One of the most important parts of our trip was spending time with students from other universities and comparing academic experiences. During our time in Tel Aviv, we were privileged to meet with Professor Michal Alberstein and other faculty at Bar Ilan University as well as several students to discuss their dispute resolution curriculum and the different practical experiences offered to students.
Student Avery Mayne offers some insight:
Another portion of our cultural immersion was an invitation to the Netanya Foundation Ethiopian Center. An extremely rich cultural experience, the people at the Netanya Center shared traditional tea and bread-breaking with our group (shown below), as well as a tour of the facilities and resources available to the community. The Netanya Center was an experience that the students found incredibly impactful as they also reflected on community differences here in Milwaukee.
Student Katie Shaw shares her experience and her personal reflections:
“As part of our visit in Israel, we visited the Netanya Foundation Ethiopian Heritage Center, a community center located in Netanya that supports the local population of Ethiopian Jews, many of whom are first or second generation immigrants to Israel. Our guide throughout the Center was Avi, an Ethiopian Jew who traveled to Sudan to later migrate to Israel in 1984. Heidi, who works at the Ethiopian Heritage Center, helped translate from Hebrew to English for Avi.
On our sixth day in Israel, the students visited Givat Haviva, an educational learning campus with a focus on peace in the Middle East. After a short presentation, our guide Lydia Aisenberg took us directly to the Green Line (the 1947 UN Partition Line) that divides the town of Barta’a (or Barta) between Israel and the West Bank. Rather than speak of the conflict that surrounds the town as a negative force, Lydia explained the history of the Green Line, the cultural richness of the town of Barta’a, and what the division means for the future of the conflict.
Student Ellen French shares her thoughts: