Day 8: Leadership in a New Era

Tel-Aviv Shoreline (as seen from Jaffa)

Today we reversed our regular routine, and rather than tour the country and return to the University to wrap-up the day, instead, we began with a text study led by Joshua Berman on the theme of "transitional leadership" using Joshua taking over from Moses as the case study.  There was lots of good debate, insight, and many "aha" moments, and like last night's havruta study (study in pairs) we had the opportunity to study with other fellows and better appreciate each one's unique skills and perspectives which s/he brings to the proverbial table.


Following our morning study we were dropped off in Jaffa for a touring hike through its ancient streets traveling through time to 19th & 20th Century Tel-Aviv; ending our morning in Independence Hall (AKA "House of Dizengoff") for a retelling of the events that led to the announcement of the State of Israel.  The 4 hour tour was a world wind experience covering a few thousand years of history, yet, at the same time allowing us to glean a few wonderful nuggets of historical leadership examples


It's hard to believe that we only have three more days of the retreat left! 

Day 7: Dissent in Community

Caves of Qumran

Where the Dead Sea Scrolls Were Discovered

Today started off with an early departure from Jerusalem with a brief stop at the Mosaic Museum of the Good Samaritan.  There are no lesser words than amazing to describe the original mosaic floors and artwork that are on display at this museum.  The incredible detail and precision on these mosaics were absolutely incredible (unfortunately no photos could be taken).


Next on the agenda was Nebi Musa.  This was my first time visiting this site, and needless to say, I was incredibly surprised to learn that local folklore believes that this is the burial place of Moses.  The history of this Muslim religious site was fascinating, and helped frame the theme of the day..."dissent in the community". 


From Nebi Musa we continued to the Caves of Qumran and studied the lifestyles of the Essenes and how they adapted to their new desert lifestyle while maintaining their religious identity.  Having this opportunity to visit the site first hand, especially after Friday night's presentation from Hanan Eshel (the professor who literally "wrote the book" on these caves) was without question a once in a lifetime opportunity.


We wrapped up our day of touring with a visit to the Menachem Begin Memorial Museum in Jerusalem followed by a presentation/text study back at Bar Ilan University by Adam Ferziger.  


It was a full day following our "relaxed" Shabbat; but now on to Monday!

Day 6: Shabbat in Jerusalem

Uri Fink (l) & Shay Charka (r)

Shabbat was a nice relaxing day which started off with almost 15 hours of sleep!  Yes, after having possibly the worst case of desynchronosis (aka "jet lag") I have ever experienced, I woke up after breakfast and lunch, and just in time for seudah shlisheet ("third meal").  Thankfully (or maybe "unthankfully") the meals here have been delicious, with clockwork regularity, and incredibly plentiful, so missing a couple of meals really wasn't much of a concern.

Also at seudah shlisheet, Nurit Bachrach, Director of Mosaica Mediation Center for Conflict Resolution in Jerusalem, presented a few fascinating examples and stories of how Restorative Justice and mediation are helping Jews, Arabs, Ethiopians, Russians, and the many other residents with cultural differences find ways of living together in Jerusalem.


Following this we had a few hours to pack our bags, answer a few emails, and then come back together for our evening program with Robbie Gringras, Artist-in-Residence for MAKOM Israel Engagement Network.  What a great evening of art, music and insider perspective from Robbie (such as the cartoon above drawn by two of Israel's top cartoonists Fink and Charka.)


May you have a wonderful week, shavuah tov!

Day 4 & 5: Part B - The Value of Values

Yerushalayim Hineni (Jerusalem here I am)! "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem...if I set not Jerusalem above my chiefest joy" (Psalms 137:5-6)

View of the Southern Wall of the Temple from the overlook at the ancient City of David

Today we woke up in Jerusalem.  The very feeling of walking outside and taking in a breath of fresh air in this holiest of Holy lands is something indescribable.  Yet, I remind myself almost every time I am here that it was not always this way for me.  When I would come to Israel as a child (which in some years was multiple times a year) Jerusalem to me was no different than any other city in Israel.  In fact, it might have even been a city I tried not to have to go to.  Even when I had my Bar Mitzvah at the base of the Western Wall (where 25 years later to the exact same day I had the opportunity to attend the Bar Mitzvah of one of my students), this holy city never truly carried any particularly special "value" to me.  It was only as a young adult, when t'fillah (prayer), my personal theology, and having possessed a deeper understanding of what it meant to be Jewish, did Jerusalem finally receive the respect and awe which I know have for it today.

The "Value of Values" has been our theme as we toured Jerusalem and looked at it through the eyes of the 1st & 2nd Temples.  "What were the values that guided our ancient leaders decisions?" was the repeating questions from our guides Tzvi Grumet & Shalom Berger (Associate Educational Director of the Lookstein Center, and Co-Director of the Jim Joseph Fellowship Program respectively).  "Values?" I kept asking myself as we walked the paths that were laid thousands of years ago...what values did our ancient ancestors have that built cities which have lasted longer than most countries have even been in existence! What values guided these leaders visions and understandings of creating ways of life that we still try and emulate today?

As I pondered (and am still pondering as I write this posting) we wrapped up our day today with a special presentation by Hanan Eshel, Associate Professor and former Head (2002-2004) of the Department of Land of Israel Studies & Archeology at Bar Ilan University. Dr. Eshel capped our day by sharing with us a few personal stories and anecdotes on one of his particular interests and personal excavations, the Caves of Qumran and its "Dead Sea Scrolls".  Todah Professor Eshel for helping to personalize and frame the lives which these Jews experienced during those ancient times!

Lastly, I feel as though I have not tackled the question of the day and its "Value of Values" theme.  It will have to wait for a later positing as I struggle with simply wanting to remain at the 40,000 foot level of this theme, and leave everything to Divine direction and human vision.

And now to enjoy Shabbat in Yerushalayim!  

Day 4 & 5: Part A - Insiders & Outsiders

Original aqueduct which Herod began to build in the year 22 BCE to bring mountain
water to the beach city of Caesarea from the springs of Mt. Carmel, 10 miles away.

Day 4 started with a study tour in the ancient city of Caesarea.  Since our purpose and primary objective on this retreat is to study communities (with our ultimate objective and mission of building Communities of Practice - CoPs - for our respective areas of Jewish educational expertise) today's theme was "Insiders & Outsiders".

After spending an amazing 6 hours walking the city, studying, the sights, and discussing the complex relationship of the Jewish community living under Roman rule we returned to Bar Ilan University for our closing processing session of the day with Rabbi/Dr. Jeffrey Woolf, senior lecturer in the Department of Talmud at Bar Ilan University.

Dr. Woolf shared with us a few texts and discussed the rise of the first Jewish school's to not only teach Jewish themes, concepts, and religious texts, but which also educated the children in Latin, "Christian scripts", and other secular studies so as to provide them with the opportunity to pursue all business and finance opportunities in the greater community.

It was an intense day with many ramifications for how we will develop our own CoPs in the future, the real influence of these lessons learned however,  will be on how we view our current environments of Jewish education.

Day 3: Creating Community

Today was a touring day.  We started with a visit to Hurbat Etri (see above photo) where we walked around the remains of an ancient Jewish village inhabited during the 1st Century CE.  We walked around the limestone structures, as well as climbed down into the underground mikvehs, and "hiding holes", so as to better understand the lifestyle our ancient ancestors lived so many centuries ago.


From there we traveled to the Bar Kokhba Caves and, like our 8th grade students do every year, the adults crawled through the tight underground crevices and trails to appreciate what it must have been like to live underground and prepare for the impending revolt against the Romans.


In the evening we had the incredible pleasure of having Steven Israel work with us on sharpening our appreciation for Communities of Practice (CoP) through the investigation of the etymological background of the term "community".  [Did you know that "community" means to have a shared experience?]  


It was during this session where we also looked at what characteristics differentiate the Jewish community from the general community. Through studying a few Talmudic source texts we identified the additional criterion of having a "must" factor applied to the citizen and member of every Jewish community.  According to our wisdom literature every Jew has an unyielding obligation to support one's Jewish community.  The idea that this is not an optional responsibility, rather, that it is obligatory, once again demonstrates one of these repeating moments where our Jewish tradition openly conflicts with our broader society's common culture...something we have to always be conscious about.


Well, its time to sign-off and get a good night's sleep for tomorrow's visit to Caesarea (followed by a relocation from Kfar Maccabiah, Ramat Gan, to the Prima Royale Hotel, Jerusalem).


Lailah tov (Good night)!

Day 2: The Conference Begins

Today was a great first day!  Besides having an afternoon of listening to some great classical music, led by some of the world's best conductors, Itay Talgam (pictured above) presented on Leadership as Vision & Values through the multiple conducting styles of the various conductors.

Itay, who also served as an Assistant Conductor to Leonard Bernstein, shared with the group the importance of leading from a place of "higher consciousness" (known as "Transcendence" in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs) which is actually beyond Maslow's original highest level of "Self-Actualization."

The whole afternoon really allowed the 11 of us (unfortunately 3 fellows were delayed because of the storm that hit the northeast on Saturday night) the opportunity to do some of our own critical thinking and self-reflection to see where we fall in the variety of leadership examples, as well as which leadership would work best in our respective Jewish educational arenas.

And if all of this was not enough, in the morning we were all invited to work on a Google Wave together to better understand how this Web 2.0 application can be used down the road...when this comes out for Beta testing this will change the way we currently communicate through instant messaging, etc. This is REAL TIME communication online?!?!

Anyway, that should be it for now, so have a great day, and stay tuned for Day 3 when we visit the Bar Kochba Caves (made of "mysterious limestone formations in the southern region of Israel. It was here that the Jews took refuge from the Romans, who persecuted them. In the year 132 C.E., the Jews planned and began their revolt against the repressive regime [from these caves].")

Lailah tov! (Good night)

Israel: Day 1

After almost 20+ hours of travel time from PHX to Tel Aviv we finally arrived at 10:15 am local time.  Both flights were uneventful... exactly what flights should be.

When I landed I was met by Ira Kerem, TIPS staff liaison in Israel.  TIPS is the acronym for Tuscon, Israel, Phoenix and Seattle, which is our P2K (Partnership 2000) region with Kiryat Malachi and Chof Ashkelon in Israel.

Of all the many years I've spent coming to Israel, and the multiple 10's of trips I've taken around our homeland, I have to admit that I don't recall ever having visited this region.  But that will now change.  Having spent the day (thank you Ira) visiting Kiryat Malachi and Chof Ashkelon I now look forward to returning to Phoenix and designing a curriculum for our 8th grade students to interact and "meet" their Israeli P2K Kitah Chet partners online before they get here in May.

<<For more information on this wonderful region and the P2K TIPS partnership follow http://tips-kmha.blogspot.com/>>

So after this great day of new experiences, meeting new friends and potential partners, Ira dropped me off at Kfar Maccabiah which is the host site for the quadrennial Maccabi Games in Israel; and which will be our primary place of residence for our Jim Joseph Fellowship winter 2009 retreat.

Can't wait for the program to start!