FEATURE
BEIT YEHUDANNESBURG
Forging bonds between Jews from different
backgrounds I BY RUTH REHBOCK
The South African Diller Teens in Johannesburg met their Israeli counterparts for
the first time in March this year, when Israeli Diller teens visited South Africa. It
was the first meeting of the cohort,
dubbed ‘Beit Yehudannesburg’, made up
of 20 South Africans and 20 Israelis. Gilad Spitalnik, the organiser of the programme run by the Israel Centre in Johannesburg, in partnership with the Helen Diller Family Foundation, says the
teens and the South African families all
shared a life-changing experience.
One night, we helped my dad bottle our
Pesach wine and Eyal told me all about
his family’s Seders in Beit Shemesh. It
struck me that no matter where Jews are
around the world, we are always tied together by our history, our traditions and
how much we value family. Jessa Marx
“It was incredibly enriching, and a surprise,
for the Israelis to find out about how our
Johannesburg Jewish community functions, but it was equally eye-opening for the
South Africans to see their country and
their community through the eyes of Jewish foreigners,” says Spitalnik. He says the
meeting taught the teens how being Jewish
binds them together, no matter how religious they are or which community they’re
from. The Israeli Diller teens all come from
Beit Shemesh, a district 30km west of Jerusalem, and Mateh Yehudah, another regional area in the Jerusalem District. The South
African teens will be visiting Israel for a
similar experience later this year.
Efrat loved to answer all our questions.
And by promoting our lives in SA and
making our teen feel comfortable, we
were able to concentrate on the many
positive aspects about life in South Africa. It was a privilege and a pleasure to be
able to experience a small part of the
Diller programme. The Feldman Family
THE DILLER TEEN YEAR
Beit Yehudannesburg, the cohort made
up of 20 Israelis and 20 South Africans,
got together this year to understand more
about each other, their country of origin,
their connection to Judaism and to form
strong bonds – to create a Diller family.
During the 10 days the Israelis were in
town, all the teens took part in the Jewish Community Mifkash (JCM), which is
part of the larger Diller Teen Programme
that takes a year to complete.
During a year as a Diller teen, the kids
discuss and take part in experiential workshops around identity – how they see
themselves as Jews and as individuals.
They also tackle tasks that teach and empower them to be leaders, such as the
Shabbaton they have to organise for themselves, and creating a strong link with their
counterparts from another country.
The Israeli Diller teens began building
relationships with their ‘partners’ in SA
through social media, introducing themselves and chatting about their daily lives
via WhatsApp. In this way, each local teen
got to know an Israeli Diller teen and
found out about his/her daily life before
they teamed up in Joburg.
“Once the Israelis touched down in Joburg, they were introduced to ‘their’ family
– each Israeli was placed with a Joburg
family. The programme for the Israeli teens
ran during the week while the Joburg
teens were at school. Through set activities
and tours, we covered as much as we could
of the history of Jews in Johannesburg
and South Africa,” explains Spitalnik.
The teens also got a taste of the Jewish
influence on the anti-apartheid struggle,
and how Jews contributed to South African
politics. They visited the Apartheid Museum, heard from influential Jewish leaders,
and learned about how Jews played a role
in post-apartheid South Africa.
The Israeli teens also took part in Community Week. During this time, they volunteered at Yad Aharon & Michael, Selwyn Segal and at S [