Michelet 2012 has officially begun!! We are all having a blast!
We had a great flight from JFK and landed safely in Ben Gurion Airport on Tuesday afternoon. After getting our luggage we were greeted by our director, Mrs. Rivka Yudin who escorted us out to the buses. We enjoyed some much needed snacks and headed off to our home for the next 6 weeks – the beautiful Reishit Yerushalayim campus in Beit Shemesh! After spending the rest of the afternoon unpacking and unwinding, we ate a delicious dinner followed by an exciting icebreaker/get to know you night activity lead by our program directors, Mrs. Leah Blumenthal and Mrs. Atara Starr. We made it an early night due to our jetlag and headed back to finish unpacking and get a great night’s sleep!!!
We started out Wednesday with wake up, davening, and breakfast and then continued on to orientation. After being reminded of the schedule, rules, and where everything takes place on campus, we had an introduction with Rabbi Andi Yudin, husband of our director Mrs. Rivka Yudin, about the laws of Kashrut in Israel and tearing one’s clothes when seeing the Kotel for the first time in 30 days. After the orientation was over, we were privileged to hear a beautiful shiur from Rabbi Zev Leff, Rav of Moshav Matityahu, about how unique and special the land of Israel is and about a Jew’s perspective on life.
After lunch, it was time to board the busses for Yerushalayim! The ‘shana alef’ (first year) girls went to Ir David, the City of David. They toured around, saw a great 3D video, and walked through Chizkiyahu’s water tunnels! We had such a great time! The ‘shana bet’ (second year) girls went to a different area of Ir David where they went on a dry tunnel tour (aquaducts), and then to the Rova (Jewish Quarter of the Old City) where they browsed, shopped, and snacked. We then all met up at the Kotel, tore our shirts and had a really meaningful davening there.
We then boarded the buses again headed for the Haas Promenade, or the “Tayelet” as it’s known in Hebrew. We took our annual group picture and watched the gorgeous sunset over the hills of Yerushalayim. It was really something! We enjoyed delicious bagels for dinner and getting to know our new friends! After a long and busy day we headed back to our beautiful campus in Beit Shemesh.
We are looking forward to another fabulous day on Michlelet tomorrow (Thursday) where we will hear chaburas from our madrichot, take classes with our teachers, enjoy our fun on campus activities, and go on our first chesed trip! Stay tuned for more!
TO SEE PICTURES FROM OUR SUMMER EXPERIENCE, CLICK HERE!