Week 1 Cohort Travel Days: Samantha Page (North American)

July 18-21 The Beginning of North American Travel Days: Samantha Page, Los Angeles

UFF. There. I said it. That one expression represents all the emotions I have experienced these past few

days as a junior staff member, a Jew, a teenager, a student and a human being. I have spent most of

these past four days in Jerusalem , along with herding sheep and floating in the Dead Sea outside of

the holy city. And while the sheep ran everywhere except for where I wanted them to and my graceful

floatation was short-lived, I feel I’ve been doing an awful lot of figurative herding and going with the

flow recently. As junior staff, we are in this glorious limbo between our coordinator’s authority and

life experience and our fellows’ slowly-melting unawareness to all that this program has to offer. As

I’ve walked through the streets of Jerusalem (and walked and walked) I’ve marveled at the beautiful

stone and diversity of people that so instantly tells me where I am. Celebrating Shabbat in a variety of

settings, including Shira Chadasha where I bumped into Dillers from Pittsburgh and MetroWest amidst

the enthusiastic and welcoming community, gave a great Diller pluralistic vibe to the weekend and

challenged the Los Angeles fellows, as well as myself and the rest of our staff, to step outside of our

comfort zones. I have loved watching my fellows discover other Dillers throughout Israel , and I am so

excited to share in these new experiences with them as we head into community week.