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.
