Sol Adler
“As I walk around New York, the one song that always pops into my head is the classic ‘New York, New York’ by Frank Sinatra. No matter where I go in the city, the song always fits in perfectly because it shows how classic New York is. Personally I live on Long Island but have been in New York for my whole life and I love the city. “

Tyler Becker
“If I could have super-powers, I would like to be able to read in super-fast speeds!… or just be like Iron Man”

Jason Brecher
Super-hero: Superman
Theme music for walking New York: Dave Matthews

Elana Cohn
“If I could have any super power it would definitely be flying!!”

Erica Frankel
“My hidden talent is that I am a contest-winning champion eater”

Steven Getselevich
“My super-power would be to fly, and my theme song as I walk around New York would be ‘Hi Hater’ by Maino.”

Joan Kagan
“If I could have any superpower, I would want the power to rapidly heal like Wolverine. My theme song as I walk around New York would be “The Prettiest Girl in the Whole Wide World” by Weezer. Just kidding–it’d actually be ‘Empire State of Mind’ by Jay-Z.”

Jessica Kasmer-Jacobs
“If I had a superpower, it would be photographic memory (yes, I am going to claim that’s a superpower). I hate forgetting things — people, places, things I read, lectures I heard or movies I’ve seen — and I always wished for the ability to keep a mental picture of everything.”

Sasha Levyn
“If I had any super power, I would want to be able to fly.”

Elanit Lichtiger
“If I could have a theme song to walk around New York City it would be ‘Here Comes The Sun’ by The Beatles. Always reminds me of the classic scene in ‘The Parent Trap’ where Lindsay Lohan roams London with her mom. Sun, city and the Beatles…what could be better.”

Suzanne Miller
“In an alternate universe where super-powers exist, I’d love to be telepathic! I would only want to be able to hear someone else’s thoughts if I could turn it on and off, though; otherwise I would probably hear a lot of things I’d rather not hear. But, as a ‘communicator,’ I am constantly wanting to know what the people around me are thinking; it would be so much simpler if I could just read their minds.”

Noam Mintz
“I’m going to have to go with mind-reading for my super power of choice.”

Noah Shapiro
“my super power would be the ability to slime people. Slime would appear an cover them leaving them unable to do anything.”

Alexandra Strick
“If I could have any super-power it would be to teleport and the ability to speak every language.”

Stephanie Torkian
“Strange Talent: I can touch my nose with my tongue”

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Check back here throughout our trip for more updates!

On Monday we continued the service work that we started the previous week. We made a lot of progress with the painting, completing four of the seven entrances. The spray gun made its first appearance of the trip when our contractor, Avram, did a hasty second coat of the walls we had painted earlier. The walls, paintings, and volunteers alike emerged speckled with white paint, which led to a long scrubbing session. We were then joined by Israeli high-school girls to paint the concrete benches turquoise.

After a particularly productive and thought-provoking reflection section, we proceeded to our afternoon service work in various community clubs. One group of us volunteered at Kif Kaf, a youth club for students aged 8-12, and did arts and crafts. Another group participated in a nature activity at another afternoon youth club. Meanwhile, another group volunteered at PACT (Parents and Children Together) with five-year-old kids, making Smurf cupcakes. My group went to a community center for people of all ages with various cognitive and physical disabilities, where we played a game like bocci. It was amazing to see such a diverse group of people come together to do activities and have a good time.

On Monday night we went to Tel Aviv. Part of the group went to a delicious Libyan restaurant in Jaffa, while others went to an Italian restaurant and some ate at a classic Israeli meat restaurant. We all ended the night at Mike’s Place and a good time was had by all.

Tuesday:

Tuesday morning dawned hot and bright. We donned our overalls for the second to last time, looking nostalgically at the various small paint stains (and larger stains for the worse painters among us). When we arrived in Kiryat Malachi, a few of us were dispatched to finish the painting job. The rest of the group began work on two community gardens – one next to the community center, the other alongside a nearby apartment complex.  We met with great success in our gardening pursuits – we weeded, installed a drip-irrigation system (invented in Israel to conserve water), and created a path made of bricks for residents’ enjoyment. Once more we had fun working with local high school students. During lunch, Devorah (head of JDC’s Better Together program in Kiryat Malachi) answered our questions about Kiryat Malachi, Better Place, and our specific volunteer projects. She emphasized the unique level of integration and tolerance in Kiryat Malachi among the different ethnic/immigrant groups and encouraged us to return to the city after the trip’s end. Leah then led us in a reflection session in which we discussed what constitutes worthwhile service and considered the benefits and challenges of service trips.

We then returned to the community clubs for the second time. Some of us helped with an art project and played tag with five year olds and baked cookies with middle school students. Four of us also returned to the Moadon Galgalim (center for disabilities), where we sang karaoke. We reluctantly said goodbye to the members after two hours, sad to be leaving behind such a warm group of people.

In the evening we joined Israeli soldiers and college students of our own age. We mingled over pizza and karaoke (for some of us, the second round of the day!) – singing Israeli, American (and even Brazilian) classics. We asked a lot of questions today and yesterday – about the impact of our work on Kiryat Malachi, the impact of Kiryat Malachi on our lives after the trip ends, the way to make service meaningful, the purpose of service projects in general. We’re still thinking about the answers to those questions and we’ll hopefully reach some conclusions as we complete our final day of the trip tomorrow.

Hannah Alpert and Hody Nemes

Today, we received a tour of three different JDC initiatives in the area. The first was a pre-school literacy program for Ethiopian children, and we were able to observe part of the day in classroom of the 3-4 year-olds. The children greeted us with elaborate dances and songs, and we made mosaics with them. One of the children thought it was hilarious that there is a boy named Hodiah on our trip. After the pre-school, we visited a day care center for the elderly in Kibbutz Yavneh. I pulled out my knitting, and I fit right in! I met the grandmother of one of my friends from Yeshiva, and I talked for a long time to a Romanian woman named Medi Leveanu who shared her story of surviving the Holocaust and making her way to Israel. My friend Leah heard amazing stories from a woman who fought for the Partisans in Poland as a very young girl. Finally, we visited an employment center for the ultra-Orthodox in Ashdod. On our way back to Kiryat Malachi, we stopped at a fascinating monument which stands at the spot where the Egyptian troops were turned back in the 1948 Independence War. It was erected after Israel and Egypt made peace, and it is unique in that it honors the Egyptian soldiers who fell there. The inscription was in four different languages, one on each face of the obelisk: English, Hebrew, Arabic, and hieroglyphics. Even more touching is the fact that it has a counterpart in Egypt commemmorating the Israeli soldiers who died.

-Alan Elbaum

After only a few days, it’s difficult to get a sense of what life in Kiryat Malachi is really like. Superficially, many of the neighborhoods seem like perfectly decent places to make a life; however, there is also a fair amount of visible poverty. For instance, we passed a building with graffiti on the wall saying, “Dangerous Building! Do not enter,” and it was clear that there were a number of families living in that building.

Our task so far has been to paint a number of apartment building entryways, and it didn’t work out so well on the first day. But on the second day, we figured it out and surprised ourselves by how good it looked at the end! We had some chances to talk to the residents – the ones I met were mostly Ethiopian, but there was also a Romanian woman named Frieda who told us a bit of her life story and pulled out pictures of all her kids.

We attended a wonderful parade that was sponsored by the local Chabad in honor of the holiday of Lag BaOmer. There were thousands of joyous Hasidim dancing in the streets, and it’s impossible to do justice to how bizarre the floats were. My favorite was the 12-foot tall statue of the Lubavitcher Rebbe who was punting a papier-mache Planet Earth through the Gate of Heaven. A close second was the depiction of the Resurrection of the Dead: using an elaborate mechanism that relied on old bicycle wheels, shrouded figures (the dead) went around and around, entering the door of 770 Eastern Parkway (the Rebbe’s home in Brooklyn) and emerging (presumably resurrected) from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.

-Alan Elbaum

Taking a break from work for a group photo!

Thus far, our JDC trip has been a really interesting and worthwhile experience.

After settling in at Kibbutz Revadim and being prepped on our work on Wednesday, we worked yesterday and today on our beautification project in Kiryat Malachi, a community that includes many immigrants from Ethiopia, Morocco, and the former Soviet Union.

Making pita on Lag BaOmer

Our work thus far consists of repainting apartment buildings and through this we have been able to interact with community leaders and also these residents. It has been especially fulfilling to meet the residents we are helping and seeing their appreciation and love for their kehillah.

Yesterday we were joined by Israelis our age who are part of a Mechina, a pre-army program that allows teenagers to do community service before going into the army. After finishing the first of our projects this afternoon, we ate falafel and some delicious Ben and Jerry’s before preparing for Shabbat.

The weather is beautiful at the moment on the Kibbutz, and the calming mood is ready to usher in our only Shabbat together here.

Shabbat Shalom!

-Jordan Konell

The list of goals included:

• making friends (with each other and with the interesting locals on the ground)
• being present (enjoying every moment)
• asking good questions and participating (actively engaging)
• being open minded (not being afraid to try new things)
• being supportive (knowing we are there not only to help locals but also to expand our horizons)
• see new places (explore the community)
• productive discomfort! (enjoying being out of our comfort zones)

Next up: an introduction post so stay tuned!

Today began with options including morning Shabbat services, a local breakfast outside of the hostel, or to sleep in. After that, we all met up to take a walking tour of the city and we ended up in the park for a picnic lunch. We had a very long and informative discussion with Katina, who is working on a JDC fellowship in Buenos Aires. She had a lot to say about her experiences in the JDC and it is safe to say that some people on this trip have now been inspired to apply for this fellowship.

After the picnic lunch, we attended an art fair and got to purchase local Argentinian merchandise for ourselves and family/friends. Some of us tried our hand at bargaining with the sellers, but it was not very successful. After days of service, we experienced a day of tourism, and it felt very refreshing. It brought the trip full-circle and it really added to the whole Argentinian experience.

After our day of tourist-like activity, we had dinner at the local Moishe house. A Moishe house is a house for Jews that are post-college and pre-marriage, and they hold social programming events for the local Jewish community. We ate sushi for dinner (in Argentina?) and held a Havdalah service with them. After a very enlightening dinner, we went out to experience Argentinian nightlife. It is hard to believe that our trip has nearly come to an end, as this is our last full day here. Today was very bittersweet, as it added a lot to the trip but it is among the last hours that the whole group will spend together. As the trip winds down, that means the blog is also winding down, and I love this blog…

We began the day with a visit to AMIA, (Asociacion Mutual Israelita Argentina), which serves as the umbrella organization for all Jewish organizations in Argentina. It is well known for its 1994 terrorist attack in which 85 people were killed. We held a short memorial service in its honor. When the building was rebuilt, large barricades were placed in front of it and every safety precaution was taken. We felt very protected while inside the building. The visit was rather short but very productive.

After our visit to AMIA, we stopped at LeDor VaDor, a retirement home for elderly Argentinian Jews. Within the large, state-of-the-art center, there is a day-care center, Baby Help, started by JDC’s very own Vivianna. We spent time and sang songs with young and adorable children. After our short stint in the day-care center, we ate lunch with elderly residents. They were all incredibly engaging and genuine. The language barrier was not as large as usual, as most of them were able to communicate with us in English.  The experience is definitely one that none of us will ever forget. We took a quick tour of the facility, and then we were on our way to the next stop.

Our next stop was a visit to the Tel Aviv School, where we toured the facility, met with some of the students and held Kabbalat Shabbat with them. They were very grateful to host us and they performed a melody of songs for our enjoyment. There were murals throughout the building from other American college groups, including Wisconsin and Cornell, and it made us feel a sense of community among past groups that came and contributed their time and effort.

After our visit to the school, we came back to the hostel for a quick break to get ready for Shabbat. We began in the Hostel with the lighting of Shabbat candles, and the making of Shabbat-grams, all led by the Shabbat committee. Shabbat-grams are short, anonymous notes to people stating the good qualities we find in them and what we enjoy about them. After all of this was done, we hopped on the bus to head over to NCI Emanuel Synagogue for services and dinner.

The services were very well attended, and we could really see how strong the Jewish community in Argentina is. After a very fun and entertaining service, we had dinner with some Buenos Aires youths. They all spoke English very well and were very outgoing. After dinner, we came back to the hostel for Oneg Shabbat. We reflected on our experiences of the day and read our Shabbat-grams. They all made us feel incredibly good about ourselves, and it was a great way to end the day. Only one full day left in Argentina, where has the time gone?!

But before we left, we had some business to take care of. We raced to apply the finishing touches to the newly renovated SUIM facility, and then we had our big revealing ceremony. SUIM faculty and community members gathered to see the newly painted gym, classroom and mural. We also presented them with gifts ranging from picture frames to Northeastern apparel. It was very fulfilling to see all of the happy faces and we felt very proud of what we accomplished.

Gym before

After we bid our final farewells, we left for la Casualidad, a large recreational area outside of Mar del Plata. We enjoyed playing with dogs, rock climbing, miniature golf, archery and last but certainly not least, human foosball. Human foosball was an incredibly new and exciting experience. There was a small court for soccer, with harnesses set in designated areas. Players were put in these harnesses, and could only move within a certain small radius, much like foosball. Once the soccer ball was put in play, crazy dirty fun ensued. After about two hours of playing around like we were in summer camp again, we sat down for a large feast of a lunch. It was a grand barbeque with meats and vegetables grilled with a local flavor.

Gym after!

It all tasted incredible, and to say we were full would be an understatement. After lunch, we hopped on the bus to head to Buenos Aires.

After a five hour bus ride, we arrived in the nation’s capitol and checked into our hostel. Our group discussion focused on the allocation of scarce resources within underdeveloped communities, which is the problem the JDC faces every day. Although the JDC has vast resources, they are not unlimited. There are still various Jewish communities that are in desperate need of help, and we all should try to do what we can for them. After our discussion, we went to a local ice cream shop and enjoyed various local flavors. We get to wake up slightly later tomorrow morning (yay!), and then we are off to begin service work in the Buenos Aires Jewish community. The trip is already more than halfway done! It feels like we just got here….