Naomi Roff | The Jerusalem Intercultural Center

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So far Naomi Roff has created 501 blog entries.

MiniActive Youth, Striving for Normalcy in Abnormal Times

The past few months have been difficult for us all in Jerusalem, with its uncertainty, violence, increased army and police presence. For the Palestinian population, add to this riots, police raids, roadblocks at entrances to Palestinian neighborhoods that severely limit movement, including extreme difficulty in getting to work or school, especially if they are outside of the neighborhood. In short, life in East Jerusalem these days is quite far from being a bed of roses.

Through it all and despite it all, our MiniActive network for Palestinian women continues to be a ray of light. Throughout the despair, MiniActive continues to empower women to stand up for their rights and create change. Throughout the trials and tribulations of this difficult time, the MiniActive network of women has stayed strong, continuing to fight for cleaner streets and other services, continuing to educate women in practical skills from leadership to the environment to Hebrew language that will help them to gain access to critical services, continuing to provide enrichment activities for its members, from exercise to dessert making (hmm, interesting correlation…) to computers to trips to Acco, Haifa, Tiberias.

MiniActive Facebook campaign – “We don’t want to live with garbage!”

And remarkably, MiniActive Youth – our new extension for teenage girls from all over East Jerusalem that meets at the Abna al-Quds Community Center – has continued as well, and flourished. When things really started getting difficult, we thought that this might be time for MiniActive Youth to take a hiatus. “These girls can barely get to school, they can barely get out of their neighborhoods,” we thought. “How can they come from all over to Abna al-Quds?”

Group at Abna al-Quds Community Center

But in fact, they came, and they continue to come. Despite all the logistical challenges. Despite the fact that they are girls, which means they are traditionally considered weak and ones who must be looked after, making it more likely that their families would not allow them to leave their neighborhoods. MiniActive Youth symbolized for them a structure that they yearned for. It symbolized a state of normalcy that they craved. It was empowering them to be able to change at least their immediate surroundings and beyond – and because of that, they continued to come. We have a total of 25 teenage girls, from neighborhoods that include: Issawiya, Wadi Joz, Ras el-Amud, the Old City, Silwan, Abu Tor, Kufr Aqeb. They’ve already participated in a 6-session leadership course, where they learned how to plan and lead activities, follow-up, interpersonal communication, and more. Just this last week, they began a Hebrew course, to be given at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

In class

They will also take part in a course on the environment, and are working on a gardening project, in Abna al-Quds’ community garden. The theme – “Let’s eat locally” – growing vegetables in the garden. We’ll save you some cucumbers.

Working in the garden

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and its donors for its ongoing support of this program.

Naomi Roff2015-12-18T19:13:41+00:00November 28th, 2015|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish-Palestinian/Arab, MiniActive, Palestinians/Arabs|

Toward Culturally Competent Employment Training and Placement

Cultural competency affects us all, nearly everywhere – in the health care system, in the welfare system, in the education system, and more. Issues related to cultural competency also come into play in employment training and placement, and we are proud to be a part of change in the system.

Be-Atzmi workshop

On November 10 we held an all-day seminar for the Be-Atzmi organization, which assists thousands of unemployed and underprivileged men and women every year to integrate, on their own, into stable and appropriate workforce opportunities. Since Be-Atzmi often works with populations on the geographic and socio-economic periphery – including Israelis of Ethiopian descent, the Ultra-Orthodox, and Arab populations – a culturally competent approach to employment training and placement can be critically important for the program’s successes. Thus, this year the organization dedicated its annual professional development seminar to cultural competency.

More of the workshop

The seminar was held for all workers who come in contact with clients from throughout the country – some 150 people – and was held at the Academic College of Tel Aviv-Yafo. The day included teaching the different skills required to deal with different issues in a culturally competent manner. These included, for example, cultural objections to going out to work, refreshments during the Muslim month of Ramadan in mixed groups, integrating husbands into decisions, etc. The seminar dealt mainly with ‘personal cultural competence,’ which means how cultural competency affects individual people. For instance, a case worker suggested what seemed to be a perfect job for a Bedouin woman – working as a maid in a hotel. The pay was above minimum wage, the wages included full benefits, and the hotel provided transportation to and from work. The one problem – in Bedouin society, working as a hotel maid is not something ‘good girls’ do. It is considered to be ‘working in the bedroom,’ just one step up from prostitution (!) The solution – all the job seekers must be interviewed to see what kinds of jobs they’d be willing to take, and it must be made sure that cultural and religious norms are not infringed upon.

Participant in workshop

Other issues that were discussed were interviews, and the different ‘western codes’ of what is acceptable and not acceptable to say in an interview, being on time, involvement of the husband in decision-making – there is a gap between what the facilitators are used to and what the clients need.

As a result of the positive feedback received by organizers and participants, we will also begin to work with Be-Atzmi in developing their organizational cultural competence as well. This means ensuring that all forms and informative publications and signage be produced in a number of languages to fit the clients’ needs, that different culture’s holidays are respected, etc. In short, it means making sure that the broader picture that is the organization thinks in a culturally competent manner.

Naomi Roff2015-12-18T19:06:31+00:00November 17th, 2015|Asylum Seekers, Blog, Christians, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in the Workplace, Ethiopian Jews, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish Religious Denominations, New Immigrants, Palestinians/Arabs, Ultra-Orthodox Jews|

Window to Mt. Zion – Serving as a Microcosm for all of Jerusalem

Our home on Mt. Zion is a fascinating place. Our neighbors include the Dormition Abbey, the Diaspora Yeshiva, Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and Muslim cemeteries. We have Oscar Schindler’s grave (in the Catholic cemetery), as well as the home of renowned Israeli sculptor, David Palombo, who created the gates to Israel’s Knesseth building. And of course, the most important site on Mount Zion stands in the middle of the complex and it is the only site in the world that is holy to Judaism, Christianity and Islam! For Jews and Muslims is it David’s Tomb. The Jewish King David who is also a prophet for the Muslims is believed to be buried in a cave under the building. For the Christians it is the Cenacle, better known as Jesus Last Supper Room. Holy for all three, but like the rest of the city – and even the region – much tension has arisen over the past thousand years around it. And also in the last few years regarding who visits what, and when, and to whom it all belongs. Seemingly a microcosm for all issues Jerusalem….

Christian cemetery

Tensions peaked in the fall of 2013 – the spring of 2014, as the newly-appointed Pope Francis sought to visit the Holy Land and was scheduled to visit David’s Tomb / the Room of the Last Supper. Jews protested, sometimes violently. We convened the residents of Mt. Zion, and amazingly were able to get everyone in one room, together with the police, to try and work out a solution. Thankfully, in the end the Pope’s visit was uneventful, but it uncovered a deeper problem Mt. Zion has been facing, and emphasized the need for action.

That is how the “Window to Mt. Zion” project came about. We partnered with the Search for Common Ground Jerusalem Office, which is also working on a registry for Holy Sites. This project seeks to raise awareness in the general public about Mt. Zion, hold regular tours of the chief sites and areas of Mt. Zion, noting any detail, any improvement or any physical attacks. As part of the project, a corps of 15 – 20 volunteers, in pairs, triplets and sometimes individually, tour the different sites around Mt. Zion, recording – and reporting when necessary – any interesting things they see. You can read their blog in Hebrew, here.

Inside a monestary

Last week, on Friday, 23 October, we had a kickoff event, as part of the Open House Jerusalem festival that took place throughout Jerusalem over the weekend. We set up a stand outside the Zion Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem, and offered a wide range of tours and lectures all over the Mount. We had tours of Mt. Zion from a Muslim perspective. We had tours of the recent archaeological excavations that are just outside the Old City walls. We had tours of the different cemeteries that populate the Mount. We told the fascinating story of our home and its famous mulberry tree. The Dormition Abbey and the Diaspora Yeshiva opened their doors to visitors as well. All in all, we told our story to 100 – 150 people throughout the day.

Information table, Zion Gate

Naomi Roff2017-04-07T14:37:00+00:00October 30th, 2015|Blog, Christians, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish Religious Denominations, Mount Zion, Palestinians/Arabs, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem, Ultra-Orthodox Jews|

Cultural Competency in Hadassah Academic College

The end of the Jewish High Holidays signal the beginning of the academic year for Israel’s colleges and universities. This year, Hadassah Academic College is beginning the year much more culturally competent than last, and it will continue the trend, into this upcoming school year.

Training at Hadassah College

We began working with the college in November of 2014, after a very difficult summer and fall in Jerusalem. During the year we began operating a series of seminars for administration and lecturers on the principles of cultural competency and how they applied to an academic setting. Read here for more information about the beginning of the process.

Practicing in big and small groups

The different types of course studies at the Hadassah College are are vastly different in nature from one another. There are those that are based on laboratory work, those that are based on frontal lectures, those that work with patients. Sometimes communication with the lecturers is direct and sometimes most of the students’ communication with the administration is done through counselors. So we adapted the different workshops to the different kinds of learning systems in place. In June and July, we held four full-day workshops for 80 faculty members from 7 different departments (laboratory sciences, environmental health, biotechnology, optometry and computer science), conducting workshops in groups according to learning style. Throughout the 2015 – 2016 school year we will continue to work with faculty from different departments. In the next stage, we will work with students who work with patients (such as speech therapy and optometry) during their training.

Naomi Roff2015-11-01T16:57:33+00:00October 25th, 2015|Asylum Seekers, Blog, Christians, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Academic Institutions, Ethiopian Jews, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish Religious Denominations, Jewish-Palestinian/Arab, New Immigrants, Palestinians/Arabs, Ultra-Orthodox Jews|

MiniActive Women in East Jerusalem – Advancing Horticulture Therapy

The therapeutic effects of gardening have long been widely known. This type of therapy has been used around the world since at least the 1800s.

Our MiniActive program, a network of over 1,200 Palestinian women throughout East Jerusalem who are working on a daily basis to improve their everyday lives, has extensively dealt with environmental issues. Alongside working to improve safety and environmental hazards in residents’ immediate vicinity, MiniActive groups have partnered with women from other parts of Israel to learn about environmental issues; they have participated in a number of other related activities as well.

Young girls experimenting in gardening

In Jerusalem, the David Yellin Academic College of Education operates a special course in horticulture therapy, but it is regularly available only in Hebrew. Now, they will be able to have access to the course, in Arabic. This is the first time ever that such a course will be made available in Arabic in Jerusalem. Indeed, while gardening therapy programs are available in western Jerusalem, there are no programs, and awareness of its benefits is very low.

We came to an agreement with the College in which the women would pay only half of the tuition fee. Classes will take place once a week for a full day, to enable the women to continue to work. 15 women started the course, which is scheduled to begin in mid-October.

The course is supposed to coincide with the beginning of the academic year, and is open to those trained in special education. Participants will learn about the world of plants and the therapeutic garden – principles of planning, establishing and maintaining such a garden. They will also learn the principles of psychology and psychotherapy, as well as how to design a gardening therapy program and practicums and lab exercises in closed areas.

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation for its ongoing support of this program.

Naomi Roff2016-02-01T10:05:38+00:00October 15th, 2015|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, MiniActive, Palestinians/Arabs|

What does Yom Kippur / Eid al-Adha mean to you? Bridging conflict with a movie

For the second year in a row – the Jewish Yom Kippur and the Muslim Eid al-Adha fell almost on the same day. This situation had the potential of sparking even more violence, during a time tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, Jews and Arabs, especially in Jerusalem but also in mixed cities throughout Israel, were high.

Both are among the most important holidays of their respective religions, but are celebrated quite differently. Yom Kippur is characterized by fasting and introspection, and, uniquely in Israel, refraining from driving (See here things that even the most secular Israeli Jews did on Yom Kippur when the roads were clear.) Conversely, Eid al-Adha, which commemorates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son, is celebrated with family get togethers, often slaughtering a goat or a sheep to mark the day. In an effort to diffuse tensions, the Gishurim program (which is being operated by Mosaica and us) and a range of other partners, produced a YouTube video, which was viewed throughout the country. It was a fully joint Jewish-Muslim production, and served as an important ray of hope during these tense times. Some 250,000 people were exposed to the film, and it was viewed by more than 150,000 people on Facebook, from all around the country. Happy (and hopeful) viewing!

Naomi Roff2017-05-02T07:43:38+00:00September 29th, 2015|Blog, Gishurim - Israel Community Mediation Centers, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish-Palestinian/Arab|

Building Community Solidarity through Themed Playgrounds

How would you like your local public playground? Aimed at big or little kids? With a pirate theme or dinosaurs or space travel?

Can you really have a playground made to order? Well, yes. During the spring and summer months we were involved in community-building processes that aimed to do just that – build community by building a playground. We were approached by the Jerusalem Municipality to lead processes in Gilo, Ir Ganim, Givat Hamivtar and Shuafat. With funding from the Bloomberg Philanthropies, established by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, we set to work.

Jerusalem’s diversity, building playgrounds

The processes were led by the staff of the different community councils, alongside Municipality officials. Before meeting with the residents, these process leaders met to set joint project goals and ensure that everyone was on the same page. (Indeed, ‘informed decision-making’ is a key component of the principles of participatory democracy.) Different concepts were reviewed – what exactly are themed playgrounds, the rough budgets set aside for building the playgrounds, the timeline, safety standards, types of potential equipment, examples of themed playgrounds from around the world for inspiration, and more. We then set out to mentor the neighborhoods separately, as all residents in each community were invited to sessions that included brainstorming for different themes, coming to agreement on what residents wanted in a playground, and more. After both residents and community and planning professionals put their ideas on paper (illustrated in the pictures), suggestions were passed along to the landscape architects contracted to design the playgrounds. In Gilo residents chose to establish a “Cub Park” (for example, trying to mimic characteristic movements of different animals in the park, such as, but not necessarily including, crawling like a snake, climbing like a monkey, jumping like a kangaroo, etc.). Residents in Givat Hamivtar chose “Man and his World;” in Ir Ganim, “Touching the Sky;” and in Shuafat, “Space Park.” The architects are now working on specific designs and are scheduled to present these designs to the neighborhoods very soon.

We came to this project as a result of our in-depth work with residents of Kiryat Hayovel and Kiryat Menachem / Ir Ganim in the Asbestonim Wadi, which runs between Kiryat Hayovel and Kiryat Menachem / Ir Ganim. We can’t wait to see how these new playgrounds turn out!

Plans on paper

Naomi Roff2015-11-01T17:00:33+00:00September 16th, 2015|Blog, Deliberative Democracy, Gilo Community Dialogue, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish Religious Denominations, Kiryat Yovel, Palestinians/Arabs, Ultra-Orthodox Jews|

Launch of Groundbreaking Healthcare Web Site for the French-Speaking Community

À votre santé! Here’s to your health, in French.

We’re happy to announce the launching of www.sante.org.il, a groundbreaking web site that makes Israel’s health care system accessible to French speakers. The first of its kind in Israel, 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.

Sante homepage

The Israeli and French health systems are quite different and immigrants (olim) or future Olim are not always prepared. Until Sante Israel, much of the information provided by the authorities and health insurance companies were in Hebrew, English or Russian, and were scattered in various sources, making them inaccessible to large segments of the populations. Sante Israel has grouped them in a sensible manner, translated if necessary and presented them on one site.

The site includes information on medical institutions, medications available, services for different age groups (children, elderly …) and for different situations (pregnancy, chronic illness), payments and co-payments, what is covered and what is not in the various plans, etc. There are also many explanations on the differences between health care in Israel and that in France, such as emergency visits to the doctor, a glossary and explanations on important terms, guides to use existing information tools and links to useful sites. The site also provides a wealth of information for French-speaking health care professionals seeking to make Aliya to Israel, on equivalent degrees, equivalency exams, licensing, etc.

Navigate to nearest hospital through Sante

The site is also fully designed to be mobile-friendly. It is available on both Android and iOS smartphone systems, and has the ability to dial telephone numbers automatically by clicking on them. It also links directly to the Waze navigation app, which can direct the user to the closest hospital or medical center. It will also be linked to a Facebook page, an online chat, forums and an e-mail address, which will enable users to ask questions, receive advice, share experiences, and publish information, creating an active community with the site at the center.

We’d like to thank 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+00:00September 5th, 2015|Blog, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Health Services, Identity Groups and Conflicts, New Immigrants, Santé Israël - French internet platform on the Israeli healthcare system|

Speaking in the Square – Getting the Word Out Beyond

Even more press coverage for the Speaking in the Square group, which we’ve been mentoring since last summer. (See here and here for more information.) This most recent string began with Ossnat Sharon’s August 8, 2015 column on Sichah Mekomit (Hebrew for local discussion). (Ossnat is one of the active core of volunteers who gather in Zion Square in Jerusalem’s downtown each week.) The English version, entitled, “The right-wing group trying to keep downtown Jerusalem Arab-free,” ran on August 21 on the sister site, +972mag.com. It describes the basics of the Lehava organization, an extremist organization whose followers often parade with racist chants in downtown Jerusalem mostly on Thursday and Saturday nights, and their weekly activities in downtown Jerusalem. This column led to an interview with Israel Channel 10’s veteran reporter, Yaron London on Sunday August 9, on the daily news magazine show, London et Kirshenbaum, which airs every weekday at 6 pm. The original column was also translated into Arabic and published on the Times of Israel Arabic site on August 12. Click here for the 5-minute interview, in Hebrew:

In the London et Kirshenbaum studio

In it, like in the column, she describes the people in Lehava. “This is a phenomenon of youth,” she said. They are mostly youth and young people, looking for a meaningful way to, in their eyes, save the Jewish people from destruction. Some are youth at risk, while others are not. Some wear Lehava’s signature black and yellow T-shirts, and others do not (which makes it more difficult to identify them). While social service organizations and agencies are present in the Square to help youth at risk, the youth aren’t looking for their services. “These are youth who are looking do something, to create real change,” Ossnat added, and Lehava is the way that they’ve found to do it.

Speaking in the Square’s role, as she notes in the column, is “to make it difficult for them to operate unhindered.” With activists that run the gamut of political viewpoints, including secular and religious Jews, they keep an eye on the youth, more than the police, and let them know they’re being watched. They speak with them and passersby, and engage them in discussions that run deeper than one-line slogans. “We initiate a different kind of political discussion,” Ossnat explains in her Channel 10 interview. “We’re ensuring a moderate political presence [from all over the political spectrum], and not a nationalistic one. It has an effect that other kinds of activities don’t have…Something else is created [in the Square]. Something that dissipates the violence.”

Activity in the Square

We believe that the activities of Speaking in the Square have indeed changed the atmosphere in Zion Square, to one that truly enables Jerusalem’s extremely diverse populations to express themselves in a respectful manner. Many thanks to the UJA-Federation of New York and the Jerusalem Foundation for their support, which have enabled us to advance this project. Many thanks to these and other media outlets that have publicized Speaking in the Square’s work over the past several weeks. Join us in downtown Jerusalem on Thursday or Saturday nights!

Naomi Roff2015-09-02T09:47:49+00:00August 23rd, 2015|Blog, Effective Activism, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish-Palestinian/Arab, Promoting Tolerance in Jerusalem|

Can Israel’s Police Force Become Culturally Competent?

The news is full of stories of the police’s treatment – appropriate or not – of civilians. Just recently Americans marked the one-year anniversary of the shooting of a young, black, unarmed man by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, USA, which led to riots and civil unrest for some time. In May of this year Israeli police officer were shown beating a soldier of Ethiopian descent, which led to a wave of demonstrations of the Ethiopian community in Israel, and unrest in the streets.

Israel’s police force – and any police force – are under constant and almost unbearable pressure to keep law and order, working among a vastly diverse population. Educators in the Israeli Police Force recognized this complexity, and requested to begin working with us to develop a cultural competency training module for police cadets. To their credit, planning work actually began before relations between the police and the Ethiopian community made headlines. But the light shown on the police during the full-force demonstrations of the Ethiopian community this spring underlined the necessity of this kind of training. As a result, we began to working with all new police cadets, as part of their 14-week basic training course. At the same time, we are beginning an in-depth process with 23 police stations throughout the country.

At this first stage we are implementing introductory workshops to different training courses – basic policing, detectives, border police, cavalry, advanced policing – all are undergoing the basic 1 1/2 hour workshop. Since the beginning of June we’ve held 40 seminars, with 20 – 30 police cadets in each group. That’s already 1,200 cadets! After this, we will be organizing a Train the Trainers course for the regular instructors in the police academy, so the principles can be fully integrated into their training regimen.

The Israel Police Academy (credit: Israeli Police Facebook page)

More in-depth processes will be taking place in 26 police stations throughout the country that have high concentrations of Israelis of Ethiopian descent, including two in Jerusalem, Moriah in the south and Shufat in the north. In this process we are partnering together with the Gishurim project. The first step of this process will be a half-day seminar on cultural competency, using facilitators that we’ve trained. We will begin training the facilitators in September; they will then lead 150 seminars throughout the country.

And what do the police think about these training sessions? We’re finding that many, especially Jerusalemites, are already very in-tuned to the cultural complexities of our city, and make every effort to consider the effects that cultural sensitivity has on the residents with whom they come into contact. We are honored to be part of a process that seeks to bring law and order to all residents of the city.

Naomi Roff2017-05-02T07:52:10+00:00August 13th, 2015|Asylum Seekers, Blog, Christians, Cultural Competence, Cultural Competence in Police, Cultural Competence in the Workplace, Ethiopian Jews, Identity Groups and Conflicts, Jewish Religious Denominations, Jewish-Palestinian/Arab, New Immigrants, Palestinians/Arabs, Ultra-Orthodox Jews|

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