The Satisfaction of Truly Making a Difference
by Oren Attiya


My name is Oren Attiya. I am 18 years old, from Rishon LeZion, Israel. I recently finished the Diller ISS (Israel Summer Seminar) as the Junior Counselor with the Rishon LeZion – MetroWest partnership.

I will be joining the Israeli army this upcoming December.

Last year (2008), I had the honor to be one of 39 Diller Teen Fellows who were the first cohort of the partnership. After having an indescribable experience, I knew that I wanted to become a Junior Counselor for this amazing program and give to others what I got to experience. I went to the tryouts and, happily, got accepted. Being a junior counselor in Israel means that, after graduating from the program as a participant, you get the chance to volunteer as a counselor for a new group of Diller teens (for the entire year experience, of course). It also means that you become an inseparable part of the staff — the Diller Israeli office runs a year-long training for all Junior Counselors, and it teaches you about responsibility, working together, putting to action your leadership skills, etc.

Obviously, I had two totally different experiences while being in Diller — one as a counselee and one as a counselor. If I was asked to describe these two experiences in two sentences, I would start by saying: It's impossible. However, if I had to, I would say: As a counselee, I earned the tools and qualities to be a Jewish leader and a person who makes a change. As a counselor, I learned how to put those tools and qualities into action.

Now, after a second year in the program, I can tell you that my life has changed. I am a different and a better person; I can actually consider myself a leader. I learned so much in these past two years, things that I hadn't learned before. I got the chance to meet amazing people from both Israel and the North American side, and, even more important, I got to have a family on the other side of the world.

In addition, I was lucky enough to have shaped my Jewish Identity through Diller. Seeing so many different views, thoughts, customs, and opinions made me realize who I am as a Jewish soul on this Earth, and this is something I do not take for granted.

The skills I've earned during my time in the program are above and beyond anything I would have ever imagined myself earning. I learned what it is to have a huge responsibility on my shoulders, and, to tell you the truth, to also know that I absolutely love having this kind of responsibility.

I learned to work with an amazing staff, people that I am so thankful for meeting because they taught me so much (whether they intended to or not). I felt what it’s like to see a change in a person that you are counseling, and to be able to sense the amazing feeling of satisfaction and happiness of watching a person grow and evolve. This change could also be referred to as empowerment, a term that was introduced to me and that I understood in its full meaning only through Diller. It basically means giving someone the sense of self-efficacy, the grasping that he or she is important, is capable of doing anything, of making a difference.

It's not just a coincidence that Diller is constantly being referred to as family — because just like in a family, when the parents are so pleased and happy to see their children grow and change, as a counselor, I feel the same way, and I'm pretty sure most of the staff have the same kind of feelings towards the kids in the program.

I guess there is one indicator as to how much this program affected me: it’s the DNP (Diller Next Phase) program that I and a few other Dillers from last year decided to initiate and build. I'll sum up the program as a sense of pride, accomplishment, and satisfaction for truly making a difference. We've helped so many people, had so many good times, and experienced Israel all over again with our American partners from last year.

I am truly trying my best to explain how I feel about Diller, but I feel like I can't make the message go through with the words I chose to use. On the last evening of the Rishon LeZion – MetroWest ISS, as I was saying goodbye, I said something that I want to share. I said: "How can I describe the kind of feelings that I'm having right now? I guess the only thing I can say is that the phrase "words can't describe" couldn't be more appropriate."

I feel like that is really the best that I can do to describe my emotions for this program.

As I'm leaving the nest right now, to join the army, I am hoping to rejoin the Diller family once my service is done, and to go back to educating young leaders to "do good well."

Oren Attiya, a teen from Rishon LeZion, Israel, is a participant in UJC MetroWest’s Diller Teen Fellows program.

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