Building relationships amongst new groups is no small task. In fact, our community-building for JCM began long before the event itself through our initial connection as a Partnership2Gether community through the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. To make JCM happen, the Diller staff in Pittsburgh worked closely with the Diller Karmiel/Misgav staff members to build a holistic, experiential program that highlighted both communities and spoke to the interests of each individual Fellow. In prioritizing our Fellows’ interests, we focused on constructing an agenda that reflected their passions; inspiring them to pursue those as vehicles for larger community change-making.

One such opportunity during JCM was a workshop led by one of the local Pittsburgh program’s Junior Counselors about his family’s Holocaust history and the importance of sharing personal and familial stories. He guided the Fellows through an exercise to write about their family stories and how they arrived in America or Israel, or to thank someone important to them by sharing their story with the group. During the writing process, Fellows talked with one another about their family histories and the incredible things their grandparents and great-grandparents survived to create a sustainable Jewish future for their children.

This program was a moving experience – hearing the stories of the Fellows from Pittsburgh and Karmiel/Misgav as they recounted the hardships and joys their families and close friends encountered in building safe Jewish futures for all of us in the room and beyond. In that moment, they embodied the spirit of JCM: Building community through experiential education around Jewish identity, understanding how their personal journeys are interconnected as Jewish peoples, and finding comfort and deep meaning in relationships with their peers.

Through the Diller Teen Fellows program, we strive to enrich our teen community through lessons of leadership, Tikkun Olam (repairing the world), and exploring Jewish identity. The skills we build throughout the year prepare Fellows for making the most of leadership opportunities presented over the course of their lives. This positioning is never more evident than during JCM, as personal identity and cultural awareness widen to include a new network of friendships and shared experiences between the partnership. Whether these connections are built during the JCM Shabbaton weekend at Emma Kaufmann Camp, volunteering in one of the JCC’s childcare programs, or ice skating together at the end of a long week, they impart the importance of relationship-building and following individual passions to find avenues for leadership that are important and valuable to each individual Fellow. This lesson is one that the Fellows from Pittsburgh and Karmiel/Misgav will carry with them as they continue to grow into the future leaders of our Jewish community; striving to make their world a better one for all of us.

In the words of the Diller Teen Fellows program founder, Helen Diller (z”l), “It is never too late, too early, or too often to give back and make the world a better place.”

Wishing you and your families a Shabbat Shalom and Chag Pesach Sameach,
Rebecca