Group 15, or why the Masa Israel Leadership Summit worked out

The task for Group 15 at the Masa Israel Leadership Seminar (MLS), more than anything else, was to overcome this origin story and become a true community. We were British, Australian, Western Canadian, and scattered from across the Western States. We went back to small towns, or isolated communities, or simply disorganized ones. We had no natural backstory, no shared history other than that we were Jews and we were there. We’re here. In Israel.

And we succeeded. Because (and I am not often one to say this) the story of Israel; the true story, not the story that the European Zionists want to tell, is a story of a bunch of left-overs who had nothing in common besides the fact that they were Jews and they were here. And they couldn’t and can’t even agree on what those facts mean. But that was their common ground, and here we are today.

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Source: theseandthose.pardes.org

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By Dr. Samuel Lebens, Masa Israel Leadership Summit madrich

I recently had the honor of leading a group of post-college students from the Diaspora at the Masa Israel Leadership Summit. An increasing number of Jews from the Diaspora are coming to Israel for year-long, or months-long, programs, supported by Masa, Israeli government and Jewish Agency initiative. One of the summit’s goals was to train the most promising participants to be agents for change back in their home communities; to both be engaged in Jewish and Israel-related activities themselves, and to engage others.

One of the activities we did - as a means of promoting innovative ways of thinking about community - was to envisage the sort of communal projects they might like to lead when they leave Israel. I tasked my participants with coming up with a pitch for a community project, as if I were a prospective funder that they sought to raise money from. As each group presented their proposal, I was struck by the common themes that emerged.

Three of the groups came up with remarkably similar ideas on the notion of stories. One group planned to match Jewish high-school students with an interest in writing with local Jewish old-age home residents and task the students with writing a memoir for their elderly partner. Another group dreamed of sending college students to record interviews of their parents and grandparents to create something of an aural archive: What was it like to be a Jew in Poland? What was it like to be a Jew in Morocco, or in Turkey? The third group focused on the notion that third-generation Holocaust survivors are likely to be the last generation of direct descendants who would have heard survivors’ stories first hand. With this in mind, the group focussed on training third-generation Holocaust survivors the skills necessary for keeping their grandparents’ stories alive.

Read the rest of his reflection in Ha’aretz

Source: haaretz.com

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What does it take to make a leader? To take someone uninformed, unengaged and unmotivated and turn them into a spark of hope for an entire community?

Hard work and dedication play their part — it’s certainly not an easy task and leadership, as most believe, stems partially from your belief in yourself and partially from the belief others have in your potential. So how do you get others to believe not only in you but in their own internal strengths?

To begin with I think having a great network of supportive and like-minded individuals surrounding you invigorates you beyond comparison.  The Masa Leadership Summit aimed to do just this. To provide us with a supportive network, some 400 participants across the involvement spectrum from dozens of countries around the world working towards one goal and spending quality time together discussing the needs and strengths of their respective communities.

Read more about Tamara’s experience at the Masa Israel Leadership Summit

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Masa Israel Leadership Summit Schedule

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Participants had a blast at the Masa Israel Leadership Summit Gala tonight! They heard an inspiring speech from Micha Goodman of Ein Prat, and a musical performance by the Ein Prat Fountainheads. A wonderful evening!

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Accepted to the Masa Israel Leadership Summit? Join the Facebook group to meet your fellow participants!

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