Michal, from West Hempstead, NY, is a junior at Yeshiva University Stern College for Women majoring in Communications and minoring in Psychology. This is Michal’s first summer on the Michlelet staff and she’s having a truly incredible experience!

The NCSYers in Michal’s chabura are Rachel Fried (Woodmere, NY), Moreet Levine (Teaneck, NJ), Brielle Broder (West Hempstead, NY), and Rivka Greenberg (Chicago, IL).

Michal’s chabura is called TorahTube: Lessons of Iggeret HaRamban. We are learning different topics of Iggeret HaRamban in depth through source booklets and conversations. We also watch various inspirational videos which pertain to the topics and helps them come alive.

The main goal of the chabura is to gain a greater understanding of both the content of Iggeret HaRamban and to learn how its messages can relate to our own lives.

Moreet: “I love Michlelet because of its awesome girls!”

Brielle: “I love Michlelet because of its rockin activities!”

Rivka: “I love that the learning is entirely focused on the girls – the goal isn’t just to get through the topic, it’s to help us to learn!”

Rachel: “I love the balance on Michlelet of learning Torah and also having tons of fun! I love how the madrichot stress how we can take the inspiration forwards and apply it to our everyday lives.”

Dear Michlelet NCSY Parents, amu”sh

It is with mixed feelings that I write you this last weekly update, before our sixth Shabbos, here at Michlelet  NCSY.  On the one hand, it is so sad that it is ending. I have enjoyed the girls so much this summer. They are such an extraordinary, phenomenal group of girls with so much positivity and enthusiasm; we have really come together as one unit. On the other hand, it is so nice to look back and see how much we have accomplished this summer. We have shared so many magnificent memories and meaningful experiences. 

Shabbos in Tzfat was absolutely amazing!! There is nothing like the holy, special air of Tzfat. We had a beautiful Shabbos, filled with singing, thought provoking programs, shiurim and wonderful bonding. On Shabbos afternoon, we went on a fantastic tour of the old city of Tzfat and we really got to appreciate and marvel at the city’s beauty and rich past.  As Shabbos ended, the singing we had at the end of Se’udah Shlishit was just superb and we did not want Shabbos to end!  At our meals, we heard fantastic Divrei Torah from Nikki Feerst, Esther Panigel and Sarah Ralbag.

After Shabbos, we went on a boat ride on the Kineret where we had a pizza Melave Malka, dancing and bongo playing there in the middle of the water.  What a great end to a great Shabbos.

Sunday, we left bright and early and for our tiyul to the Golan. First, we went kayaking in Hagoshrim. Te girls had a blast rafting, splashing and cheering in the beautiful water. When we finished, we had a delicious lunch there on the shore.

From there, the shana alef girls went to Misgav Am, a kibbutz, where a man spoke to us and told us about what it’s like to help defend Israel and gave us a sense of pride and love for Eretz Yisroel.  In the meanwhile, our Shana Bet went go-carting and to a mini amusement park with rides and had a great time.

 We got back for dinner after having had an amazing three days up North. It has been so special getting to see all the different parts of Eretz Yisroel, having so much fun and getting attached to the land of our ancestors.

Monday was another exciting day packed with learning with madrichot, with teachers and fun activities. In the evening, we heard from Mrs. Dina Schoonmacher, well known teacher at Michlalah, speaker and known for her wisdom and insight. She spoke about internalizing the summer and approaching Ellul properly. The girls were very moved by her practical approach.

Then, for Night Activity, we had our very own, Michlelet Talent Show!! The girls performed in so many realms- comedy skits, great songs, fantastic dancing and we had a great time!

Tuesday was such a meaningful, packed, productive day! We started off by getting dressed up in fun, crazy clothing and put on some face paint- and, poof, we were Michlelet NCSY Medical Clowns! The girls were divided up into six groups and headed off to six different hospitals in Yerushalayim and Tel Aviv, where they went around as clowns, cheering up the patients, many of them children, and their visiting, worried families. Our girls were absolutely incredible!!! There are no words! They went in with such enthusiasm and warmth! What a real difference they made in the lives of each of these children whose faces lit up as they watched and interacted with the Michlelet NCSYers. But it was not only the children whose faces were filled with smiles and happiness at the end of this beautiful chessed trip, for our girls also left shining, feeling so accomplished and happy with the chessed they had done! 

Then, we went to Tel Aviv, to the women’s beech where everyone got to relax and have fun in the water with incredible friends, on our last tiyul together for summer 2013. The girls really enjoyed the beech!

When we got back, we ate dinner, and then heard from Rabbi David Katz, Director of MMY. He spoke to them about Elul and the importance of both the intellectual and emotional approaches to Teshuva. The girls really were touched by his words and took it in. Then, for our Night Activity, we had a bonfire!! The girls enjoyed making smores, roasting marshmallows, hearing spooky camp fire stories and singing and bonding!

Wednesday, was our second to last day of learning. You could see how much the girls wanted to take in every moment! They enjoyed the learning and activities and a day on campus.  In the afternoon, we had an optional shiur from Rabbi Noam Fix, administrator at Tomer Devora. So many girls went and really enjoyed. For our night speaker, we had the privilege of hearing from Rabbi Dani Marcus, who they enjoyed so much when they heard him the first time, we asked him back again. He spoke about keeping the Michlelet inspiration with them and the importance of keeping in touch with their friends and madrichot. He pointed out how special they are that they spent the summer learning and growing!

Then, we had a really exciting opportunity!!! We got to have our very own private performance of a superb show/play called “The Art Of Giving,” put on by a group of women who perform in various theatres in Israel. They were entertaining, funny, moving and inspiring. The girls really really enjoyed!!

On Thursday, after an extraordinary last Lday of beautiful learning and activities, everyone got dressed up and we went to our Banquet!! It was so hard to believe that we were already there! The summer has truly flown by.  Banquet was incredible. Raisel Altman, Michal Ambalu, Aliza Lobell, Devorah Meisels and Aliza Pollack  spoke about their reflections on the summer and how much we have all gained. We saw a magnificent dance, put on by our girls, headed by our madricha, Atie Levine, heard a beautiful song about our summer, written by Michlelet NCSYers, Liat Clark, Tamar Rosenfeld and Gaby Stemp, saw an adorable comedy skit put on by Eliana Nachman and Atara Huberfeld and saw a great recap video of our summer, put together by madrichot Michal Kupchik and Talia Silverstein.  It was really a fantastic night where we reflected on our phenomenal summer and how much we accomplished. 

This morning, we went to the Ge’ulah Me’ah Sh’arim area for our last Friday there.

Although there is sadness in the air that Michlelet 2013 is soon coming to an end, everyone is so excited about our last Shabbos here. There is really nothing like Shabbos on Michlelet and we are all so excited to experience it again.  On Shabbos, we are looking forward to hearing Divrei Torah at our meals from Michal Ambalu, Miriam Isikova, Kayla Libsman and Tali Weintraub.

As always, there’s always a lot to seen on our blog michlelet.ncsy.org  and please feel free to be in touch with any feedback, comments or questions you may have atyudinr@ncsy.org

It has been a privilege spending the summer with your daughters.

Have a wonderful Shabbos!

Mrs. Rivka Yudin

Director

Michlelet NCSY

Jamie Steinmetz, from West Hempstead, NY, is going to be a Junior in Stern College for Women where she is studying speech therapy. This is her first time on Michlelet and she’s so excited to have the most incredible summer ever!
The NCSYers in Jamie’s chabura are: Jaclyn Wernick (Woodmere, NY), Talia Bulka (Woodmere, NY), Deborah Siegel (Teaneck, NJ), and Tzipora Weinberger (Philadelphia, PA).

In Jamie’s chabura, we take meaningful secular songs and connect them to Torah concepts, such as living al kiddush Hashem, sanctifying the mundane, chesed, and more, through textual sources and discussions.

The main goal of the chabura is not only to have a greater knowledge of these concepts but to find practical ways to apply them to our lives and to view everything in this world as an opportunity for sanctification.

What was your favorite night activity?

Tzipora: “Iron Chef!”

Deborah: “Building keilim for the Beit Hamikdash out of food!”

Talia: “Madricha scavenger hunt in the mall!”

Jaclyn: “Michlelet vs. GIVE basketball game!”

Elana Schreier grew up in Woodmere, NY and is currently a student at Yeshiva University Stern College for Women. She attended Michlelet as a camper and is so excited to be back as a madricha this summer!

The NCSYers in Elana’s chabura are Aviva Jacobs (Teaneck, NJ), Gabby Rahimzada (Great Neck, NY), Daniella Wagner (Woodmere, NY), and Allison Weinick (Syosset, NY).

Elana starts off each chabura reading the girls a famous children’s book and through sources, short stories, and poems, she reveals the Torah lessons that are hidden within them. Elana’s chabura has read many books including Horton Hears a Who!, The Sneetches, The Runaway Bunny, and Goodnight Moon. At the end of each chabura, Elana tweets her chabura’s favorite quotes and messages from the day. You can follow her chabura @TorahLovers. Elana hopes that her girls will leave this summer with an excitement for Judaism and a passion for learning Torah lessons from every experience in life.

Gabby: “I love Elana Schreier’s chabura because it’s so creative and interesting. I learned that you can take lessons from anything and apply them to your life and Avodat Hashem.”

Daniella: “I love all the madrichot on Michlelet and I’ve learned so much from them this summer!”

Aviva: “My favorite part about Michlelet are the friends and madrichot here, because everyone knows how to have a good time, but are very into their learning as well.”

Allison: “One of the best parts of Michlelet is the incredible balance of learning, chesed, and fun. I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to come on Michlelet this summer!”

Shayna Kayla Lis, otherwise known as ShayKay, hails from the windy city of Chicago. She just finished her first year in Yeshiva University Stern College for Women and previously attended Michlelet Mevaseret Yerushalayim. Having gone on Michlelet NCSY as a camper, she couldn’t wait to come back as a madricha. She is so thrilled that she has been able to work on such an amazing program!

The NCSYers in ShayKay’s chabura are Elisheva Pomper (Boca Raton,FL), Talia Schiff (Teaneck, NJ), Gila Pfeiffer (Teaneck, NJ), and Helen Sutton (Brooklyn, NY).

ShayKay’s chabura is on relationships in Tanach. Throughout the summer we have covered various types of relationships, such as sibling interactions and friendship. Each lesson we look at a specific example of each type of relationship, analyzing the foundations of that relationship and the lessons we can learn from it.

The main goal of the chabura is to have a deeper understanding and appreciation for the characters in Tanach and view them as role models for us to emulate in our everyday lives.

Elisheva: “I am so thankful to be given the opportunity to learn a tremendous amount while having so much fun in one summer! I LOVE MICHLELET!”

Talia: “The air we breathe here is literally inspiration. Whether it’s the learning or the chesed or the crawling through the dirt or just talking, I’ve never been part of anything like it.”

Gila: “I love how there’s always something fun to do. Whether it’s four in the morning or eleven at night, I’m always busy having the time of my life.”

Helen: “This summer has been amazing! I love doing so much chessed. The feeling of helping someone else and putting a smile on their face is indescribable.”

Esti, from Woodmere, NY, is a student at Yeshiva University Stern College for Woman after having spent one year at Michlalah. Esti is thrilled to be back as a madricha this summer having been a camper on Michlelet in 2010. She can’t wait to continue another incredible summer on the best program ever!

The NCSYers in Esti’s chabura are: Raisel Altman (Chicago, IL), Ester Panigel (Brooklyn, NY), Tamar Eisenberg (Lawrence, NY), and Chedva Wielgus (Brooklyn, NY).

Esti’s chabura is broken into 3 categories: bein adam leatzmo, bein adam lechaveiro, and bein adam leMakom. Within each relationship we tackle different middos or challenges we face on a constant basis. Some of the sub topics include: self-esteem, simcha, beauty, chesed, lashon hara, humility vs. haughtiness, tzniut, Yad Hashem, tefilla, challenges, and love vs. fear. By exploring these in depth we can apply them to our own lives to strengthen these vital relationships.

The main goal of the chabura is to come out of the summer with useful and applicable tools to help us with our most important relationships. B’ezrat Hashem we will carry this helpful advice with us for the rest of our lives!

Raisel: “I love Michlelet because I know the friends I make here are friends I will have forever.”

Ester: “I have come to love Michlelet because I figured out how to connect what I’m learning to my everyday life.”

Tamar: “Esti has taught me to appreciate life and my surroundings because everything that we are given comes from Hashem. In order to prove this concept, Esti has shown me numerous examples of Hashem’s greatness that help improve my spiritual growth every day.”

Chedva: “Esti’s chabura is giving me a new and fascinating perspective on relationships. I love it!”

Ayelet, born and raised in Monsey, NY (Ir Ha’kodesh), is currently a senior in Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women, majoring in biology and planning to go in to high school science education. During the school year, Ayelet is a proud member of New England NCSY. Having attended Michlelet as a camper for two years, she is super excited to return as a Madricha!

The NCSYers in Ayelet’s Chabura are Batsheva Mammon (Monsey, NY), Devorah Meisels (Woodmere, NY), Aliza Pollack (Cleveland, OH), and Esther Rothman (Woodmere, NY).

The main focus of the Chabura is recognizing the importance of diversity within Klal Yisrael. Ayelet’s Chabura discusses the unique personality traits of each of the twelve Shevatim, based on their names, their actions, and the blessings they received from Yaakov and Moshe. The goal is to gain an appreciation for the differences found amongst Jews throughout the world today by looking at the different kochot of the original twelve tribes that make up the Jewish people.

Batsheva: “Michlelet has been an awesome experience, this program greatly balances chessed, learning, and fun in just six weeks.”

Devorah: “I love the environment that is created on Michlelet by the diversity of the girls and madrichot. Everyone came from different backgrounds but had the same reasons for coming; touring the land, learning Torah, and performing chesed.”

Aliza: “Michlelet was actually the best summer I had yet, because of how much we accomplished in such a short amount of time. Looking back, its crazy to see really how much learning, chesed and fun we had.”

Esther: “Michlelet has been the best summer yet-with a mix of chessed, learning, and tiyulim, it is the perfect balance for an amazing summer program.”