Spain trip fosters local teens’ connection to community, Israel and Judaism
'I thought that it would be a life-changing experience to go with this program, and it was'
An experience abroad emboldened Jewish teens at home — and though visiting Spain wasn’t initially planned, a group of Pittsburgh young adults left Andalusia with greater ties to community, Israel and Jewish peoplehood.
Visiting Spain last month wasn’t part of the initial Diller Teen Fellows itinerary. Most years, Pittsburghers travel to Israel alongside Diller cohorts from more than 30 communities.
Months ago, however, the San Francisco-based Diller organization decided that in lieu of visiting Israel for a three-week summer seminar, teens and program coordinators would convene in Spain, according to Rebecca Kahn, Pittsburgh’s Diller coordinator and the director of teen leadership at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh.
The announcement generated mixed emotions.
Sylvia Svoboda, 16, applied for the fellowship hoping to travel to Israel.
“I have never been to Israel,” she said.
Neither had Diller participant Sam Tobias, 16.
The disappointment Svoboda and Tobias expressed about the inability to visit Israel stemmed from a growing connection to the Jewish state and its inhabitants.
Svodoba and Tobias explained that the Diller program began in the fall with participants exploring their Jewish identities. Then Oct. 7 happened, and then months later Israeli teens from Karmiel and Misgav came to Pittsburgh.
The latter experience proved meaningful for participants, Kahn said.
In April, the Israeli contingent traveled to Pittsburgh as part of the annual Jewish Community Mifgash. Ten days together enabled the teens to find commonalities as well as discuss their relationship to antisemitism and Oct. 7.
These conversations furthered a connection to not only horror and heartbreak but to people, the teens explained.
Because of Diller, “I have friends in Israel, and I was able to make sure they were OK,” Tobias said. “This brought me more into the moment.”
Throughout the year, Pittsburgh meetups, Shabbatons and the Mifgash furthered relationships among Diller participants.
There was a period where it wasn’t clear how the year would end, Svoboda said: “I still thought to myself that wherever I go, even if I stay here, I am going to get a lot out of the program because of the friendships, and it’s amazing.”
When Diller announced that participants would meet in Spain for one week, Svoboda and Tobias were excited.
“While it wasn’t Israel, it was the next-best thing,” Tobias said.
“I thought that it would be a life-changing experience to go with this program, and it was,” Svoboda said.
In Spain, the teens explored Jewish history by learning about the Inquisition and the expulsion of Jews, by touring Cordoba and seeing the historic site of Jewish scholarship, and by mining their own stories for Jewish connections.
Over the week, the Pittsburgh delegation spoke with teens from Baltimore, New Jersey, Chicago, South Africa, Australia, Toronto and Israel, Kahn said.
Many of the interactions concerned life in Israel post-Oct. 7.
“Both hearing from the Israeli teens about what their experience has been like, to doing some more experiential interactive activities around processing of Oct. 7,” Kahn said. Teens identified how they “can make a difference, not only in their communities but in the world and kind of grow from this place of crisis to maybe something really beautiful for the future of Judaism,” Svoboda and Tobias both said they’re appreciative of their Diller experience. They encouraged local Jewish young adults to get involved.
“People should see the impact that having community can have on you,” Svoboda said. “I was sitting with all these different Israelis, and they were telling me their stories of where they were on Oct. 7, and what was happening with them, and it was heartbreaking to hear, and I kept thinking I don’t know where else I could hear this firsthand.”
Participating in the fellowship “deepened my connection to Judaism,” Tobias said.
Involvement in Diller or other “youth group” experiences is essential, he continued. “They give you an opportunity where you can help others and learn about what’s going on in the world.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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