This whole fellowship seems to be a series of fortunate
events. To the point where I should probably pick up gambling at one of the
seven casinos next to my apartment because I’m clearly on some sort of a hot
streak. I mean, come on. When else will I have a job that sends me to live in
Europe and traipse around America, Israel, Tallinn, and one of my absolute
favorite cities in Europe? I hope the answer is always and forever, but, just
in case, I’ll buy my lottery ticket now thank you very much.
The
reason for my giddiness and feelings of extreme fortune: right after the pleasant
surprise that was spring camp I was also pleasantly surprised that JDC sent me
to a program in a city that stole my heart long ago, Vienna. When I was first
interviewed for placements in Europe, my internal dialogue went something like
this: “woo! I might get this fellowship! I mean, it’s not the middle of nowhere
Africa but it’s near Vienna!” I never actually thought I’d have the time to go
to Vienna, but I liked that it was close and theoretically an option. And then,
suddenly, not only was it an option, but also it was actually happening and it
was part of my job. I’ll take it.
The
stars aligned because JDC works in a lot of places on a lot of projects so any
connection to them means you’re always in the right place at the right time.
This time (and, as far as I’m concerned, every time), the right place was
Vienna thanks to JDC Regions. JDC Regions is a branch of the organization that brings
together Jewish leaders from all over Europe to strengthen their leadership
skills, community development work, and international connections. They have a
number of seminars with different names and purposes in different cities, and this
was one of “Generation Next’s” productions, which focuses on leadership
training. So, about 30 Jews from Europe joined me to become better leaders for
our Jewish communities. Some, like me, were not from the region in which they
work, and others had been involved in their communities their whole lives. The
conglomeration of Jews from and representing different areas reminded me of my
serious identity crisis, and I could tell I was in good company. The question
“where are you from,” started to feel as overwhelmingly confusing as if you ask
a senior, “where are you going next year,” and as complicated as if you asked
me summarize my thesis in a ten second interpretive dance. Here’s why: I know
I’m from Maryland but when I’m talking to Europeans I have to say “outside
Washington, D.C..” because Maryland isn’t New York or LA so it doesn’t get a
lot of press in this part of the world. But, if I find out my audience knows
the US, then I have to quickly amend my answer, lest I offend someone by
pretending that Maryland is DC. After that intro, I want to include that I’m a temporary
representative of Riga. I usually just say the city’s name thinking someone out
here might know it’s not part of Russia (or at least not at the time of this
blog post). All too often, however, people give me a blank stare, so then I
have more clarification to do. I have to explain that Riga is in Latvia. And
then, while all of that is floating around in my head I get so wrapped up and
discombobulated that I wonder if I should start saying I’m living in Georgia
(the state, not the country. Yay for more geographical confusion!), because I
spent four lovely years there and have planned another 6. By the end of all
this rambling both the listener (assuming they’re still there) and I are
totally dazed and confused. I guess it’s better to have too many homes than too
few, but that doesn’t make me any less lost.
Anyhoo,
so after all those long introductions we had a bunch of sessions on leadership
in the “New World.” Aka, how can we use technology and creativity to be better
leaders. We learned about fun new websites, I finally learned what a hashtag
is, we painted pretty pictures, and I saw this great short TED talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_how_to_start_a_movement
I also got to meet young Jews from Jewish communities that most
people told me are old and dying out. Apparently not! When I went to Warsaw and
Poland we only saw the Holocaust memorial sights. In general, most trips to
Eastern Europe focus on the death and destruction, painting these towns as long
gone memories of Jews past. While it is absolutely essential to learn about and
see what the Holocaust left (or often, didn’t leave), it is just as important
to see what is still there and what is thriving. People are still living and
they’re living proud Jewish lives. If we spent even a fraction of our Poland
trip with the current Jewish community we would actually be doing something to
support them. After all, you can’t support people you don’t know exist.
All
in all, it was wonderful to spend Shabbat and this seminar with interesting
people in one of my favorite places. And, of course, I had just enough time to
go to my favorite restaurants, wander through a great market, have incredible
gelato, try Sri Lankan food, and go for a bike ride. So, just any other perfect
trip for me.
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