Naomi Roff | The Jerusalem Intercultural Center

About Naomi Roff

This author has not yet filled in any details.
So far Naomi Roff has created 501 blog entries.

Fighting Racism and Xenophobia through Effective Dialogue

Last Thursday, Speaking in the Square activists, including our own Michal Shilor, led an Effective Dialogue workshop, as part of the 9Adar Project – the Jewish Week of Constructive Conflict, which is operated by the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies together with Mosaica: The Center for Conflict Resolution by Agreement.

Learning principles of effective dialogue

Here are some conclusions that were posted by the Gishurim program / Mosaica (in Hebrew):

Something good is happening in Jerusalem.
More specifically, something good is happening in Zion Square. 🙂
If you want to have dialogue with someone whose opinion contradicts yours, try to find a point of agreement between you.
When you speak with someone else, listen, really listen to him or her. Try and learn something new.
Sometimes we enter into a conversation and forget what we were originally arguing about, our goal in the conversation. It’s important to keep asking yourself what you want to achieve with what you’re saying.
Try to find positive points about the person with whom you do not agree / like. Sometimes it’s very difficult. But each discussion will look different if you try.
It’s very easy to let a lot of anger loose in a heated argument. Try to have a pleasant discussion, one that preserves everyone’s personal space and mutual respect.

Members of Speaking in the Square have been successfully developing the Effective Dialogue methodology since they began providing an alternative to racist activists from the Lehava organization in Zion Square in the summer of 2014. In recent months members have held a number of workshops that explain the principles of Effective Dialogue.

Flyers with principles of effective dialogue

Effective Dialogue assumes that a common denominator between two people can be found, even if differences at first seem gaping. Much of the conversation is concentrated on finding elements to agree upon. The goal is to show the other that not everything is black and white, that there are many shades of gray in each issue.

Practicing effective dialogue in Z ion Square

We had about 20 people at the theoretical training, and 5-6 joined the Speaking in the Square regulars in Zion Square to try out their new skills, including with Lehava members.

Speaking with everyone in Zion Square

Naomi Roff2016-02-26T18:38:03+00:00February 22nd, 2016|Asylum Seekers, Blog, Christians, Effective Activism, Ethiopian Jews, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish Religious Denominations, Jewish-Palestinian/Arab, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem|

Jews and Arabs, Fighting Racism, Fighting for Abu Tor / A-Thuri

Abu Tor / A-Thuri was one of the first Neighborhood Tolerance Teams we began working with as part of our Campaign to Promote Tolerance in Jerusalem. We wrote here about a number of joint initiatives that they and other groups are advancing. In fact, the attempt to create such a group in Abu Tor was made by a few devoted local activists a while ago who then asked for our help. This is the best approach – helping a committed group who owns the process. Indeed, these groups are not “ours” – we help them get established, but they remain independent.

Now, they’re leading an urgent initiative – the fight against the development of what is called the “Greek Compound.” The Greek Compound, owned by the Greek Orthodox Church, is important to Jews, Christians as well as Muslims. For Christians it is thought of as the original Hill of Evil Counsel (where Jesus was handed over to the Romans), for Jews and Muslims it also boasts a history that dates back to pre-Canaanite times, early Islam and the First and Second Temples. You can read more on the campaign’s web site.

In a boost to their fight, the group was profiled in an article in the Ha’aretz Daily newspaper.

Many thanks for the UJA-Federation of New York for their support of this program.

Naomi Roff2019-11-16T11:26:02+00:00February 19th, 2016|Blog, Christians, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish Religious Denominations, Jewish-Palestinian/Arab, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem|

Petition! Santé Israël Website – Example of Helping French-Speakers in Israel in Healthcare

“For years, the Pharmadom Foundation has helped the most vulnerable populations in Israel to seek and support emerging or not covered by government requirements. This is what led us to recently create the Santé Israël (“Health Israel”) website, which has quickly established itself as a valuable tool to help French Olim to navigate the Israeli health system.”

This is what the Pharmadom Foundation said about our Santé Israël website in a recent petition that seeks to enable French-trained pharmacists to practice in Israel without being required to take certification examinations.

Pharmadom petition site

Santé Israël was launched in September 2015, and was developed thanks to a partnership with Pharmadom. Santé Israël is a mobile-friendly website makes Israel’s health care system accessible to French speakers. The site offers comprehensive explanations about Israel’s health care system, which is vastly different from that of France, as well as its four main health funds.

We’re happy to be a prime example of their work. Many wishes for success with the petition!

Many thanks to the Pharmadom Foundation for their ongoing support of the project. The Pharmadom Foundation works under the auspices of the Foundation of French Judaism (FSJU) and the Rashi Foundation.

Naomi Roff2018-06-04T04:48:50+00:00February 18th, 2016|Blog, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Health Services, Cultural Competence in the Workplace, Employment, Identity Groups and Conflicts, New Immigrants, Santé Israël - French internet platform on the Israeli healthcare system|

Neighborhood Tolerance Team in Baka’a Gets Underway

What is common in the following experiences?

“The train (on the old Ottoman line) was our alarm clock – when it went past our house every morning at 7 am, mom knew it was time to get up and get ready for school.”

“We rode our broken scooter to the YMCA to get into the Hapoel soccer game at halftime, with sunflower seeds in hand. We came back on foot, tired but happy, scooter in tow.”

“We didn’t lock our doors then. We knew everyone’s family backgrounds: Kurdish, Iraqi, Turkish, Moroccan. We didn’t know what “Ashkenazi” (Jew of Eastern European descent) or “Mizrachi” (of Middle Eastern descent) was. We were one big family.”

“The jelly cake at the Smadar Cinema, and Chechik who would stop the movies in the middle to yell at us to be quiet. We also learned to smoke at the Smadar Cinema.”

At the Smadar Cinema

These are all common experiences that were shared last week at the Baka’a Neighborhood Tolerance Team’s first meeting. Dozens of residents came to listen and to tell stories about Baka’a of yore, from the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s. The stories brought together new and veteran residents, young and old families as well as students, in reminiscing about Baka’a’s fascinating past.

Baka’ah meeting

In such a diverse neighborhood it was important to bring the unique texture of the neighborhood to the fore. We have found in our work to promote tolerance in Jerusalem, that tolerance is not only something that must be practiced toward the far-away ‘other’ – Arabs, the Ultra-Orthodox. Tolerance begins in our neighborhoods, with our neighbors, in the local supermarket and post office, in the way we treat other people. The first step in treating them in a tolerant manner is to get to know them on a more personal basis. Thus, the fascinating stories of neighborhood veterans were a perfect way to launch the Baka’a Neighborhood Tolerance Team.

Sharing experiences

Many thanks to the UJA-Federation of New York for their support of this program.

If you want to see some videos from the event, here they are:

Naomi Roff2017-05-02T07:50:36+00:00February 17th, 2016|Blog, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish Religious Denominations, New Immigrants, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem|

Healthcare Certification Training: Taking Stock

Over the past few weeks we’ve gotten some great news – that 6 more occupational therapists who took our course passed the Ministry of Health certification exam, and several more were very close. As the results continue to come in, we thought we’d take stock over the past 4 years of the program. We’ve really come a long way:

The program has increased the number of certified Arab paramedical professionals in East Jerusalem exponentially. Since it began in 2012, nearly 70 nurses, occupational therapists, and physical therapists to pass their Israeli certification exams. This includes 37 nurses, 24 occupational therapists and 6 physical therapists. Beforehand, only 1-2 would pass each year in each discipline. It would have taken many years to achieve these results otherwise.
The program has enabled us to more clearly map the situation of different paramedical professions in East Jerusalem, contributing to the knowledge of training in the Jerusalem area. As we developed courses for different disciplines, we have gained an in-depth knowledge of the state of diverse fields in East Jerusalem. This is the first time ever that any type of mapping has been done, and this information is now available for the first time to health care and educational institutions, as well as the Israel Ministry of Health.
The program has raised awareness both among Palestinian institutes of higher education and health care institutions in East Jerusalem as well as Israeli Ministry of Health. When we began the program, there was little compliance and even less awareness about the need and benefits of having staff that have passed the certification exam in their fields. Today, all the major health care institutions in East Jerusalem, Palestinian universities, as well as Ministry of Health, better understand this need. We believe this understanding will lead to an improvement in health care in East Jerusalem.
The program has opened a large window of opportunity for Arab women paramedical professionals to improve economic opportunities. After they pass their certification exams improves their access to employment rights, which includes an increase in pay and employment conditions.
As a result of the program, the JICC has earned a prestigious reputation for offering high-quality courses. Since we began these courses, graduates of the physical therapy and occupational therapy courses have had high rates of success in passing the certification examinations. As a result of this success, graduates, and even expectant graduates, of the different Palestinian universities have requested to register for courses well in advance.
Our reputation proceeds itself in expanding to new disciplines. As a result of the success of graduates of physical and occupational therapy, graduates of other paramedical professions – speech therapists and medical laboratory technicians – have requested we develop courses, which are now in various stages of development. Thus, we have expanded our offerings from two to six (also including physical therapy, speech therapy, medical laboratory technicians and medical Hebrew). We are also in regular contact with the medical faculty of Al-Quds University, ready to assist if needed.

A meeting of the nursing course

We’ve just started a new course for physical therapists, and are developing courses for speech therapists and medical lab technicians. We’ll keep you posted on further updates.

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and the Hadassah Foundation for their support of this program.

Naomi Roff2016-02-20T08:37:40+00:00February 15th, 2016|Blog, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Health Services, Cultural Competence in the Workplace, Employment, Employment Accessibility, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Palestinians/Arabs, Supporting employment in East Jerusalem|

Continuing to Build Community by Solving Problems in Gilo

Extension of the light rail to Gilo is a good thing, right? Or will it just bring years of disruptive construction and lost income for local businesses?

These were some of the issues that we’ve been having in Gilo, together with professionals from the Gilo Community Council and the staff of the transportation master plan.

We’ve been helping the staff from the Gilo Community Council lead the process with local residents for the past few months. Residents first learned about the new line that is being built to Gilo and how it will affect their everyday lives. They also met with staff from the transportation master plan, and presented them with their questions and concerns. And last week, on February 2, residents had an opportunity to submit their objections to the current plan.

Helping to write objections

We’re not talking about objections to the overall concept of the construction of the light rail. These objections were more like specific requests on how to improve the way the rail is built (in stages, instead of all at once), the placement of electrical lines, objections by local businesses on how to minimize the damage during and after construction, etc. We helped the process by making this event a one-stop shop – the room was divided into a number of geographical and other areas, and professionals were on hand for consultation and help in writing up the objections. A lawyer was also there to sign the objections before submission. Most importantly, residents of Gilo felt they have the power to influence the construction of the light rail line. And they have the power to influence other areas of their lives as well.

Writing and submitting objections

Since this process is long-term (given previous experience, it could go on for a decade), the partnership we’ve all been working toward is also a long-term partnership, one based on mutual respect and a desire to respond to residents’ real needs. In this process we’ve built up a community that communicates with each other – on Facebook, through the community newspaper, and more – and solve problems together, in real time. We’ll keep you posted on the continuing developments.

Naomi Roff2016-02-13T14:40:14+00:00February 10th, 2016|Blog, Deliberative Democracy, Effective Activism, Gilo, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish Religious Denominations, New Immigrants|

Qualifying Paramedical Professionals, Improving Health Care in East Jerusalem

Slowly but surely, we’re helping to improve health care, accessibility to health care, and paramedical professionals’ workers rights in East Jerusalem.

Yesterday we began a second course to train physical therapists to pass the Israeli Ministry of Health certification examination, which will take place in May 2016. This is part of our larger program to train recent graduates of paramedical professions to pass the Israeli Ministry of Health certification exams that we’ve been developing since 2012. Since the program began, we’ve helped some 70 nurses, occupational therapists, and physical therapists to pass their Israeli certification exams, when it would otherwise have taken many years to achieve these results.

This success has brought brought additional development – in light of the success in the first three fields. we were asked to develop courses for medical lab technicians and speech therapists. We’re in the process of doing so, and will be sure to provide updates here.

Physical therapists course

We have 20 physical therapists in the current course. Last time we were very successful – 6 passed, on a test that is considered very difficult even in the original Hebrew. We wish them success, Bi-najah, Be-hatzlaha!

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and the Hadassah Foundation for their support of this program.

Naomi Roff2016-02-20T08:38:00+00:00February 8th, 2016|Blog, Education, Employment, Employment Accessibility, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Palestinians/Arabs, Supporting employment in East Jerusalem|

Residents of South Talpiot – Taking Charge of their Future

Deliberative democracy means enabling all residents, regardless of socio-economic or ethnic background, to take part in changing their future. Such processes can take place in rich neighborhoods, poor neighborhoods, and everywhere in between. Over the past few years we’ve indeed run the gamut of neighborhoods – from Baka’a to Arnona to Gilo, Romema and Kiryat Hayovel. Now we’re concentrating on South Talpiot.

Community Meeting in South Talpiot

South Talpiot has a very interesting mix of populations. There are many veteran immigrants from Middle Eastern countries. There is a large contingent from Ethiopia (the Municipality built a special community house for the Ethiopian community a few years ago). There are those who are a bit better off who have moved into recently-built hi-rise apartments, and more. There are those who are recognized by the local welfare office and are used to receiving services. Very few are used to having a say in determining what kind of services they will receive. Very few are used to being active and having a voice in the future of their neighborhood.

Discussing specific initiatives

We’re starting to change all that. On February 3, the Greater Baka’a Community Council, together with the local welfare municipality branch and with our assistance, held a first social entrepreneurship meeting in South Talpiot. We were nervous about how many people would come – in the end there were 80 of us! This included the entire spectrum of diversity of residents – the true meaning of what deep democracy processes are trying to accomplish. And just as often happens in Open Space Technology meetings, the issues addressed – all pertaining to everyday life in the neighborhood – also ran the gamut – from physical and environmental development of the area, neighborhood approach to urban renewal, finding solutions to parking issues, activities for children, and much more!

A total of 11 initiatives were discussed, and we’ll be following up with them, together with the community social worker and other professional staff from the Greater Baka’a Community Council. Congratulations to all involved on a fabulous jump-start!

Naomi Roff2016-02-13T14:14:44+00:00February 6th, 2016|Blog, Deliberative Democracy, Ethiopian Jews, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish Religious Denominations, Larger Baka Community Council, New Immigrants|

Cultural Competence at the National Insurance Institute in East Jerusalem

Would you believe that the East Jerusalem branch of the National Insurance Institute (NII) is becoming culturally competent? Yes, this is the same Israeli bureaucratic welfare institution that’s gotten a bad name for its being cumbersome and unwelcoming, especially for the city’s Arabic speakers. Being an Israeli institution in East Jerusalem these days, especially if people are looking to you for support, is also rather difficult.

This is where we salute the branch’s workers, especially the upper management, who recognized the complexity of this situation, and sought to better accommodate the public they serve. Several months ago we were approached by the director of the East Jerusalem branch to develop a system of cultural competency. This is the first cultural competency work that has been done in any NII branch throughout Israel.

East Jerusalem National Insurance Institute

Over the past year we’ve been meeting with and observing different staff members, adapting our training modules to the particular model of the NII. Last week (January 27) we had our first training session with the workers. Much of the session focused on social-political tensions in interactions with clients. Many of the workers were happy to have gained tools to enable them to do their jobs better.

This session was the first, and we’ll continue to follow up and mentor the management and workers. One of the subjects of future workshops will be ‘Linguistic Simplification,’ which means to simplify the often jargon-laden text of NII forms into simpler language that non-native speakers can understand. In fact, the West Jerusalem branch liked the idea too, and soon we’ll be giving a workshop on Linguistic Simplification for the West Jerusalem branch as well!

Stay tuned for further updates from the National Insurance Institute – Jerusalem.

Naomi Roff2016-11-25T13:54:09+00:00February 4th, 2016|Blog, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Government Institutions, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Palestinians/Arabs|

Arabic Classes Live Arabic Culture

Last night, our Arabic classes not only practiced their Arabic, we opened a window to the richness of Arabic culture. We hosted author Sheikha Haliwa, who read from a number of her poems and stories. She told her life story – about growing up in an unrecognized Bedouin village near Tivon that was destroyed by the government in 1991, about studying in junior and senior high school at a Christian school in Haifa, and about her marriage to her cousin in Jaffa, where she currently lives.

Sheikha Hilwa speaking

We had about 40 of our students in levels 3-5 attended the amazing evening.

Enraptured audience

These evenings have become an integral part of our Arabic classes. You can read here about last year’s program. We can hardly wait for the next one, scheduled for the end of February! These evenings during the year are for our more advanced students, and we’re planning a special tour in May for our beginning students.

Thinking about studying Arabic? You’d better hurry – classes are already filling up fast for next year!!! This year we’re breaking records, with 180 students in 12 classes, over 5 levels. We’ve added a new teacher – Gali – to help out Anwar and Suha. We have classes going in the mornings and afternoons, most days of the week, and we’re already planning for next year. Many thanks for the Jerusalem Foundation for their ongoing support of this project.

Naomi Roff2016-02-07T16:50:26+00:00February 2nd, 2016|Blog, Courses, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish-Palestinian/Arab, Language Center|

Previous 404142 Next

naomi

About Naomi Roff