Left to Right: Sofia Barone, Mia Stone, Valerie Loo, Naomi Allon, Mason Seder, Sarah Tarka. Greater Philadelphia Diller Teens gather in Israel for a two-and-a-half-week Summer Seminar. Courtesy: Philadelphia’s Diller Teen Fellows program 

Touching down in Tel Aviv this past June, a cohort of 20 Diller Teen Fellows from Greater Philadelphia embarked on a journey to Israel that transcended the headlines and social media posts that usually shape how young people understand the country.

“For me, the educational value is in giving teens opportunities to hear directly from people living the realities they so often encounter through headlines and social media,” said Program Coordinator Darren Rabinowitz of Kaiserman JCC’s Diller Teen Fellowship, who led the trip. “I want them to encounter the diversity and complexity of life in Israel firsthand, not so they all walk away with the same conclusions, but so they listen, ask questions and grapple thoughtfully with what they experience.”

The two-and-a-half-week experience signified the program’s first return to Israel following Oct. 7, 2023.

“When we visited, we were lucky that our host families in Herzliya were able to welcome our cohort into their homes and live with their Israeli counterparts as part of the program,” said Rabinowitz about the Diller Teen partnership between Philadelphia and Herzliya, which celebrated its ninth anniversary. “Given the current geopolitical climate in Israel, this wasn’t the case for all Diller partnerships.”

When travel to Israel was not possible due to the ongoing conflict, past cohorts instead participated in alternative summer experiences that offered their own rich opportunities for learning and connection. These trips included exploring Sephardic Jewish history and culture in Spain and examining Jewish and Black histories during the Civil Rights Movement in the American South.

“Our goal wasn't to tell the teens what to think,” added Rabinowitz. “It was to create opportunities for them to hear directly from the people who live these experiences every day.”

And this exposure wasn’t just reserved for the local teens. Earlier this year, the Israeli fellows visited Greater Philadelphia to experience Diasporic Jewish life through their American peers' eyes, forging lifelong friendships.

According to Rabinowitz, it is because of the support of community partners, like the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, that Diller Teen is able to provide opportunities for teens to engage in meaningful Jewish leadership and educational experiences.

In the coming year, the Jewish Federation is awarding $100,000 to Kaiserman JCC, which runs the Diller Teen Fellowship, along with additional funding for program support.

“[The Diller Teen Fellows program] has allowed me to strengthen my Jewish identity while teaching me core values that I will cherish for the rest of my life,” Noa Okutsu, one of this year’s participants, expressed. “I wanted to share my appreciation and gratitude to the Jewish Federation for supporting this program and I hope that in the years to come it is able to impact other lives in the way it has done mine.”

Left to Right: Dani Globig and Naomi Allon. Diller Teens forge new lifelong friendships during a transformative summer trip to Israel. Courtesy: Philadelphia’s Diller Teen Fellows program 

Although the Israel Summer Seminar serves as the culmination of the Diller Teen program, it is just one component of a year-long experience focused on leadership development, social action and exploring one’s own Jewish identity.

“The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia believes in investing in our future, and that starts with our youth of today,” said Senior Chief of External Affairs Jeffrey Lasday of the Jewish Federation. “The Diller Teen Fellowship provides teens with the opportunity to build connections across geographical divides as well as skills to navigate a changing Jewish communal landscape.”

Lasday continued: “At a time when Israel and Zionism has become such a divisive issue in the Jewish community, it’s important that our teens have the opportunity to meet Israeli peers, actually visit and experience Israel for themselves and have space to grapple with their own Israel connection.”

Founded in 1998, Diller Teen Fellows is an experiential leadership program for 10th and 11th graders from 32 communities across Argentina, Australia, Canada, Israel, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Students commit to monthly sessions and weekend retreats where they are equipped with the skills, confidence, knowledge and Jewish values needed to create a better world. Specifically, teens learn how to apply the values of tikkun olam (repairing the world) and chesed (justice) in their own communities.

Over the past nine years, Diller Teen Fellows have completed more than 180 Tikkun Olam Projects across Greater Philadelphia, according to Rabinowitz. Each initiative addresses a local issue that ranges from climate change, youth civic engagement and community resilience to supporting cancer research and preserving the stories of Holocaust Survivors.

“No project idea is off limits, as long as there’s an action behind it,” Rabinowitz shared. “It’s the process rather than the product. The teens see themselves as part of the change rather than just a silent observer of what is broken in the world.”

For the teen participants, like Liev Schwartz, the Diller Teen Fellowship is more than just a program.

“Thanks to the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, we’ve been given the opportunity to form lasting friendships and grow together,” Schwartz shared. “Diller has shown me that no matter where we come from, we are all part of one larger family.”

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Applications are scheduled to open early next spring for the 2027-2028 Diller Teen Fellowship cohort. Interested candidates can learn more and inquire about the program by visiting phillyjcc.com/diller-teen-fellows.

To learn more about the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia’s support in securing a vibrant Jewish future, visit jewishphilly.org/annual-report.