We were thrilled to have late wakeup today after an extremely busy week!
We ate breakfast and had the special opportunity of visiting Kever Rachel for shacharis!!

Back at campus, we ate lunch and then had free time to go off campus and get ready for shabbos!

Looking forward to a beautiful Shabbos Chazon together  filled with singing, learning, fun, and of course, delicious shabbos food!

Can’t believe it’s already our second to last shabbos on Michlelet 2016! We don’t wanna go!

Stay tuned and remember to check out our pictures!

SHABBAT SHALOM!

Gabby Rahimzada is from Great Neck, NY. She went to Central and after that spent a year in MMY. She is now a junior in Stern College majoring in Jewish Education. This is Gabby’s third summer on Michlelet – she spent two years as a camper and is so excited to be back as a Madricha this summer!

The girls in Gabby’s homeroom are: Ariana Balk (Engelwood, New Jersey), Tehila Deil (Great Neck, New York), Elinoa Draiman (Chicago), and Sela Boord (West Hempstead, New York).

Gabby’s chabura goes through the Jewish calendar and relates the various chagim to different themes and concepts within them. The girls discuss how each chag is “A Time To…” focus on something specific and find practical applications for their lives. For example, while studying Purim we discussed how Hashem is hidden throughout the story and the Jewish people needed to find Him in a time of such struggle. Based on this idea we can have greater appreciation and hakarat hatov for the little things in life and an understanding that Hashem is always there in any situation or obstacle we face, even though we may need to put in effort to find Him.

What is your favorite chag and why?
Ariana: My favorite chag is pesach because it’s a time when our whole entire family is together and our seders are amazing and we sing a lot and its always so beautiful and meaningful!
Tehila: My favorite chag is Purim- it actually really wasn’t always at all but after learning about it and the holiness to that day I’m now looking forward to it now.
Elinoa: My favorite chag is Chanukah because of the donuts and presents and family time and singing and dreidel spinning with my sisters 🙂
Sela: My favorite chag is Pesach because it’s so different than any other chag and I love to spend time with my family!

Ahuva Motechin is so excited to be back on Michlelet for her third summer, her second as a madricha. She is from Bergenfield, NJ, and attended Bruriah High School, followed by a year in Michlalah. Ahuva is now going into her senior year at Stern, where she is pursuing a degree in Biochemistry. She is loving every minute of the summer, especially learning with her incredible chaburah!

The fantastic girls in Ahuva’s chaburah are: Neima Inslicht (Queens, NY), Efrat Klammer (Woodmere, NY), Leah Malka Leibowitz (Brooklyn, NY), Miri Porush (Chicago, IL), Leah Rothman (Lawrence, NY), and Emily Turner (Teaneck, NJ). Together they learn about kumsitz songs, in order to hopefully make them more meaningful. Each chaburah focuses on a different song, including its source in Tanach or Midrash, its literal translation, and a larger middah or Hashkafic principle that is embedded in the words. For example, they have learned about anavah from “Anavim,” about ahavat Yisrael and nosei b’ol from “Acheinu,” about zerizut and grabbing opportunities from “Pischi Li,” and about becoming a role model from “V’zakeini.” Through their study together as a chaburah, they hope to grow in their commitment and passion as ovdei Hashem.

What’s your favorite activity on Michlelet and why?
Neima: I love the baking activity for the most obvious reason: you get to eat yummy brownies and chocolate chip cookies! What could be better!
Efrat: My favorite activity on Michlelet is Zumba. I really enjoy this activity because it’s a fun way to get out your energy, get a good workout and spend time with friends and madrichot!!! It doesn’t matter if you are a good dancer or not everyone comes together to have a great time! The madrichot teach dances that everyone can learn and enjoy, and campers sometimes even teach dances they learnt in the past. Its always a great time when you are Zumba-ing on Michlelet!!
Leah Malka: I like art because it’s a fun and relaxing way to express yourself.
Miri: My favorite activity on Michlelet is color war because I find it so amazing how even when your competing against other teams everyone is still unified and works together and helps each other. Even when only one team wins, the other 2 teams are so happy for them. I also love how every girl is able to use her own strengths to help try to win. Whether it’s dancing, singing, or art everyone is able to add something to color war.
Leah: My favorite activity on Michlelet was hair braiding. It was really fun to see how everyone was excited to learn different techniques and styles of how to braid hair and seeing girls actually make the braids on each other.
Emily: My favorite activity was learning how to make potato kugel in cooking. It was my favorite because my mom is from Morocco and my dad is from Egypt so we don’t really eat kugel but it was interesting, fun, and easy to make.

What a meaningful day we had on Michlelet today!!!
We woke up early and headed to Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial we we learned a tremendous amount about the shoah. 

Today was an an amazing packed day on campus!

We learned with our teachers and madrichot, had creative and fun activities like cake decorating, jump rope, tennis and basketball!

We were so excited to welcome NCSY GIVE to our campus for dinner, to hear Mrs. Yudin speak, and of course for our annual MICHLELET vs GIVE basketball game!!!!

The energy could be felt in the air as the girls headed to the basketball court in their jerseys and swag! Cheers and songs from both programs were sung! After a close game, Michlelet won 29 to 28!!! We’re so proud of everyone’s skills and middos on the court! Everyone was happy to see old friends and meet new ones!

Stay tuned and check out our pictures!