January, 2020 | The Jerusalem Intercultural Center

MiniActive Working with our Friends from Natan

MiniActive and our friends from Natan have been partners for the past few years. We enjoy updating them with reports and periodic updates, but it’s really not the same until you see it with your own eyes.

Working with our friends from Natan

So we were very happy to share MiniActive experiences with our friends from Natan this past week.

Building the flower bed

We hosted them at the community garden at the Central Arab Library in Wadi Joz, where our MiniActive Youth often work.

Everyone helping to put it together

They did a great job of building a flower bed and planting beautiful flowers.

Planting a beautiful flower bed as well

Thanks so much to our friends from Natan! You help make MiniActive the success it is today.

Naomi Roff2020-02-08T10:57:43+00:00January 30th, 2020|Blog, MiniActive|

Window to Mount Zion – Annual Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony on 10th of Tevet

Part of Window to Mount Zion’s mission is to share and raise awareness about the unique and emotional events that take place on Mount Zion by all different communities. Its Facebook page recently shared the emotional ceremony that took place at the Chamber of the Holocaust, which is operated by the Diaspora Yeshiva.

Holding an annual ceremony at the Chamber of the Holocaust

As a part of our virtual tour of Mount Zion, we have made a clip about the Chamber:

Every year, on the tenth of Tevet on the Hebrew calendar, the Diaspora Yeshiva holds a traditional ceremony in the Chamber of the Holocaust, the first commemoration of the Holocaust that was built after Israel’s War of Independence, soon after the Holocaust. This year, rabbis and yeshiva students gathered and prayed in memory of those who perished in the Holocaust.

Every year, Nechama Cohen, daughter of Rabbi Dr. Samuel Zangvil Kahana, who was Director-General of the Ministry of Religion in the late 1940’s and founded the Chamber of the Holocaust, is invited to the ceremony (she also appears in our clip on David’s Tomb). Nechama gave a heartfelt speech, reminding us of the special context of Mount Zion and its proximity to David’s Tomb. Nechama recounted from her memoirs, as a child in the early 1950s, how Holocaust survivors who immigrated from Europe would visit David’s Tomb, which at that time was the holiest place within the borders of the young State of Israel, and, with the help of her father, created such a touching and human memorial to those who perished.

Nechama Cohen giving an emotional speech

Today the Chamber of the Holocaust holds a double memory – the memory of the six million who died in the Holocaust, as well as the memory of those who remembered – the survivors who arrived in Israel immediately after the war and sought to establish an intimate and traditional monument in memory of their disappeared communities. Thanks to the Diaspora Yeshiva for leading the emotional ceremony.

Here’s the post in Hebrew from the Window to Mount Zion Facebook page:

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation for its support of Window to Mount Zion!

Naomi Roff2020-02-08T10:55:49+00:00January 25th, 2020|Blog, Mount Zion|

MiniActive – Now, Learning English

We’ve described here and here about how the MiniActive volunteers enjoy learning Hebrew, and how they’ve found it very useful in their everyday lives.

Learning English, close to home

Now, in cooperation with the US Embassy in Jerusalem, MiniActive women are also learning English! There are two courses, with 12 women in each course, one intermediate level, one advanced level. These courses will meet 11 times, and at the end, participants will be able to speak English.

Each learning at her level, toward a better future

This is the first time MiniActive is participating in the courses, and the first time that they’re taking place outside the US Embassy or any of its Jerusalem branches. Good luck to all the participants!

Thank you to our partners for this opportunity!

Here’s a post in Arabic from the MiniActive Facebook page:

And of course, many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and to Natan for their support of MiniActive!

Naomi Roff2020-01-17T10:39:52+00:00January 21st, 2020|Blog, MiniActive|

Garbage as Art in the Public Sphere

As a result of the Little Prince – Cleaning Up Jerusalem Together, in cooperation with local residents and the Jerusalem Municipality, it is now so much more pleasant to throw the garbage in the trash.

Into the mouths of cats

Residents of the Pat neighborhood, who came together to promote neighborhood cleanliness, at first wanted to replace the big (and ugly) garbage receptacles with smaller, more aesthetic bins. Because all the bins are slated to be replaced by underground receptacles in the near future, the Municipality did not approve the residents’ request.

Jerusalem skyline on a garbage receptacle

Serious activists don’t give up, so the residents made another suggestion: Let’s decorate the bins to make it more fun to throw away the garbage! Then we can encourage people to throw garbage into the bin and not leave it on the ground around it. And, together with local artists, bins in the Pat neighborhood look like this:

Your nearby garbage bin, wrapped as a present!

The result: here’s a look at the first bins that have been transformed with adorable graffiti paintings!

Monstors are eating my garbage!

After the success of the first bins, the residents are calling on the rest of Jerusalem to join in and bring color to the public space.

A number of local artists, each wtih different styles

We can definitely call this a garbage revolution!

Here’s a post from the local community center’s Facebook page, where even Mayor Moshe Lion took notice:

Here’s a second post, with pictures of more receptacles:

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and the Rayne Foundation for their support of the Little Prince.

talkligman2020-01-17T10:37:35+00:00January 19th, 2020|Blog, The Little Prince - Cleaning Jerusalem Together|

The Little Prince 2019 – Taking Stock, Looking Forward

We recently took stock of everything that happened in 2019 as a result of the Little Prince’s activities, and see what been happening! Here’s a partial list.

Moshe Lion as a mayoral candidate, after signing the Clean City platform

In 2019:

The Jerusalem Municipality cleared over 1/2 million tons of garbage!!
More cleaning workers were added – 500 subcontract workers will be added to the street-sweeping system by the end of next year.
More street-sweeping vehicles and cranes – the Jerusalem Municipality bought new vehicles for every area of the city.
The Enforcement Division began giving reports for throwing trash in the street, for leaving garbage bags outside the bins, construction waste, garbage from businesses, those who don’t clean up after their dogs, and more. (Until 2019, the Enforcement Division had not given any reports for garbage issues!)
About 20 neighborhood groups of residents working for cleaning the neighborhood were established.
Some neighborhoods were assigned special days to clear landscaping waste and large furniture. By the end of next year, all neighborhoods will have been assigned a fixed day.
Garbage began being collected on Saturday nights all over the city!
Containers and trash cans have been upgraded in many neighborhoods.
The first part of a Clean City Campaign began (in cooperation with residents).
The first garbage parade was held in cooperation with residents and the Municipality.
During the summer months, there were over 140 educational activities in the gardens and parks.
Educational programs on keeping streets clean began to be implemented in schools and kindergartens in all educational systems (religious, secular, ultra-Orthodox and Arab).
Trash cans were decorated with colorful paintings.
Private open spaces: In the 2020 work plan, some of the private open spaces will be cleaned by the Municipality (depending on their size and type). All residents will receive notifications before areas close to them are cleaned.
Residents and professionals forums were set up with senior operations manager and several active work groups.

There’s going to be so much more in the upcoming year …. You could say that the city is still dirty, that there hasn’t been any change. But you can also say, look how far we’ve come and how much we’ve achieved.
Happy New Year to everyone
* Pictured: Moshe Leon holds the Little Prince’s cleaning platform – October 2018.

Here’s the post that was published in the Little Prince Facebook group:

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and the Rayne Foundation for their support of the Little Prince.

Naomi Roff2020-01-10T21:15:40+00:00January 15th, 2020|Blog, Effective Activism, The Little Prince - Cleaning Jerusalem Together|

Sichatuna – To Your Health! Joining Forces with Atta’a

At Atta’a we’re all about joint work, helping to advance rights realization in all areas of life. A recent joint project, that includes Atta’a and Michal Gutman-Kremer from our Cultural Competency Desk, with the ‘Like Me’ organization and their Arabic-language web site, Sichatuna (which means ‘our health’ in Arabic).

A look at the Sichatuna web site

Today, the site includes two online communities – one for diabetes and one for obesity. They are managed by physicians who advise and answer questions to help inform different treatment options and promote a healthier lifestyle.

We are helping to make the site more accessible and more adapted to the needs of the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, in order to raise awareness of these health issues and to give residents an additional source for consultation and information. Our first joint activity revolved around International Diabetes Day on November 14. A number of Jerusalem hospitals distributed flyers to promote the site’s activities. The results are significant – their Facebook page gained about 300 from East Jerusalem as a result of this video with Dr. Hashem about diabetes:

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation for their support of Atta’a.

Naomi Roff2020-01-10T20:54:13+00:00January 12th, 2020|Attaa, Blog|

Continuing Cultural Competency Training at the Herzfeld Geriatric Hospital

Herzfeld Rehabilitation Hospital in Gedera has begun a process of cultural competence and we’re proud to be part of it. You can read more about our first meeting, here. The hospital belongs to the Clalit Health Services and specializes in the care, support and rehabilitation of elderly patients, and for those with complex medical conditions. We’ve delivered two workshops at the hospital, and the tools and principles of cultural competency that included in the workshops were specially adapted for the needs of the hospital. Communication at the hospital takes place not only with the patients but also with their families, guardians, and caregivers, often patients’ foreign caregivers who stay alongside the patients.

A second cultural competency workshop at the Herzfeld Geriatric Hospital

About 40 employees from all professions and cultural identities participated in the workshops, the second of which took place on December 23, 2019. In the accepting atmosphere of the workshop, the different caregiving professionals shared their experiences and dilemmas. One participant shared the process with the family whose young son was on a respirator in the hospital. The father, a dominant figure in the family, who is also the guardian, is very worried about his son but sometimes his involvement can hurt the son’s treatment. The other family members cannot challenge the authority of the father, who is also the head of the clan. Sensitive and creative ways were needed to keep the son without hurting the father.

Another issue was, how do we deal both with the need for patients to rest, and with the fact that different cultural traditions encourage visits from friends and family during visiting hours? How can we How to overcome religious, cultural and gender conflicts in the food that is served at the hospital?

Learning through real-life examples

And one of the cases that made us most emotional – the daughter of an elderly Ethiopian patient, who is determined to comply with her mother’s demand not to amputate her leg, even if it costs her her life. The need to respect the mother’s wishes at all costs, which was met with a patronizing attitude from one of the professionals. The daughter was torn between different cultural values - respect for her mother’s wishes, respect for medical authority, difficulty in directly challenging authority figures, and a loss of faith in the system.

This story served as the basis for our practice session, with experienced medical actress Hanin Tarbia, who has been working with the JICC for a decade.

Here’s feedback we received from the hospital administration:

We would like to acknowledge the great privilege that we have had in participating in the fascinating workshop you delivered today to the staff of the Herzfeld Geriatric Hospital. The workshop was instructive, enlightening, empowering and very interesting. Your easy-to-understand language, the accessibility of the tools you taught and your vast amount of knowledge, alongside your extraordinary sensitivity and humor, will accompany us and all the participants of the workshop!

The participants felt comfortable participating and sharing and expressed a great deal of interest in this important topic, and were thirsty for the large amount of information they received.

We, too, at the JICC hope that we helped the hospital establish the foundations for a meaningful process of assimilating the principles of cultural competency at the hospital. There is no doubt that the dedicated staff who participated in the workshop can serve as ambassadors for assimilating tools and principles of cultural competence in the hospital.

Many thanks to Herzfeld Medical Center for organizing the workshop.

Naomi Roff2020-01-10T20:56:08+00:00January 8th, 2020|Blog, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Health Services|

Window to Mount Zion – Christmas Eve – Continuing a Tradition on Mount Zion

Every year hundreds of visitors, most of them Jewish Israelis, come to Dormition Church on Christmas Eve.

Window to Mount Zion - helping the service

Window to Mount Zion – helping the Christmas Eve service

In order to make the service more accessible to visitors, instead of holding the Christmas Eve Mass in German, they held it mostly in English, partly in Hebrew, and even in Arabic. This year, even the sermon was delivered in Hebrew – fluent Hebrew – by Father Daniel.

Joining the monks at the Dormition Abbey on Christmas Eve

Delivering the Christmas Eve service

Although the Dormtition Abbey has a large church sanctuary that can hold hundreds of people, the community of monks who live there is very small. And during the ceremony and its preparations, they can’t always make sure the audience is calm or explain where the bathrooms are to everyone who needs them, or just be there as a helping hand. This is already the fourth year that the dedicated volunteers from Window to Mount Zion have helped out at the Christmas Eve service, and we are proud to have a part in helping the service run smoothly and without incident. We were delighted to take part on this special night.

Window to Mount Zion volunteers

Follow this link to read more (in Hebrew) about Christmas Eve, on the Window to Mount Zion web site. Here’s a short video of the event that was published on Window to Mount Zion’s Facebook page:

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation for their support of Window to Mount Zion.

Naomi Roff2020-01-10T21:02:22+00:00January 5th, 2020|Blog, Mount Zion|

Have a Happy – and Safe! – Chanukah, from Living Safer, Living Longer

On December 29, 2019 our initiative Living Safer, Living Longer participated in a fantastic Chanuka Happening event at the Well-Baby Center in the Ultra-Orthodox neighborhood Ramat Shlomo. The event included a number of activity stations. At the Living Safer, Living Longer station, children prepared a game in which they helped make donuts safely, thus preventing accidents at home.

Preparing games, making homes safer

The children received dreidels (svivonim), and the parents were invited to receive free personal mentoring on how to ensure that their home is safe for the whole family.

Playing and learning to be safe at home

Many thanks to the Ramat Shlomo Well-baby Clinic for their hospitality, and of course, many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation for its support of Living Safer, Living Longer.

Naomi Roff2020-01-10T20:48:09+00:00January 3rd, 2020|Blog, Living Safer Living Longer|

Monthly Archives: January 2020