Today was a wonderful Tiyul day on Michlelet!
From hiking in Nachal Zivatan, to picking the wonderful fruit growing in Eretz Yisrael like delicious plums and peaches, to a delicious falafel lunch at Ein Zivan, to the chocolate factory where the girls got to make and sample their own chocolate, to a team building ropes course – an exhilirating and awesome day was had by all! After dinner back at Chispin, we then got our daily dose of Torah from Rabbi Noam Fix, director of Tomer Devorah seminary.

We are so thankful to have seen so much more of this special land today! Can’t wait for tomorrow!

Today was an amazing day on Michlelet NCSY up north!
We enjoyed a full morning of chaburas, classes and activities followed by a delicious catered lunch from Cafe Cafe!
The afternoon brought more learning followed by a fantastic shiur by Mrs. Leba Schneider, director of student affairs at Tiferet seminary.
Afterwards we headed out to an amazing waterpark on the shore of the Kinneret which was rented out especially for us, NCSY GIVE, and NCSY TJJ Ambassador girls for the night! We had an incredible time enjoying the rides and slides and enjoyed a yummy pizza dinner to cap off an awesome night!

More fun to come tomorrow on an amazing tiyul day we have planned! Stay tuned!

We had a fantastic day today here in Chispin!
Our morning and afternoon were filled with inspiring chaburas from our madrichot and classes from our fabulous teachers, followed by awesome activities like cake decorating, kickboxing, soccer, softball, tie dying, choir and more!

We were privileged to hear from Rav Natanel Lebowitz, assistant director of NCSY Kollel and Rebbi at Yeshivat Lev HaTorah, as our guest speaker.

For the night activity we were put up to the challenge of measuring various items over our campus in bananas. Can you guess how many bananas long the door of the shul is?!

Night activity was followed by an exhilarating basketball game vs. Sulam. Our girls showed tons of ruach and achdus as we cheered for our rocking Michlelet baskbetball team!

More fun to come tomorrow!

Sarah Alt is from Buffalo, NY. She attended Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts, and then studied in Israel at Machon Maayan. Following her year in Israel she attended Stern College for Women where she studied Jewish Studies and Music. Sarah has been involved in NCSY for many years, and this summer on Michlelet will be her fourth summer with NCSY.

The NCSYers in Sarah’s chaburah are Yael Nissel (Monsey, NY), Tali Weisinger (Teaneck, NJ), Esther Morrill (Ottawa, Ontario), Hannah Warso (Chicago, IL).

Sarah’s chaburah is titled “Lessons from our leaders in Tanach.” The chaburah focuses on different lessons we can learn from the decisions made by our leaders and how we can incorporate these lessons into our lives. Many of the chaburas analyze Jewish leadership and aim to enable each NCSYer to discover how they can be a leader in their own community. Some of the topics include: responsibility for your fellow Jew, humility, learning how to fail, power of speech and learning to believe in yourself.

If you could meet anyone from Tanach who would it be and why?
Yael Nissel: “I want to meet Avraham Avinu so that I can learn how he discovered Hashem and understand the life style of his generation.”
Tali Weisinger: “I would want to meet Yosef. He was put in a situation where he was bound to fail. He overcame it with the teachings of his father just like my parents instill good values in me. I would want to understand how he rose above them all and became Yosef HaTzadik.”
Esther Morrill: “I would want to meet Esther because she is my namesake and she is a big female leader for the Jewish people.”
Hannah Warso: “If I could meet anyone in Tanach I would want to meet Chana Haneviah. I think she is one of the most inspirational women in Tanach. I feel that I can relate to her the most because of her Tefillah.”

We had an unbelievable day filled with Torah and chesed on Michlelet!
After a morning filled with incredible learning and amazing activities we enjoyed a yummy catered pasta and salad lunch before getting to work on our special chesed project of preparing care packages for chayalim filled with towels, socks, soap, treats, and handwritten notes expressing our hakaras hatov for all their hard work and dedication. After completing the packages, we separated into groups and visited 3 different army bases up north where we were able to get a tour of each base and present our packages to the soldiers. After visiting the army bases we traveled to a beautiful park where we were treated to a delicious shwarma dinner!
Upon returning to Chispin for the night we had a special kumzitz where we recited tehillim, sang songs, and heard beautiful words of inspiration from some of our madrichot, all geared to get us in the right mindset of ahavas yisrael and achdus among our fellow members of klal yisrael during a difficult time.
It was a truly special and meaningful day here on Michlelet!

Elana Kaminetsky is from Boca Raton, Florida and attended Weinbaum Yeshiva High School. She then spent a year in Michlalah and is now a Junior in Stern College majoring in Math, but she has a secret passion for neuroscience. Elana spent one summer on Michlelet as a camper and is excited to be back as a madricha.

The girls in Elana’s Chabura are Elisheva Muskat (Oceanside, NY), Rebecca Russo (Riverdale, NY), Atara Huberfeld (Lawrence, NY), and Eliana Antosofsky (Teaneck, NJ).

Elana’s Chabura topic is “Emotions in Tanach.” After outlining and defining the emotion according to psychology and our general knowledge/experience, the girls delve into different stories and places in Tanach that discuss the emotion. With the help of mefarshim and other sources, they come out with an overarching lesson about the emotion. The goal of the chabura is to attain a greater appreciation for Tanach and the personal lessons that can come out if it.

Despite the change in location and schedule, we have been having an amazing time so far here in the North. What has been your favorite part?

Elisheva: “Everything has been awesome but if I had to pick one thing- hands down the schnitzel.”

Rebecca: “I really enjoyed all of the tiyulim we have done this summer but one specific trip I enjoyed was the raft building and Kfar Kedem. The raft building brought every group closer as we learned the importance of every individual. In Kfar Kedem we got to experience what life was like in Talmudic times.”

Atara: “If I had to pick just one aspect of our stay here, it would probably be the carnival we made for the children of חספין. The pure joy on the faces of the children and mothers alike was enough to fuel a love of חסד in me for a lifetime.”

Eliana: “I can’t say a favorite- I love it all. Even under the current circumstances, the camp has done an amazing job finding awesome activities to do.”

Talia Molotsky is a loud and proud Chicagoan. She went to ICJA, then spent her seminary year at Michlelet Mevaseret Yerushalayim and is now a Junior at Stern College. During the year Talia served as an Advisor for both New York and Midwest NCSY, and can’t wait to spend her first summer on an NCSY Program with Michlelet!

The NCSYers in Talia’s Chabura are Rivka Lichtenstein (Teaneck, NJ); Davida Respler (Teaneck, NJ); and Eli Sharvit (West Hempstead, NJ).

Talia’s Chabura is called “Disney and Torah: Finding the Real Magic.” By comparing Disney story lines to stories in Tanach, the goal is to make learning Tanach more accessible both physically, through skill building, and emotionally/spiritually by looking at the rich stories in Tanach through a new lens. Many Disney plots are actually very similar to stories in Tanach, and by shedding light onto this, she hopes the girls will leave the summer finding learning more enjoyable.

What are you most looking forward to on Michlelet?

Eli: “Going to the kotel”

Davida: “To go to Yerushalayim and daven at the Kotel”

Rivka: “Finding my bashert”

Daniella, born and raised in Dallas, TX, is currently a Junior in North Park University and plans to become a Registered Nurse.
The NCSYers in Daniella’s Chabura are Miri Fried (Woodmere, NY), Chaya Sherman (Flushing,NY), Anna Lis (Chicago, IL) and Tamar Yastrab (Woodmere, NY).

The main focus of the chabura is the the influence of the mazalot, the constellations and their effect on the Jewish Months of the year, and how we can better tap into the unique power of each month.

Miri: “In Reishit, in Chispin… who cares?! It’s Michlelet wherever we are! And what’s more? -It’s Shana Bet! I am excited to be back doing Chessed, learning, and having fun in the best place under the sun!”
Chaya: “Michlelet feels like family”
Tamar: “Michlelet is cool and fun”
Anna: “Michlelet is where you grow with girls from all over in Torah so no matter where we stay we are at the actual campus. Michlelet is in our hearts and mindset so where we physically are staying is irrelevant.”

What an incredible 2 days it’s been on Michlelet NCSY!
We spent Friday morning visiting Kever Rambam in Teveria where we had a chance to both daven at the kever and also to visit the Rambam history center next door where we learned more about the life of the Rambam through trivia games and other activities.
Next we traveled to Nachal Kibbutzim where we enjoyed a delicious lunch catered by Cafe Cafe and a refreshing swim in the cool spring water.
Shabbos was unbelievable! We enjoyed delicious meals, beautiful zemiros, inspiring divrei Torah and shiurim, and spent lots of time bonding and hanging out with our friends.
For tonight’s activity we were broken up into groups and each had to make a promo video from Michlelet focusing on different aspects such as: friends, food, tiyulim, our fabulous staff, and more. We had a great time laughing at our friend’s videos and eating a yummy pizza dinner.

We are looking forward to another fantastic week on Michlelet NCSY! Stay tuned!
Wishing everyone a shavua tov!