By Gabrielle Ariella Kaplan-Mayer
Chief Program Officer, Jewish Learning Venture

 

On Wednesday, February 1st, our inaugural cohort of Venture Israel Fellows arrived in Tel Aviv to begin a week of learning about and experiencing contemporary Israel through the eyes of artists, scholars, activists, and poets. The Venture Israel Fellowship, a new partnership funded by Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia and facilitated with Jewish Learning Venture, aims to nurture a diverse network of Jewish professionals eager to create robust and engaging programming that brings evolving Jewish identity into dialogue with the dynamic complexity of today’s Israel.

A wide shot of about a dozen adults standing together and smiling inside a room that it's unclear where they are.

Along with JLV’s Chief Executive Officer, Elana Rivel, I am thrilled to be the agency’s staff person working with our cohort of amazing professionals. Together, we represent the diversity of people working in the Jewish community today in terms of not only our connections to Israel but also our ages, professional and personal life experiences, geopolitical views, and religious backgrounds. For example, the youngest member of our cohort turned 24 on the trip while other participants have worked in Jewish communal organizations for 40+ years. Our cohort includes a program director who works in a synagogue but herself isn’t Jewish, an Israeli-American Conservative rabbi, educators who were experiencing Israel for the first time, and those who had studied in Israel for extended periods of time. Through formal and informal conversations, time sharing in hevruta (partners), journaling, and, of course, eating meals together, we were able to experience Israel through each other’s eyes throughout the week and continually gain new perspectives.

A photo taken from the end of a long table, showing people on both sides of the table deep in conversation. The table is covered with bowls of different kinds of food.

We are fortunate to collaborate with master Israel educator Jonathan (Jonny) Ariel, whose relationships and connections with a vast array of people doing cutting edge and innovative educational work in Israel gave us access to unique and intimate learning experiences. We had the chance to drink tea and study Yehuda Amichai’s poetry in the beautiful Tel Aviv apartment of Dr. Rachel Korazim, listen to performance poet Adi Keissar over coffee and rugelach, and cook and study texts in Chef-activist Nissimi Naim-Naor’s kitchen.

A photo of a woman at a table rolling out dough, with two other people on the other side of the table, their backs to the camera, also manipulating dough with their hands.

Our trip aims were ambitious and I believe that, based on participants’ feedback, we were able to meet them:

  • To grasp the messy vitality of the Jewish People & Jewish culture;
  • To explore the combustible complexity of Jews and Palestinians;
  • To embrace the identity, both personally and professionally, of an Israel Educator.

In order to explore the Palestinian narrative, we visited the Educational Bookshop in East Jerusalem and sat with owner and cultural activist Mahmoud Muna so that we could hear both the story of his family and also his perspective on how both sides can work towards greater equality. We visited Feel Beit, a culture house where Israelis and Palestinians create art and music to bridg