our next meeting is in less than a month. I look forward to seeing everyone again!
~Yael Itskowitz