Comings and goings of SEPTEMBER, 2010

 

 

Autumn dusk over Wadi Ara and out to sea

 

Clocks were turned back this month making dawn light up our day earlier but embrace us in darkness a lot earlier in the afternoon.  The intense heat of the July and August now behind us and apart from shorter days the first signs of autumn came in the shape and form of puffy clouds, cool breezes in the late afternoon and a slight, very slight, hint of some rain on the way. 

Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Succoth, Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr, what a month!  Feasting and fasting, repenting for our sins – Jews and Arabs alike.  This definitely can be noted as a month of ‘shared society’ of a different kind!

September began with a very special group of experts in the field of education, another special group – pastors from Germany – and another very successful Ministry of Foreign Affairs supported two day seminar for 36 volunteers presently working in kibbutzim.  There were also some very interesting visitors to show around and take out and about both on campus and in the surrounding region.  Some of these visitors had already been to Givat Haviva in the past, others first timers.  The Succoth holiday brought a welcome break and some breathing space to work on winter programs and the continuation of the Intensive Arabic Semester.

 

EXPERTS in the field of EDUCATION from GERMANY, AUSTRIA, NORWAY, GREECE & SWEDEN

 

 

Educator’s educators associated with PROJECT LINNAEUS at Givat Haviva and out and about in Wadi Ara

 

A prestigious group of academics from Europe and Scandinavia spent time at the Givat Haviva campus where they met with David Amitai, Givat Haviva spokesperson and director of Yad Ya’ari, and International Department’s Lydia Aisenberg who also guided them on a tour of Wadi Ara and to Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek.

Group leader Anna Tapola first visited Givat Haviva many years ago and has an insatiable appetite to know more about Israel and especially educational projects in the country.

LINK to ARTICLE: Project Linnaeus experts visit Givat Haviva

 

MICHAEL & ORA MORRISON from New York

 

 

 

Etti Amram (left) director of the Givat Haviva Art’s Center and Peace Gallery chats with Ora and Michael Morrison and right): the Morrison’s take a close look at some of the Arabic language newspapers from the 1940s from the Givat Haviva collection housed in the Peace Library

Michael Morrison is the co-founder and acting director of The Artists’ and Humans’ Project in New York.  This year the organization has awarded Givat Haviva an honorary Cultural Achievement Award and during their visit to Israel Michael and his Israeli-born wife Ora paid a visit to the campus to get better acquainted with the various departments and projects of the organization.

LINK TO ARTICLE:  An introduction to the many faces of Givat Haviva

 

BROTHERS IN ARMS – AND A FRIEND

 

TOM LONGHILL, DAN AND JAKE FILSON AT GIVAT HAVIVA

 

In the past brothers Dan and Jake Filson from Manchester, England were a number of times in Givat Haviva participating in seminars and tours organized by the International Department.  The two former members of the Habonim-Dror movement, in Israel on holiday and joined by Tom Longhill - Jake’s friend from school days – the trio came to visit, spoke with a number of department staff and booked a tour of the Wadi Ara region.

LINK TO ARTICLE: BROTHERS IN ARMS and a friend!

 

 

Volunteers from kibbutzim take in the view from Harish across the State of Israel to the coastline of Hadera and Netanya before continuing on their way through the Dotan Valley to Barta’a and right: Aya Sagi, Director of the Kibbutz Programs Center addressing the volunteers

 

Thirty-six volunteers from many different countries and presently working on kibbutzim all over Israel, attended a 2 day seminar organized by the Kibbutz Programs Center together with the Givat Haviva International Department and with the support of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Dealing with diverse topics in the classroom and topped off with Israeli dancing the volunteers gave an enthusiastic thumbs up to all those involved in organizing yet another successful seminar for the youth from abroad working in the kibbutzim.

LINK TO ARTICLE: Another Successful Volunteer Seminar

 

 

Dr. Yona Weiss (Israel) and Dr. Dagmar Kopcanova (Bratislava) visiting Givat Haviva and Barta’a village

 

The friends, both of whom psychologists, visited Givat Haviva during Dr. Kopcanova’s recent visit to Israel.  Dr. Weiss, a resident of Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek, heard about Givat Haviva from a kibbutz neighbor and asked to visit and “bring a friend.”  The friend, Dr. Kopcanova, heads the Education Section, Slovak Committee for UNESCO and was impressed by what she saw and heard during the visit to the campus and surrounding region accompanied by a member of the International Department.

 

Dr. Kopcanova and Dr. Yona Weiss chat with Hilit Ben-Zvi in the International Department

 

LINK TO ARTICLE: …Incidental Partners …

 

PASTOR GABRIELE ZANDER, FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES FROM DARMSTADT, GERMANY

 

Pastor Gabriele Zander (center front row) and colleagues from Darmstadt, Germany gather outside the Jewish Arab-Center for Peace & International Department at Givat Haviva

 

Pastor Gabriele Zander from Darmstadt in Germany speaks fluent Hebrew and knows Israel and the Palestinian areas very well indeed having spent five years in the country in the past.

Pastor Zander organized a group of her friends and colleagues to pay a visit to the region and the International Department had the pleasure of receiving them on campus to discuss the work of Givat Haviva and discuss aspects of the region known as Wadi Ara and Jewish-Arab relations in the area as well as touch upon current affairs and events of the past.

Although Pastor Zander had never been to Givat Haviva before she had heard of the organization and of groups from Germany who had attended seminars whilst in Israel and so had put a visit on the present group’s itinerary.

“We have spent such an interesting afternoon and am sure we will be discussing many topics brought up today,” said Pastor Zander as the group headed off north to Tiberias.

 

THE INTENSIVE ARABIC SEMESTER

 

 

 

Students on the present term of the Intensive Arabic Semester spent a half day study period at Kibbutz Mishmar HaEmek dealing with Jewish-Arab relations between that community and the local Arab villages in the 1920s and up to 1948 and are photographed above in the in-house museum known as the “Emda.”

 

Just before the Succoth holiday and welcome break from studies, the students participated in a one day trip to the Jordan Valley and lower region of the Golan where they dealt with different aspects of the region’s history, topography and met with some of the locals.

 

So, that was the month that was – and much more coming our way as autumn breaks and the winter season approaches.

L’hitraot …

 

Hilit Ben-Zvi, Uri Barel & Lydia Aisenberg

THE INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT

 

Photos & Text: Lydia Aisenberg

September, 2010

 

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