Israel Reflections 2015–Day Four: Dinner with Lawyers

For dinner on our fourth night, we joined lawyers from the region around the Sea of Galilee for a meal and mingling.  Much thanks for the yummy food and company to the partnership between this region in Israel and Milwaukee that sets this up every year.   Many students built professional relationships during this meal, gleaned advice from practitioners and professors, and engaged in meaningful dialogue.

Student Lucas Bennewitz had a particularly thoughtful discussion:

 During our trip, we had dinner at a kibbutz in Tiberius with different Israeli attorneys practicing in different areas.  Both our stomach and our brains were stuffed to the brim that evening with both excellent food and lively discussions about Israeli law and politics.  While enjoying more hummus and rice than we could handle, we gained valuable insight on the nature of the Israeli legal system, heard some criticism from the Israeli lawyers about their current system, and compared the Israeli and the American legal systems.  We also discussed the role that legal internships play in the Israeli law school experience. 

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Israel Reflections 2015 — Day Four: Har Bental

After our visit at Tzfat, we took a short bus ride into the northern hills to visit Har Bental, a lookout point on the edge of the Golan Heights. With a view into Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan, we could all see the importance of geography.

Student Nicholas Sinram shares his experience:

One of the many great experiences on our International Conflict Resolution trip to Israel was our visit to Har Bental.  In addition to the salmon bagel lunch and the Druze fig jam, our excursion to Har Bental gave us the chance to experience the beauty and importance of the region.  The visit to Har Bental also gave us the unique opportunity to learn more about the conflicts throughout the Middle East, the role of the international community in the region, and how this situation affects Israel specifically. golan-picture

We had the amazing luck of running into two U.N. observers. They explained the roles of U.N. peacekeepers and observers.

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Israel Reflections 2015 – Day Four: Class at Tzfat

On day four of the trip, we joined Professor Yael Efron’s class at the Tzfat Academic College School of Law for a joint negotiation class.  A close colleague of mine, Yael conducts her class similarly to ours here at Marquette and we were lucky enough to join her on her first day of the semester.   Spoiler alert–the students below describe the card game BARNGA–and I’m happy to share the materials if anyone would like.

Student Marcus Hirsch describes the exercise:

Upon entering the classroom, we were joined at tables by Israeli students, and began mingling.  After introductions, instructions for a negotiation exercise were distributed and a card game commenced.  The game required individual interpretations of the rules, and forbid verbal communication from the participants – in Hebrew or English.  This led to an even greater learning experience, even as it caused massive frustration, confusion, and uncontrollable fits of laughter from the participants.  In the debriefing after the game, the participants not only came to understand how miscommunication and lack of information can lead to problems, but learned that these problems are cross-cultural and cross-linguistic.

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