Last June, in 2013, I had the opportunity to participate in one of the meetings of the Grundtvig Partnership Programme, where communities of Masorti Europe gathered and were not only exposed to the Jewish life in Brussels but also had the chance to share best practices and develop new relationships.
The conference gave me a better understanding of the Jewish community in Brussels and also enhanced my skills as a leader of my own community. I really liked the Kabbalat Shabbat (welcoming of the Sabbath) of Chir Hadach, whose rabbi led an amazing service. I always love seeing how different the Masorti communities are but at the same time how similar as well.
We had the chance to listen to a professor speaking about the education of the Shoah (the Holocaust) to the Muslim population, which was a new topic for me given that Hungary has no significant Muslim population and that the Jewish community has little interaction with it. We could draw some conclusions, though, about intercultural and inter-religious dialogue, and this is one of the biggest challenges in the interaction of Jewish and non-Jewish population in Hungary as well.
Another interesting lecture gave us an overview of Minority Rights. I have taken a course at university on this topic and it was a real pleasure for me to listen to an expert and have the chance to be exposed to her knowledge and the latest research.
Aside from socializing in such extraordinary settings, the L.E.T. sessions also gave us many possibilities to get closer to each other. My favourite one was definitely the Listening Campaign, where we developed our communication skills. It was not only a good opportunity to try out the techniques in order to later put them in practice in our own community, but also a nice way to get to know each other.
To sum up, to see and experience Chir Hadach was amazing; I hope to visit this community again when I next go to Brussels. And a huge thanks goes to all the organizers who hosted us and showed us another face of our diverse Judaism.
SESSION A CHIR HADACH, BRUXELLES Chloé, France
Sujet de session : Comment conduire des meetings constructifs pour attirer des volontaires, détecter de nouveaux leaders communautaires, afin de renforcer les communautés. Mise en pratique et outils de communication One to One, et session de groupe.
Cette session, était tout aussi intéressante que les autres, mais trop dense au niveau des conférences qui se sont enchaînées.
Nous regrettons tous de ne pas pouvoir approfondir nos sujets de réflexion en petits groupes, ce qui est à certains moments plus productif.
- One to one - Conversation avec des membres de nos communautés - Être à l’écoute de l’autre et comprendre ses attentes - Détecter les centres d’intérêts de l’autre - La relation prime avant de vouloir obtenir ou solliciter l’aide de quelqu’un sur un projet - Permet de régler certain problèmes communautaires - Demander Un engagement dans une action. - Être dans un dialogue d’ouverture et de fraternité.
Brussels, 14 –
16 June 2013
The objective of
this weekend was: 'How to use one-to-one meetings to engage new members and
volunteers, develop people as leaders, and strengthen your community' as well as take part in
practical workshops.
The Board of Chir Hadach, a small organization existing for less than a decade and who were very
solicitous towards our participants, welcomed us.
The Grundtvig delegates were
happy to meet up again and further develop friendships that had been established during the
first meeting in Edgware.
The theme of this meeting was centred on inter-religious relationships and we learned how the
community had implemented a multicultural project between Jewish, Muslim and
Christian communities with the objective of bringing all of the members to a
common (physical) space, built by all, in an ecumenical spirit and with the goal of listening to one
another.
The training sessions
were an extension of what we learned in Edgware, covering one-to-one meetings and listening
campaigns.