In Association with Daniel Pearl Memorial Programs

                                    Presents an Inaugural Program:

                                                  Daniel Pearl

                                           Memorial Days of Dialogue

                               February 20. 2003  - February 26, 2003

One year ago, on February 21st, 2002, journalist Daniel Pearl lost his life violently through an act of terror.  Shortly afterwards, Daniels family formed a foundation to further the best of Daniels life and work which were inspired by his much loved ideals.  The Daniel Pearl Foundations mission is to continue these ideals through the promotion of cross-cultural understanding via journalism, music, and innovative communications.

Toward the anniversary of his tragic death, friends and family of Daniel Pearl have requested that people of all faiths join them in remembrance by conducting interfaith memorial services in a common stand for sanity, humanity, and mutual understanding.

In response to this request, Hillels Center for Jewish Engagement in association with Daniel Pearl Memorial Programs has prepared a program template for use by Hillel Foundations around the globe.  The program is designed to encourage inter-group dialogue and relationship building between students from Jewish, Muslim, and other backgrounds as part of the upcoming year anniversary of Daniels death.

Please join us in sponsoring this dialogue event on your campus.  The following template can and should be adapted to serve the needs of the students while being sensitive to campus setting, tone, and current events.  It was devised to provide Hillels with a dialogue program outline, while encouraging users to be creative.  Insert or change the icebreakers and exercises as needed to be successful in each unique setting.

Many, many thanks and much appreciation go to 2002/2003 Hillels Steinhardt Jewish Campus Corps Fellows: Kerry Bayowitz, Danny Newman, Seth Rosenzweig and Sarah Strnad who put their time, energy and souls into helping create this special memorial dialogue program.  Additional thanks and gratitude also to Judea Pearl, father of Daniel Pearl (zl), Rabbi Avi Weinstein and Senta Burke for their important contributions.

Contact Rhoda Weisman if your Hillel will be participating in this international program. We will link all participating Hillels with one another to share ideas and resources.

Sincerely,

Rhoda Weisman

                                                                   Daniel Pearl

Memorial Days of Dialogue

February 20. 2003  -  February 26, 2003

Goals

To Honor Daniel Pearls memory by supporting tolerance and respect for people of all cultures, and to increase understanding between multicultural groups.

Suggested Target Population

Muslim-Jewish dialogue group participants; other multi-cultural dialogue groups, journalism students.

Partners and Venues

Campus newspaper, radio station, Journalism department. Communications and/or Telecommunications department, multi-cultural affairs departments, various ethnic student organizations.

Date

Designated program can occur any day between Thursday, February 20 and Wednesday, February 26.

Web links

For more information on Daniel Pearl and the Daniel Pearl Foundation, visit:

http://danielpearlfoundation.org

http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/south/02/21/pearl.obit

http://www.saja.org/pearl.html

http://www.geocities.com/spyjaguar

Peace Corps - Culture Matters: http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/culturematters/workbook.pdf

I.  Suggested Dialogue Exchange Program Guidelines

·        Confidentiality is respected, what is said in the room stays in the room.

·        All participants voices and opinions must be treated with respect and dignity.

·        The dialogue that occurs should not be about "winning", when it comes to opinions there are no clear right or wrong answers.  The purpose of the dialogue is to listen, share, and build relationships between participants from different backgrounds that are respectful and can lead to (deeper) friendships.

II.  Suggested Program Outline:

·        Begin with a memorial statement or prayer.

·        Introduce the Dialogue Exchange program including its goals and the work of the Daniel Pearl Foundation.  Utilize a story or quotes to frame the program within Jewish, Muslim, and other traditions.

·        Choose and/or adapt one of the 2 Icebreakers that best fit your group, campus setting and circumstances.

·        Do Dialogue Exchange Exercises 1 and 2

·        Summarize and Close

III.  Program Introduction

·        Purpose, Goals, Facilitator and Participants are introduced.

·        Review the programs elements and suggested length.

·        Have snacks and sodas on hand.

·        Pick 1 or 2 of the suggested quotes/story from Jewish sources and tradition.

·        Follow with 1 or 2 quotes/story from other participants traditions.

IV.  Suggested Quotes/Story

V.  Icebreaker 1: Colors of the Rainbow (Pick one Icebreaker only)

1. All participants sit in a circle and pass around a bag of colorful candies.  Dialogue facilitator asks participants to take between 1 and 5 pieces of candy.  Each color of the candy will have a different prompt or question associated with it, that the facilitator will lead. The facilitator does not tell the participants that prompts are associated with different colors or which prompts go with which colors until all the candy is passed out and everyone is ready to begin.

2. After candy is handed out, facilitator gives suggested prompts and questions as seen below or adapts them to best fit the students and campus involved.  Each participant briefly introduces themselves before responding to the prompt. 

3.  Suggested prompts and questions:

·        Tell a story about a meaningful experience you had at your own religious or cultural event

·        Tell a story about a meaningful experience you had at a religious or cultural event other than your own

·        Two truths and a lie: give three statements about yourself that relate to your cultural background: two that are true and one that is not and have the other members of the group guess which is the lie

·        Tell what your major/profession is and say what strangers would assume it to be based on your religious or cultural background

Four different prompts or questions are recommended, but more or less can be used. Those listed above are merely suggestions, so feel free to come up with your own.  This is a fun and easy way to get people talking about some serious topics because they have the comfort of choosing what to talk about.  Also they know that everyone will be addressing similar topics, plus they get some candy out of it!  You can be the judge of how long you want this part of the program to take place.

VI. Icebreaker 2: Fictional Culture (Pick one Icebreaker only)

Form two groups that are a diverse mix of all participants and assign them to opposite sides of the room. 

·        Copy the Fictional Culture rules listed here, and give a copy to each member of Group A.

·        Tell Group A members to study the rules so they can act them out with Group B. 

·        Don't tell Group B that Group A has different rules for social interaction

·        Don't tell Group A that Group B did not get the same set of rules. 

·        Two different sets of Fictional Culture rules can also be used instead of only one to make things funnier and harder to figure out.

When the two groups are ready, facilitator asks participants to meet, mingle and establish connections with one another. Facilitator also asks the members of Group B to try figuring out the rules Group A members followed in their interactions. Or, if two sets of fictional rules are being used, have each group figure out the rules of the other. 

At the end of the mingling and friend making, regroup and discuss the interactions.  What was rewarding? What was difficult?  Did you understand the cultural rules? What makes it difficult on campus to understand each others cultural rules, norms, values? What would add value and increase understanding?

 Fictional Culture Rules*:

1.       Always smile at someone you don't know well.

2.       Constantly wink at someone if he or she is a close friend.

3.       When someone approaches you, the polite thing to do is to turn your back to him or her.

4.       Loud or aggressive people are attractive, and you're drawn to them.

5.       It's appropriate to shake hands only when you're angry with someone and want to start a fight with him or her.

6.       If you want to talk with a stranger, you immediately sit cross-legged on the floor in front of him or her.

7.       If you want to tell someone that you like him or her, stick out your tongue, hold your nose, and hop in place.

8.       Never speak English.

*If you make your own rules, be fun and creative with them.  Example:  If someone sneezes do a square dance.  If a person has blue eyes sing "My Brown Eyed Girl" to them. This will break the ice quicker!

The following exercises are designed to help facilitate conversations about multi-culturalism and tolerance.  They are adapted from exercises presented in the Peace Corp training manual, which can be found online.

VII.  Dialogue Exercise 1: What Is Culture?

A.     Each participant writes a personal definition of what racial, religious, or social "culture" means to them.

B.     Facilitator divides participants into two's or small discussion groups.

C.     Participants then consider what culture/cultures they belong to and list them.

D.     In small groups, participants address the following questions to encourage dialogue:

•  Is it important to have a cultural identity?
• Is it important to have pride in ones culture?
• Does having pride in ones own culture isolate those who dont belong to that culture?
• Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes one group from another.  Evaluate this statement.
•   How can different cultures connect if they most value their group identity?

VIII.  Dialogue Exercise 2: In the Mind of the Beholder

Individuals act in ways that they find normal or acceptable, however often times their actions are inappropriate.  Many of these actions occur on a daily basis and we pass them off as another joke or by not addressing what is unacceptable, which can lead to tensions and hidden resentments between both individuals and groups.  Listed below are situations that can easily occur.  What can be learned from them?

• Facilitator divides participants into twos or small groups and asks them to address questions 1-4.
•  What is your initial reaction to these, how would you address the situation? 
•  Participants regroup.
• Facilitator leads a discussion:
• What similar situations do we face on campus?
• Are we, the participants, handling them well?
• Can they be better handled for better results?
• Repeat with questions 5-8.

1.       A student wears jeans to traditional Shabbat services and dinner and you are offended.

2.       A student offers you food during the day during Ramadan.

3.       An individual makes a bigoted joke about their race or religion amongst the friends of that group but is easily heard by you and others in the room.

4.       An individual makes a bigoted joke about another race or religion amongst the friends of that group but is easily heard by you and others in the room.

5.       Your Jewish friend is hesitant to talk with a Muslim student on a class project because s/he feels all Muslims hate Jews and asks your advice.

6.       Vice-Versa.

7.       You are the student group president.  Some of your student leaders refuse to meet with another groups leaders because their goals are at odds with one another. The project you are on is mandatory in order to keep your student government funding.

8.       After a negative experience working with another student group, the leadership of your group refuses to address the problem and work with that group again.

These events can occur all the time; it is important that we take a step back, evaluate the situation and then proceed with ways that are the most beneficial to yourself, your student organization, and for the betterment of the entire community.  Sometimes the best answer is the hardest answer.

IX.  Summarize and Close

·        Facilitator leads a 5 minute evaluation. 

·        What did you enjoy and/or was meaningful to you about this dialogue? Why?

·        What would you change for the future? Why?

·        Would you like to have a follow-up program? Why/why not?

·        Other ideas about possible next steps?

Special thanks to all participants and sponsors.