Atara Charnowitz is from Woodmere, N.Y and is currently studying in Queens College. Atara attended SKA high school and then spent a year and a half in Michlalah. She came on Michlelet as a camper, and coming back as a madricha has always been a dream of hers. Atara is so excited to be on Michlelet again and to participate in everything this amazing program has to offer.

The title of Atara’s chaburah is, “Your life starts now”. The goal of this chaburah is for the girls to learn the real meaning of time and make the most of each day. When learning about the value of every single day, the girls realize how important every moment in life is and how to utilize every day to the fullest. Through this chaburah, the girls will get the chance to learn about themselves on a much deeper level and find meaningful values and ideas which they can incorporate into their lives. Atara’s goal is to help them realize their potential through their ability of being proactive with each and every day.

The girls in Atara’s chaburah are:
Eleora Fine (Woodmere, NY), Anni Jacobowitz (Lawrence, NY), Rivka Loeb (Chicago, IL), and Yona Pamensky (Toronto, On ).

What is something you really enjoyed about the first week on Michlelet?
Eleora- This week, the first week on Michlelet I really enjoyed how we were able to make new friends while experiencing the combination of all different types of things that go on on Michlelet. There were such fun tiyulim, chessed trips, night activities and learning. I’m so excited for what else is to come on Michlelet iyH!

Anni- Michlelet so far has been amazing the trips chessed leaning etc…! One thing that really stood out to me was when we went to the kotel on the first day and how quickly we all connected and came together. Although we’re all from different places and from different backgrounds it didn’t matter we became as one.
Rivka- My favorite thing about michlelet this week was the super fun first day in Eilat! I first went to the salad trail and got to eat the vegetables of eretz yisrael which I thought was super cool! Then I went repelling down a cliff wich was a rare life experience. Then I went jeeping around Israel with all of my new friends that I met. Not one day goes to waste on michlelet!

Yona- Something I really enjoyed about the first week of michlelet was taking the Jeep tour in the Negev. It amazes me how I was looking at what was literally just sand and rocks, but somehow in Israel it is just breathtaking. I had the privilege of davening mincha at the top of a mountain while looking out on the beautiful view. I literally just kept saying מה רבו מעשך ה over and over, because seriously, how awesome are HaShem’s creations!!! This country never fails to amaze me with its beauty.

Meet Chanalee Elhyani who hails from Monsey NY. She currently attends Stern College for Women and is studying Jewish edu. She went to Bruriah HS and spent a year and a half in Tiferet in EY! This is her first NCSY summer and she’s so happy to be spending it as a madricha on michlelet!!
The girls in her chaburah are Sophie Greff, Indigo Paris, Devorah Frank, and Chani Wolfson.
Her chaburah is called “Putting the Yid back into Yiddishkeit” and the goal is to try and imbue some meaning into these girls lives/help them feel excited about their yiddishkeit (Judaism). We discuss different topics in chassidut and discuss how and what Gd used to create the world. We try to make everything practical and show how Judaism isn’t just something to learn, it’s something to live.

When she asked her chaburah what was the highlight of week 1- the responses were:
Sophie Greff: “I really love the activities, especially basketball league“
Indigo Paris: “the sunset every night has been absolutely breathtaking- always look forward to those views!”
Devorah Frank: “shabbos ebbing outside was amazing”
Chani: “I really liked the shabbos learning groups”

Day 2 in Eilat was spectacular!! Starting with a 4 am sunrise hike and ending with a BBQ at a park in Mitzpeh Rimon, we had a wonderful time. The beautiful sunrise hike and a delicious breakfast buffet at the hotel got the girls energized for water sports! Groups of girls had the opportunity to go to banana boating and tubing, paddle boating and more! Perfect to cool off during the Eilat summer heat! We had a pizza lunch and even ran into TJJ at the pier! Afterwards we headed to Top94 which had amazing indoor ropes courses, rock climbing, bungie jumping and obstacle courses 94 feet from the ground!! The girls had a blast challenging themselves on all the fun courses. We finally made it to the park and enjoyed a yummy BBQ together before heading back to Reishit. Stay tuned for more fun to come tomorrow!

Our first day in the south was one of the best yet!! We boarded buses at 9 am and went to the Salad Trail! The girls learned a lot about irrigation and the the moshav that grows the vegetables. We even got to pick and taste freshly grown tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots!! They were delicious! One bus of girls went to paint pottery and we all met up in Mitzpeh Rimon for jeeping and repelling! What a thrilling experience! The girls overcame their fears and felt very accomplished after repelling down the mountain. We had a great deli dinner afterwards and then made our way to the hotel in Eilat to get some sleep because tomorrow an early day starting with a sunrise hike!!

Today on Michlelet we had a FANATASTIC day full of shiurim, tiyulim and exciting activities!! It was the first day with afternoon chaburahs and activities and the girls loved it!! They were able to have classes and chaburahs not only in the morning but in the afternoon as well. They experienced many different subjects and teaching styles. In the afternoon we went on a mini tiyul to the Bar Kochva caves!! We had the best time climbing and bonding together during the walk through all the caves. We had the zechut of hearing from Shayna Goldberg who told us her incredible story of how she decided to make Aliyah and what her life is like living in Eretz Yisrael! During night activity afterwards we played a large game of steal the Latkes! What a great day! Next stop: Eilat! 

Today was an incredible day of learning and chesed on Michlelet!! This morning the girls had their first chaburahs and classes. They met their homeroom madrichot and went straight into shteigging over different topics from “Torah Through the Lens of Youtube” to “Dichotomies in Judaism”. The kol shel Torah could be heard ALL over Reishit!! It was also the first day of activities. Girls had the chance to participate in many activities such as: art, sports, beatboxing, boot camp, sign language and more!! After lunch at Reishit we boarded to buses to different chesed opportunities! We went to the Chabad Soup Kitchen in Maleah Adumim and Yad Ezra VeShulamit. We helped organize their huge pantry of food and packed bags with food, ingredients and cleaning supplies for over 300 needy families in the Maleh Adumim and Yerushalaim area. Girls also sorted piles and piles of donated clothing and prepared packages for families in need. They were so happy to have had such a great impact on klal Yisroel through their amazing chesed!! At night we heard a shiur from Rabbi Hajioff from Stern College for Women. The girls were so excited to have their first night speaker of the summer! Night activity that followed was a BLAST. Everyone came in to the room with a twin and we played MICHLELET GUESS WHO?! Looking forward to a day full of Torah and fun tomorrow!!

Donate to one of the organization we worked with today here: https://www.yadezra.net/?gclid=CjwKCAjw7IbaBRBqEiwA6AyZgnmS9GFkhkqrB2gfWQtzMxMZqynXLefBwnkwhUDIdvatqV9oZyc_eRoCNgsQAvD_BwE

We had an AMAZING first week on NCSY Michlelet!! Shabbat Shalom from Eretz Yisrael!!!!

Wow what a packed day we had today! Our first full day with everyone together started off strong with an exciting orientation with lots of important information. During lunch our Programming Team announced this summer’s theme through Michlelet’s Got Talent. We saw many special talents and found out this year’s theme is CELEBRATE!! After our delicious lunch at Reishit we got on the buses headed to Yerushalaim. While one half of the group toured Ir David the other half went to the kotel and then we switched. The Ir David tour was so much fun!!! Our great tour guides lead us through the different mountains of the city and depicted for us what the original Yerushaliam looked like. The tour ended with the Chizkiyahu water tunnels! The girls had a blast singing their way through the dark tunnels! The Kotel visit was uplifting and special. We had a chance to Daven mincha before heading to Yimin Moshe for dinner with the entire group! More exciting adventures to come tomorrow!!!

Today we had an amazing first day on Michlelet!! Flight 1 arrived bright and early this morning and headed to Reishit for a scrumptious brunch. After the girls got their super awesome water bottle knapsack holders we boarded the buses to the Kotel. We had a powerful mincha and davened together. Next stop was Gan Sacher where a large lunch buffet was waiting for us with pastas, salads, iced coffee and more! It was so much fun to relax in the shade and get to know each other! The shuk tour that followed was great as well. The girls got to see and her about different types of food around the shuk. We even got to sample some of the food! Marzipan rugalach was definitely a crowd favorite! Following the tour we headed back to Reishit to unpack, relax and meet Flight 2 for dinner. Together we had a fun night activity where we learned how much we have in common with each other through a game of tying yarns together until we had one long string that connected every single girl! Can’t wait for the BEST.SUMMER.EVER. to continue tomorrow!!