Thumbs' Up

On the Mumbai- Pune road, across from Shalom Resort, a small hill juts up into the sky. The tip of this hill looks remarkably like 'God giving a thumbs' up'- - a line from one of my favorite childrens' books, Holes, by Louis Sachar, which features a similar hill. Did Mr. Sachar stay at this resort when writing the story?

In anycase, there really is a Shalom Resort in India. Staying there for the past two days was wonderful; The hotel is sorrounded by greenery, with a small pool in its center and an outdoor eating area. Shalom resort is run by a local Jewish family, and was the beautiful setting of the AJDC leadership training seminar. The doors have mezuzot, the ( non Jewish) manager at the front desk told me "Todah," and the clear and clean water of the pool- - but I didn't get the chance to even get my toes 'gila' ( Hindi for wet)

Much of the seminar was run by two terrific educators from Israel, who had us doing hands on leadership training and team building exercises. The JCC and AJDC staff along with the JYP youth board were at this seminar together and we all played with an oversize parachute- something I haven't done in years- and also had a place to safely talk about group issues, things we would like to change in our working environment. It was simply great- refreshing and wonderful- a well needed break and chance to step back and look at our work here from a different perspective.