Eighteen Israeli teenagers are visiting the Philadelphia area for nine days this April. And each one is partnering with an American Jew as part of the Diller Teen Fellows program, which offers Jewish teens the chance to explore their Jewish identities, according to dillerteenfellows.org.
Instead of exposing young Jews to Israel, this part of the program exposes them to an even older Jewish home, at least in modern times: the United States.
The nine-day journey includes a visit to Old City and Independence Hall for lessons on American history. It also features a trip to Mikveh Israel for sessions on early Jewish history in the U.S.
“The question of the diaspora is present at all times,” said Darren Rabinowitz, the program’s coordinator at the Kaiserman JCC in Wynnewood.
The program and its partnerships explore two questions, according to Rabinowitz. Why don’t all Jews move to Israel? And why do we continue to reinvest in Israel when there are all these complications?
Both sides of modern Jewry are equally important, according to Rabinowitz.
“There’s a symbiotic relationship between Jewish Israelis and those who live outside of Israel,” he said.
While history lessons are helpful, quality time is even more illuminating. That’s why the program emphasizes it. Israeli fellows stay in the homes of their American hosts. The nine-day trip culminates in a weekend retreat to Pinemere Camp in the Poconos.
Sophie Thomas, a 15-year-old sophomore at Lower Merion High School, is a Diller Teen Fellow in this year’s program. Her partner is Shachar Tal, a 16-year-old from Herzliya.
Tal is staying with the Thomas family, but the two girls became friends before she arrived through Snapchat and WhatsApp. Now that they are together in person, they realize what they already sort of knew.
“It’s a joke in our community: She’s me as an Israeli. I’m her as an American,” Thomas said. “We have a very similar personality. We’re both loud girls who enjoy doing the same activities.”
In Lower Merion, those activities include going out for ice cream and meals. Thomas says she wants to help Tal forget what’s going on in Israel for a little while.
“My whole goal of having her here was to help her get away,” she said.
Tal says the girls were “hugging and crying” when they met.
“We couldn’t stop crying for like two days,” she added.
She also said “the American people are really welcoming” and called the Thomases “the cutest family ever.” Thomas’s brother Ryan had his bar mitzvah on April 13, and Tal attended.
Since she arrived, the fast friends have talked about “friends, family, boyfriends,” she said.
“Everything a teenager does,” she added.
They have also discussed some issues that teens should perhaps be allowed to avoid.
“What’s going on in Israel and how Americans are impacted by it,” Tal said.
The Israeli is used to being surrounded by Jews. But in America, she now understands that her experience is unique.
“It’s not like in Israel when it’s a given that you’re Jewish,” she said. “You have to stick to your religion against what everyone thinks you are.”
Jews in the U.S. are surrounded by non-Jews. And in that environment, they have experienced more hostility since Oct. 7. Antisemitism has risen by a percentage in the hundreds, according to most estimates. Tal sees that now.
“They try to be supportive. I got to understand their point of view and see how they are affected by it, which really broke my heart,” she said.
Rabinowitz said that “the world’s gaze” is on the Middle East right now, which has forced observers to ask hard questions about “values and morality.”
“Do they align, or do they not align?” he said. “This relationship is ever more important to show that we are answering these questions.”
Rabinowitz’s teen fellows in America know that there are Israelis on the ground living through the harsh realities of war. The nine-day trip also shows Israelis that there are Americans who, despite the threats they face here, are supportive, he said.
It’s also fun to make a new friend from another country.
“There’s an excitement to meet each other that is indescribable,” he concluded.
