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Encounter Alumni Retreat
March 18 to 21, 2010
in New York, NY
Early Bird Special: Register by Feb 5, 2010 for just $150
Travel subsidies available for out-of-town participants!
How can we integrate
our powerful experiences
in Bethlehem into
our work in the
Jewish community?
Join us in New York City for three energizing days:
- Explore ways that we as North American
Jewish leaders can contribute to Jewish-Arab and Jewish-Jewish conflict transformation.
- Build practical skills to cultivate wise, nuanced engagement
with Israel in your community.
- Learn with exceptional fellow Encounter alumni and Jewish leaders
from diverse backgrounds and perspectives.
Join a program track for in-depth learning and skills training in a topic of your choice:
- Facilitation Training: The Israeli Palestinian conflict has too
often become a wedge issue in the Jewish community. How can we facilitate our community
members in being able to listen deeply and speak honestly about the conflict without
damaging relationships and alienating each other? Hone your facilitation skills in
order to hold space for conversations about this challenging topic in our community.
- Congregational Engagement with Israel: How do you work with your
congregation to develop wise, nuanced, compassionate engagement with Israel? How do you
involve the various stakeholders in a congregational context, given the diverse roles of
a congregational leader and the long-term relationships you sustain with your congregants?
Especially geared towards rabbis, cantors, and Executive Directors of congregations.
- Telling my story / Speaker Training: How can you speak in a compelling
way about your Encounter experience and thoughts on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? How
can you share your stories and messages so that others may hear and remember what you want
to convey? This workshop will help you develop and practice your message and speaking
skills, with professional and group feedback..
- Encounter Torah / Peace-building Beit Midrash: Peace fills our Jewish
prayers, even as it eludes us in concrete terms. The Rabbis teach that peace is not only a
promise, but a command – a required path of service to G-d. This session will be
dedicated to exploring Jewish traditions of peace-building and dialogue through text study.
The session will include both guided group text study and study in pairs/chevruta with
Jewish leaders from a diversity of backgrounds..
- Israel Education – Community of Practice (closed group):
Learn about existing approaches to teaching about Israel and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Create innovative lessons and curricula for teaching about the "complex Israel of the
evening news" through creative collaboration with a team of experienced peers in Jewish
and Israel education.
- Peace-building Social Entrepreneurship: Bring your idea for a new
project or venture and work with experienced entrepreneurs and pioneering peers to envision
getting your project off the ground. Get feedback and obtain practical skills to learn how
to realize your vision.
- High-Impact Peace-building Philanthropy: Think strategically about how
to leverage your resources to advance peace. Identify models of regional transformation,
existing actors working for positive change, and your own deepest values, goals, and options
for impact. The goal is not to develop a consensus for philanthropy, but to help participants
discern and discuss their own philanthropic priorities in the region.
- Israel and the Institutional Jewish Community: This session will be a
facilitated, safe, closed conversation among lay and professional leaders of the mainstream
organized Jewish community (Federations, JCRC's, etc.) on how to create the most constructive
possible engagement with Israel in your institutions.
Join with the wider alumni community for:
- Delicious kosher food and vibrant davening
- News and updates from speakers, friends and host families from your trip
- Encounters will Palestinian-Americans in NYC
- Facilitated conversation among our richly diverse group of Jewish leaders
The Fine Print:
- The retreat starts on Thursday, March 18 at 8:00 PM (check
in opens at 6:00 PM) and continues until Sunday, March 21 at 1:00 PM.
- All meals will be included and will be strictly kosher.
- The retreat will meet in various locations on the Upper West Side of NYC.
- Cost: The retreat fee is on a sliding scale from $200 to $400.
Early bird special: Register by Feb 5, 2010 for just $150.
(There are a limited number of additional scholarships available.
Please also let us know if you would like to sponsor another alum with a scholarship.)
- Accommodations: Make your own arrangements on the Upper West Side
or stay with us: We’ve reserved a block of rooms at the NYC Hostel International
on the Upper West Side for just $100 for three nights. We'll also help out of town
guests find potential local hosts for home hospitality.
- Spouses and life partners are welcome to join the retreat for Shabbat (Friday evening
to Saturday evening). Partners pay a sliding scale fee of $75 to $100.
- Travel stipends are available to subsidize the cost for alumni from
out of town. Encounter will reimburse up to $300 of your travel costs over $100
(i.e. if you spend $400, Encounter will reimburse $300).
The registration deadline is March 1, 2010.
To register: Fill out the
online application.
Questions are welcome
Please call Benj Kamm, Encounter's North American Program Coordinator, at 646 374 8238 or email benj@encounterprograms.org.
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