Naomi Roff | The Jerusalem Intercultural Center

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So far Naomi Roff has created 501 blog entries.

Where Does Our Trash Go?

On Tuesday, July 30, activists from the Little Prince-Cleaning Up Jerusalem Together initiative, from all corners of the city, took part in a fascinating tour of the Green-Net recycling and garbage sorting plant in the Atarot Industrial Park, on the outskirts of Jerusalem. The factory has one of the world’s most sophisticated facilities for sorting and handling household garbage.

Concerned residents and professionals, from all Jerusalem sectors, touring the new waste treatment / recycling plant in Atarot

The tour was initiated by an activist from the Little Prince, who was curious to know where the garbage we put in our garbage cans was going. He also wanted to see if the plant could handle the recycling for Jerusalem’s garbage, which the Municipality claimed it could, and is in the process of removing the recycling bins throughout the city.

Touring all areas of the plant

The tour included 25 ultra-Orthodox, religious and secular residents and municipal employees from various departments (municipal spokesperson, corporate division, and operations manager).

We learned so much!! We learned that all household garbage (not including construction waste or tree clippings) of Jerusalem – 1700 tons per day!!!- , reaches the factory, which operates 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.

Over the past year, the amount of garbage coming to the plant has risen by 8%! This is considered a huge increase for one year. Apparently the city’s objective to clean up Jerusalem is really changing things on-the-ground ….

Processing and sorting tons of trash

Between 8% and 10% of our household trash is diapers. We are the city with the largest amount of diapers among all the cities in the world!
The plant sorts valuable materials, which account for 40% of all our household waste and sends them overseas (mainly to Turkey).
At the factory, they open the trash bags, and do an initial sorting according to size, marking the garbage using an infrared beam for organic matter, metals, plastics, paper and cardboard boxes. The plastic is further sorted into 4 types, with 95% accuracy. We hope to discuss the information we have acquired with experts from the Little Prince and others to better understand whether there is really no need for recycling receptacles in Jerusalem and whether we, as a civil society, should demand that the Municipality returns the receptacles.

Processing 1,700 tons a day!

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

Here’s a Facebook post (in Hebrew) of the tour:

Naomi Roff2019-09-15T15:35:32+00:00August 4th, 2019|Blog, The Little Prince - Cleaning Jerusalem Together|

Window to Mount Zion Easing Inter-religious Relations in the Old City

Inter-religious relations in the Old City of Jerusalem are often considered “complex,” not only between Jews and Muslims, but also between Jews and the many different Christian denominations.

On Saturday, June 8, 2019, there was an altercation between Jews and Armenians, in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City. The end result – heightened tensions all-around.

Window to Mount Zion was created to decrease inter-religious tensions on Mount Zion, and since its founding in 2015 has expanded its reach to include the Old City as well. Thanks to the relations it has woven with the different religious institutions and leaders, Board member, Rabbi David Rosen, our director Dr. Hagai Agmon-Snir and Window to Mount Zion Coordinator Merav Stein, together with representatives of the Israel Police and Yitzhak Pindrus, current Member of Knesseth and former Jerusalem City Council member, met with Armenian religious leaders after the incident to smooth things over.

During the meeting, they discussed the centuries-old Armenian presence in Jerusalem, and the ongoing harassment that the monks and students endure. Most of those responsible are young Jews who come from outside the city and are unfamiliar with Jerusalem’s unique fabric of life and the delicate neighborly relations between Jews and Christians. Together, we decided to put an end to the humiliating and ugly phenomenon by publicly calling on leaders to avoid harming clergy, as well as by holding education and enforcement activities.

Window to Mount Zion with Armenian Leadership

The meeting was covered in two Armenian web sites, one from the Public Radio of Armenia, and the other from the OCP Media Network. Here’s the article in its entirety:

On Tuesday, July 16, Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Archbishop Nourhan Manougian received a group of people after the incident when three Jews and their dog attacked the Dean and students of the Armenian Theological Seminary.

The group consisted of Mr. Yitzhak Ze’ev Pindrus, Member of Knesset for the United Torah Judaism Party and resident of the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, Rabbi David Rosen, International Director of Inter-religious Affairs of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) and of the Robert and Harriet Heilbrunn Institute for International Interreligious Understanding, as well as Board Member of the Jerusalem Intercultural Center, of which Center also the Director Dr. Hagai Agmon Snir, and Mrs. Merav Horovitz-Stein, the coordinator of the Window to Mt. Zion, a cross cultural community engagement project, as well as three high ranking-officers representing the Israeli Police District of Jerusalem.

The members of the delegation expressed their concerns about this particular incident as well as other instances of uncivilized behaviour by Jews towards Armenian clergy members.

They stressed the importance of good relations between the various groups in Jerusalem.

The delegation addresses leaders to condemn, end and prevent humiliating and disgracing acts towards Armenian clergy. The group also calls upon the leaders to educate and enforce civilized behavior from the population.

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

Naomi Roff2019-09-15T15:28:06+00:00August 1st, 2019|Blog, Mount Zion|

Cultural Competency Renewing Skills at Sha’are Zedek

In recent years, we, together with the Shaare Zedek Medical Center, have organized two training courses in medical interpreting. Both courses were joined by bilingual workers and volunteers from Hadassah and ALYN hospitals.

It is very important for Sha’are Zedek to maintain the interpreters’ professional skills, who are called on to translate and interpret patient encounters, in addition to their daily work, sometimes several times a day. Therefore, these professional development days are organized, not only to give them additional skills and updates, but also as a way to appreciate their work.

Encounter for Medical Interpreters

In late June we held a meeting that was attended by interpreters who speak Arabic, Russian, Amharic and French.

We started the day with a discussion about advanced technological tools (artificial intelligence) that can help medical interpreters, and the biggest question of all – can a robot replace the medical interpreter? The answer right now is – absolutely not. Artificial Intelligence experts have made great progress in developing automatic translation tools, or tools to assist interpreters during work (currently for conference interpreters only). But these tools are not yet designed to deal with the unique features of medical interpreting – silence, repetition, a great deal of emotion, slang, various dialects and more. Not to mention complex situations and ethical dilemmas (the husband does not want the interpreter to translate into a wife, for example).

In short – artificial intelligence technologies for translating human languages are getting better every day. What looks like science fiction today will probably be a reality in a year. These tools will not replace human medical interpreters, but it is important to follow the developing technologies to see how we can improve the quality of medical interpretation, without fear of being replaced by robots.

Afterward, Shweki Majed, a hospital employee who is also a regular interpreter and who has taken several interpreting courses, shared with the newer interpreters how interpreting changed him personally and professionally. He told stories openly and honestly of dilemmas he encountered. Here’s an amusing story – One day, as part of his job as an interpreter he translated in the first/ second person, as advised in the training (“you should take the medicine” instrad of “the doctor tells you to take the medicine). Afterward, the patient insisted that he was the doctor, and not the actual doctor. After a few months, they met again at a family event and the person again insisted he was the doctor who treated them. No explanations helped …

Shweki Majed speaking to the forum

Ms. Vered Huber – Machlin, Director of the hospital’s Physical Therapy Department, was the third speaker. She has studied the field of patient experience. The health system and physicians are often focused on the illness, and she is bringing the field of medical interpreting to a patient-centered treatment regime – how the disease affects him, his concerns, the basic information he needs to receive, and ways to get him involved in the treatment. She talked about the interpreter’s unique role in this context, as well as its limits.

Interpretation as part of a patient-centered experience

Many thanks to everyone who organized this wonderful day, and especially to Tali Arazi and Efrat Cohen.

And of course, many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation, for its continued support of Cultural Competency over the past decade.

Naomi Roff2019-09-15T15:28:50+00:00July 18th, 2019|Attaa, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Health Services|

Jerusalemite Day of Diversity – 2019

This was the fourth year in a row in which Jerusalemite Day of Diversity has become a central tradition of activities that take place on Jerusalem Day.

Fourth annual Jerusalemite Day of Diversity

This year, dozens of different events took place during Jerusalemite Day of Diversity (Saturday, 1/6 and Sunday, 2/6), shaping the city as the Tolerance Capital of the world. All events took place independently and are the product of initiatives and processes initiated and led by Jerusalem activists. They emphasized the special character of the city and the responsibility of its residents to promote tolerance and maintain diversity among the various groups living here.

Events in the public sphere

This year, there were some 60 events throughout the city. We focused on fewer events (down from 80 last year) that reached more people, since each of the events drew at least 40 participants, with some events reaching 100. Most of the events took place outside the city center, in the Baka, Talpiot, Katamon, Kiryat Yovel, Har Nof neighborhoods, and even in the Jerusalem Forest. This year our data shows that we were able to expand our sphere of influence, reaching more people and a more diverse group of people than we have in previous years. Here’s a link to the list of events in English.

At the First Station

This year we put a special emphasis on PR and publicity in order to reach beyond the Day’s ‘usual’ scope. We held 7 radio interviews, including two full items at the “Kan” station, and one TV interview on the Knesset TV channel. (Some of these interviews included more than one interviewee as well.) Ads were published in the printed press and throughout digital networks, and thus we managed to reach hundreds of thousands of people during the week preceding Jerusalem Day. In addition to the PR activity, this year the Municipality added many of Jerusalemite Day events to their website under the category of events for Jerusalem Day (click here for the list in Hebrew). Many of the official events listed for Jerusalem Day were also part of Jerusalemite Day of Diversity, and the logo appeared boldly everywhere.

On rooftops

The tens of thousands of Jerusalemites who took part in the events proved once again that Jerusalem is the World Capital of Tolerance. While the media portrays Jerusalem as a city filled with hatred, racism and violence, in practice, we – all the residents of Jerusalem – live here together, curious about and respecting each other in our daily lives. There are more than a thousand Jerusalemites and Jerusalemites and dozens of organizations that deal with tolerance, and there are events that promote tolerance and multiculturalism every day, and the variety of events and encounters that take place during Jerusalemite Day of Diversity proves this. Together, this day echoes Jerusalem’s daily voice out loud and clear, reminding the world that Jerusalem is the World Capital of Tolerance, with a large and growing community of people who deal with tolerance and multiculturalism on a daily basis in our city.

Events in more intimate settings

Thank you to the dozens of activists who made Jerusalemite Day of Diversity happen! Thank you to the tens of thousands of Jerusalemites who participated in the events. See you next year on Jerusalemite Day of Diversity 2020!

A range of tours

A special thank you goes to The Jerusalem Foundation, the Natan Fund, the Schusterman Foundation, and the Leichtag Foundation’s Jerusalem Model for their partnership and support!

Here’s the Facebook album of the event:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2165662770213835&type=3&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARCOMFEd7lZ9F6frL-qs9VO1KsuytOm3d8iOzfSyPPugtKQ48_ilGbJ57_Vs7whNx6t2Ytloout7-wKtaIhDbwJk8y27lz1H3Ax-7GnsZUI05sp4cUAKXyoeMadGz-UMv6iOhxv62DvgX9v8hOeDrA-ypMgo0LD1gWIDqOTArHOpmxumJhpZqWnMFl83DRtrjqxw-te_3BP_TlF4W_XeqL6cCJt3NGIRTpdMwA6TN7r1B_AAWeoCdy7itGjZeSV7e5-yVX9a1dSIcVhdcScZkmSFjGn_i6TYaCsDPp3Ui3EyyST-XO491vh7r4jQdpfH4kIxeBIGtPNLzO_GGD3uVvELibr6HGpJkn9C41KlFSHpoIIdkQ4QBKQ6Fnod8eAvbKxW-YqcaRm86hvX4RyId5SjcViLSe2GsdGG-21ceuVoWVjxIbn37HF2kgSn4mUoDCqHaCyrBMgEr84&__tn__=-UC-R

Naomi Roff2019-09-15T15:34:24+00:00June 10th, 2019|Blog, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem|

Increasing Tolerance in Kiryat Hayovel between, Secular and Haredi Jews

As part of our activities to increase tolerance throughout Jerusalem, we’re also helping secular and Haredi Jews live better together in Kiryat Hayovel.

Haredim and secular Jews refuse to be enemies!

For example, last month these signs started popping up all around Kiryat Hayovel. These signs are a response to posters that had been put up against the Haredi population there.

Adding hope to Kiryat Hayovel

The new signs included messaging such as, “Haredim and secular Jews refuse to be enemies,” and added hope to the streets of Kiryat Hayovel.

At the store, in playgrounds, all over

In addition to these signs, over the past few months we’ve been working with groups of Haredi and secular (and all those in the middle) Jews in Kiryat Hayovel, in a number of initiatives, from parenting issues for fathers, regular meetings for women, soccer, and much more. Stay tuned!

Here’s the post (Hebrew):

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and to the Natan Fund for their support of our efforts to increase tolerance in Jerusalem.

Naomi Roff2019-05-04T17:00:03+00:00May 3rd, 2019|Blog, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem|

New MiniActive Web Site

The MiniActive Network of Palestinian Women Volunteers has become a powerhouse of effective activism in East Jerusalem over the past seven years.

Until now, their main avenue of getting the word out has been their Facebook page. You’ve also been able to read about them and get updates from our web site (link above), our blog, and on 0202 – Points of View from Jerusalem.

Now, they have their very own web site.

Here’s the link, and here’s a look. The Google Translate Chrome extension can help to understand the Arabic.

Take a look at MiniActive’s new web site!

Congratulations, MiniActive!

And many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and Natan Fund for their support of MiniActive.

Naomi Roff2019-05-11T06:16:37+00:00May 1st, 2019|Blog, Effective Activism, MiniActive|

Graduating a New Class of Medical Interpreters

On April 16 we held our graduation ceremony for yet another class of medical interpreters. It marked the completion of a 45-hour course in basic skills of medical interpreting, which was held at Shaare Zedek Medical Center.

Integrating more medical interpreters into health care staffs

The course helped people working in medical institutions to learn interpretation skills in order to volunteer in the institution in which they work. The 27 participants came from Shaare Zedek, Hadassah Ein Kerem, ALYN Rehabilitative Hospital, as well as additional places outside of Jerusalem. The course dealt both with principles of interpreting, various issues in the field, as well as relevant vocabulary in Arabic, Amharic, Russian and French. A special thank-you goes to Messele Mamo, who joined the team at the last minute to teach the section for Amharic-speakers.

Course graduates are already being integrated into interpreting teams in the institutions in which they work. We just got an SMS from one participant, thanking us for the tools he learned in the course, and exclaiming how they help him make health care more accessible to the French-speaking patients he translates for.

Many thanks to Dr. Adit Dayan, Director of Community Services at the Jerusalem Foundation, who distributed the graduation certificates. And many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation for its strategic partnership in developing Cultural Competency for more than the past decade.

Naomi Roff2019-05-11T04:38:43+00:00April 29th, 2019|Blog, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Health Services|

Beginning a Neighborhood Improvement Project during Spring Break

As schools in East Jerusalem went out on Spring Break, our MiniActive Boys started out on a new project, helping their community.

Creating benches from shipping pallets

In cooperation with the Sur Baher Community Center, they started building benches from shipping pallets.

Each boy was given specific tasks

What a neat thing to do during school vacation!

Adding interest to an otherwised empty patio

Adding interest to an otherwise empty patio

Here’s the post in Arabic:

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and Natan Fund for their continued support of MiniActive.

Naomi Roff2019-05-04T05:22:57+00:00April 28th, 2019|Blog, MiniActive|

Wishing a Happy – and Clean – Passover Holiday

We’ve come a long way in Cleaning Up Jerusalem Together. This year, just before the Passover Seder, our Tal Kligman was able to take a moment to see how far we’ve come, in this Facebook post:

Cleaning right before Passover

A few hours before the Passover Seder, 3:00 PM, and finishing up my last two errands. My small daughter fell asleep in the back seat, so I continue to drive, meandering through the neighborhoods. There is silence in the streets, when everyone is at home, preparing for the holiday. But not everyone. The only (almost) people still out on the streets are the sanitation workers. Beit Vegan, Ein Kerem, Kiryat Hayovel, Beit Hakerem and Kiryat Menachem, garbage trucks all over. 3-5 workers on each truck, moving cans, emptying them. The holiday is nearly upon us, and here they are, working, and making such an effort so that we can have clean streets for the holiday.

It’s true, alongside rows of clean garbage cans there were many that were not. There were also residents who piled trash on benches or next to stores that weren’t cleaned up. There were cans that were emptied but the garbage that fell to the ground stayed there. There was a little bit of everything.

But hey, there are municipal employees who are still working and at 3:15 on a holiday eve, and the Jerusalem Municipality is still apparently awake.

More cleaning right before Passover

My holiday blessing: I hope that we continue our joint efforts to clean up our beloved city, that this effort will become routine, that residents from all the communities will help the sanitation teams and put the garbage in the garbage cans, that the infrastructure will grow and meet the needs of the residents, and that we’ll be able to plan and bring the plans to fruition, the Municipality and residents, the way to a clean Jerusalem. Because the city belongs to all of us and we all want a clean Jerusalem…Thank you sanitation workers for your efforts and willingness, and for not skipping over my small, inaccessible alley.

Happy and clean holiday for everyone.

Here’s the post in Hebrew:

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

Naomi Roff2019-05-11T06:35:09+00:00April 25th, 2019|Blog, Effective Activism, The Little Prince - Cleaning Jerusalem Together|

MiniActive – Finishing Another Year of Studying Hebrew

This year, on April 16, as the Hebrew University went on Passover break and just before Ramadan, we finished yet another year of studying Hebrew, together with the Lissan – “Medabrot Ivrit” (Women Speaking Hebrew) organization.

Intisar speaking to a full auditorium

Some 200 women from MiniActive, including 50 teenage girls from MiniActive Youth, took weekly Hebrew classes, on 3 levels – beginning, intermediate and advanced – throughout the year.

Women with their certificates

MiniActive Director Intisar Qaraeen spoke at the graduation ceremony. Graduates proudly came with their families, and filled Hebrew University’s large auditorium.

Auditorium full with graduates and families

Congratulations to all graduates!

Here’s MiniActive’s post in Arabic:

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and Natan Fund for their ongoing support of MiniActive.

Naomi Roff2019-05-11T06:22:23+00:00April 25th, 2019|Blog, Effective Activism, MiniActive|

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