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love thy neigbor

Sooo, all day I've been thinking it is Wednesday. So much has been happening and no moment to rest. It seems like the whole city is preparing in all the ways imaginable on A. the upcoming holidays and B. the upcoming lockdown. 3 weeks, only 500m from your door. Every day it seems the rules are changing and it has become so complcated, I have started thinking in terms of "Corona Halacha".

On Sunday we had our 4th PEEP class. We talked about what Experiential Education meant for us; What we think the purpose of Judaism is; What we think the purpose of Jewish education is; What it really means to be pluralistic; How we develop character and educate character; and What an Ideal Jewish community would look like to us. We learnt that Pluralism really means 

"the effective and ongoing exploration of fundamental differences among Jews. For an individual, pluralism means probing one's own views in light of other serious options. Effective pluralism promotes empathy and the capacity to collaborate with others - who differ greatly in their backgrounds and beliefs." - (from "An Israel Experience" by Charles Herman)

We learnt that the fundamental goal of experiental eduaction is to teach love. Unconditional love to the Jewish Heritage, Traditons, Text, State and People. We asked eachother if this goal is best reached in a homogenous or heterogenous group. We figured that in a heterogenous group it certainly is harder but all the more successful! Unconditional love means acknowledging and embracing the differences between our fellow people.

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