Meaningful listening

Sarit (22, Student from an orthodox family): “…I want to tell about one of the classes…a student in the classroom shared his and his husband’s wedding song…it was a shocking experience for me…I felt him…I felt his love to his boyfriend…the intense excitement…it was so different from my own world…In the past I used to regard this thing as terrible and wrong…but then I told myself – so what? Yes, it’s so different than my values and I don’t believe in it… but did I ever feel what he’s feeling? Did I ever identify with him? On what basis am I judging him?…So many things built up, me judging people by the title…”

Ella (23, student): “The song “Open the Heart” by Yuval Dayan symbolizes for me openness, empathy, listening and acceptance both of ourselves and of others. This is exactly what this course symbolizes for me, throughout the course each of us exposed their feelings and opinions, we listened to what others think of us and how we each see other members of the group. It also helped me connect and feel close to people without having known then at all before to the course.”