Friday in Jerusalem- Innovation Versus Preservation Part II!

Written by Leaders of the Day, Aviva Rosen and Yuval Marcus On Friday, we had a blast! We started to learn more about Israeli entrepreneurship by meeting the creator of NU shirts. David Kramer talked about his process in starting a company and his motivation behind it, which was based on wanted to supprt important causes related to Israel. We personally enjoyed creating our own t-shirt to support a cause that we feel passionate about- the two causes we chose were awareness of prison issues in the USA as well as rape of women in the US military. We hope to potentially create campaigns to sell our t-shirts in Boston! Next, we began to explore Israel through preservation. We went to the City of David and went through the water tunnels, learning about the amazing irrigation system that was created. We learned about Israel's culture by seeing both the ancient and progressive sides of Israel. After the water tunnels, we visited the Jewish Quarter. We were interested to see how the modern people and culture integrated in an ancient city. As Shabbat came closer, together as a cohort we prepared for Shabbat and started to have personal reflection on it. When we visited the Kotel, we were shocked by the amount of Jews praying and experiencing Shabbat. We personally felt a deep connection to Judaism and God. The Kotel really reminded us of the connection all Jews have to each other. In addition, at the Kotel we were able to create new friends from all the other Diller cohorts. Seeing many cohorts at the Kotel, we realized that although we come from different places, we still have a deep connection. To finish the night, we experienced a traditional, Orthodox Kabbalat Shabbat service at the Great Synagogue, amongst Jews from all over the world!