Summer 2013

We have had an unbelievable and jam packed last 2 days on Michlelet NCSY!
Yesterday we had the zechus of making a wedding on our own from start to finish and it was a truly incredible experience! Today we had a day on campus filled with learning, activities, and fun. Our guest speaker was Rabbi Ari Winter, the previous director of Michlelet NCSY. Tomorrow we are off to the North on a special 3 day tiyul, including spending shabbos in Tzfat!
Check out our pictures! Have a beautiful shabbos!!

Rena Stahler grew up in Lawrence, New York and is currently attending Queens College. She is excited to be on Michlelet for her first time this summer and is having the Best. Summer. Ever.

The NCSYers in Rena’s chabura are Rivka Gutmann (Passaic, NJ), Tamar Rappoport (Alon Shvut, Israel), Dassi Solomson (Silverspring, MD), and Gaby Stemp (Queens, NY).

Rena’s chabura is on the Rambam’s Thirteen Principles of Faith. We are learning each of the thirteen אני מאמין together.

The main focus of the chabura is to strengthen our belief in G-d and Judaism and build a greater connection with Hashem.

Tamar: “Michlelet is a jam packed summer with activities, trips, and learning. I’m never bored and feel like I’m spending my summer in a productive way.”
Gaby: “The chaburot give us a chance to learn something new and insightful that we wouldn’t have the opportunity to learn in any other setting.”
Rivka: “Along with the great learning, being in Israel gives me a greater appreciation for my homeland.”
Dassi: “When I signed up for Michlelet, I didnt realize the full scope of the program. I’ve participated in so many new activities that I would not otherwise  have experienced, while making new friends, and expanding my understanding my Judaism in chaburot.”

We had an amazing tiyul day today!!!

We began in Gush Etzion on a fun hike in a water aquaduct and from there traveled to Chevron to daven at Me’arat Hamachpeila, as well as to Kever Rachel.

For night activity tonight we celebrated the “bat mitzvah” of our activity coordinators, Atara and Mimi! We were also privileged tonight to hear Rabbi Micha Greenland, the interim international director of NCSY.

Check out our pictures to see all the fun we had today! Stay tuned for more!!!

Today we were privileged to spend the evening joining together with all the NCSY summer programs at its annual YOM NCSY!!! The achdus and love for Eretz Yisrael that we all felt was unbelievable! To top it off, we also enjoyed a Shlomo Katz & Gad Elbaz concert!

Thank you to the NCSY Summer team for making it all possible!

Check out our pictures!

Michlelet performs a flashmob during the halftime show at our annual basketball game against NCSY GIVE!!

After a relaxing free shabbos we all returned to camp ready to start another amazing week at Michlelet NCSY!
This morning we were privileged to visit a selection of different nursing homes in Yerushalayim and spend time there with the elderly.

Our guest speaker this evening was Mrs. Elisheva Kaminetsky of SKA, which you can listen to here.

Our night activity tonight was the infamous annual Michlelet vs. GIVE basketball game! We were so proud to host GIVE on our home court and proudly sported our brand new Michlelet jerseys 🙂 We also performed a flash mob for the halftime show! You can watch it here. Can you guess who won the game?

Enjoy our pictures from today! Stay tuned for more!

Guest Speaker Mrs. Elisheva Kaminetsky, Director of Religious Guidance and teacher at SKA high school, speaks about our theme of the week.

Dear Michlelet NCSY Parents, amu”sh

This week has absolutely flown by!! What a spectacular week!!

Words cannot describe how phenomenal Shabbos Nachamu was. The singing on Shabos..the tisch…. the zemiros at all the meals…. the shalosh seudos singing outside… were just out of this world! There was such energy, excitement and unity pulsating!

We heard beautiful divrei Torah at the meals from Michlelet NCSYers; Michal Usher, Sarah Axel and Sara Finkelstein. There were thought provoking activities, optional shiurim offered by Rabbi Andi Yudin and R’ Joshy Starr, drama performance, magnificent choir performance and a fun game of Panic!

Before Melave Malka, we all came upstairs, and Esti Sabba-Dery, one of our Michlelet NCSYers who was on TJJ Ambassadors last summer, spoke to us about what it was like to come to Michlelet last summer and what an impact it made on her! Then, our shana beters broke out the fact that we were going to be making a wedding here on Michlelet!! How excited the girls were, when we told them that we, at Michlelet 2013, would be sponsoring and making a bridal shower and wedding for an orphan, poor Kallah in Eretz Yisroel!

Then, we had an amazing Melave Malka of pizza, dancing, and making welcome signs for the Nefesh bNefesh flight we would be greeting on Tuesday.

Sunday, we had the special honor of welcoming the TJJ Ambassadors, whom we were to be hosting for the next two days. TJJ Ambassadors is an NCSY summer program for NCSYers from public school who have come to tour Israel and learn about Israel Advocacy. For many of them, this was their first exposure to learning Torah in a real way and to Orthodox Yeshiva kids. It was so beautiful to watch how our girls welcomed each and every one of them so warmly. At meals, and later on in the day by learning, when I looked around the room and saw how warmly and kindly our girls welcomed them, my eyes filled with tears. I was truly so proud of each and every one of our Michlelet NCSYers. When they came, our Michlelet NCSYers welcomed them by cheering and dancing. In the morning, Rabbi Gotch Yudin spoke to the Michlelet NCSYers and TJJ Ambassadors about how Hashem runs the world and coordinates everything. His speech was both entertaining, funny and inspiring. From there, the girls went to their chaburot and then activities with the TJJ Ambassadors both in the morning and afternoon. The girls learned together and were able to choose from activities like aerobics, swim, basketball, volleyball, pioneering and cake decorating.

In the afternoon, after lunch, Michlelet NCSY was off to the fields of Rechovot. There, we got to pick tomatoes and pack them up in crates to be provided for needy people across Israel. The food from these fields either goes straight to families in need or directly to soup kitchens to be used for preparing food for the poor and needy. It was hard work but a beautiful mitzvah and the girls had a great time doing it! In the meanwhile our shana bet went with TJJA to Yad Sara’s machsan to help organize there, and then on a little ice cream excursion.

When everyone was back, we ate dinner together, and then heard from our night speaker, Rabbi Gav Friedman, well known teacher and speaker at Aish HaTorah. Rabbi Friedman spoke about taking responsibility and the importance of every single person. He had us all laughing and amused the whole time, and his words were very powerful and inspiring as well.

Then, we had a great game of Dodge Ball- Michlelet vs. TJJA. Michlelet won by a lot, but most importantly, we all had a great time and the cheering was great. Afterwards, the Michlelet NCSYers and TJJAers danced with such unity and had so much fun- the achdus was amazing!!

Monday, we got to host the TJJ Ambassadors again as they joined us for another full exciting day. After a packed morning and afternoon of activities and beautiful learning together, we quickly started preparing for our bridal shower we were to be making later that afternoon. The girls got right to work, wrapping presents, decorating a chair for the kallah, and decorating the indoor gym. You had to see the dancing and singing and energy with which our girls and the TJJ Ambassadors greeted the kallah (bride), Diache, whom they didn’t even know! The Ahavat Yisroel in the room was palpable- so so incredibly moving and special. Michlelet NCSYers , mostly from Yeshiva, sprinkled with Public School Girls, together with TJJ Ambassadors consisting of girls from all over from Public School, coming together to dance and sing and be happy with a fellow Jew who they never met before, simply because she is a Jew. It was so so beautiful and moving!!

Then came time to give the presents!! How touched and excited she was to get a whole table full of presents, including pots, towels, dishes, silverware and more. Both the Kallah and her mother were so so touched not only by the actual presents, but by the warmth and love that the girls displayed. They kept turning to me saying, “this is unbelievable!! She has so many things to set up her home with now! The girls are so warm!!” We had a lovely barbecue together with the TJJAers and Kallah and her relatives on the lawn. We are still collecting money to sponsor our wedding. If you would like to contribute to this very special need, please be in touch with me. Thank you.

After the beautiful bridal shower, our evening speaker was Mrs. Sara Leah Haber. Mrs. Haber, a teacher on Michlelet, spoke to us about what it’s like to raise a child with autism. Her speech was absolutely phenomenal and incredibly uplifting! There was not a dry eye in the room! Afterwards, for night activity, Mrs. Haber showed us a video called “The Miracle of Love” which was a documentary about how a family used a certain program, the “Son-Rise” Program, which she is now doing with her son, to help their child with autism. The movie was fantastic! After the whole evening, the girls really felt inspired and that they had gained a greater sensitivity towards people with special needs.

While she spoke, our shana bet went to the Kotel Tunnel Tours, since they had heard her last year.

Then, we watched the recap video of the two days we had spent with TJJA (which you can view on our blog) and said our goodbyes to our new friends. It’s amazing how close everyone felt from just two days. Our girls were truly welcoming, non-judgmental leaders, who made a real Kiddush Hashem. I was so so proud of them!!

Tuesday, was another incredible Tiyul Day. We were all up bright and early and we headed to Ben Gurion airport to greet new Olim. The girls were so thrilled to be able to greet the people on the flight, that at 6:15 am, when the buses needed to be boarded, everyone was there! The girls were so enthusiastic and filled with energy. How beautiful it was to witness this landing as well as to be part of their warm welcome. The girls were literally in tears as they watched everyone come off the plane. On a personal note, it was especially moving for me to watch the girls give such a warm welcome, being that it is about five years now that our family has made aliyah, and it made me reminiscent of the emotions we felt at that time. I was so proud of all our Michlelet NCSYers as they cheered the new Olim on as they landed, warmly welcoming them, grabbing them and dancing with some of the children who were making Aliyah. There were so many young children on this flight and it was a packed flight. We also got to see Gilad Shalit and his father who were also on the plane. Our girls even made it to the front page of Jerusalem Post the next morning!

From there, we went to Yerushalayim, to Yad Vashem, The Israel Holocaust Museum. Our tour guides really made the stories, tragedy and bravery come alive for our girls and it left a deep impression upon us. Then, we went to Har Hertzel and had the tremendous z’chut of praying at the graves if those who died Al Kiddush Hashem, defending our country, including that of Michael Levine who we watched a movie about on the way there.

From there, we went to the Bar Kochva Caves, where we got to hike through caves with flashlights and had a lot of fun doing so. At dinner, we had a special guest, Mr. David Cutler, Director of NCSY Summer Programs, come visit! The girls were so excited to see him. For our night speaker, we had the privilege of hearing from Rabbi Yaakov Glasser, Regional Director of New Jersey NCSY and Rav in Passaic. He was dynamic and exciting and his words were empowering! Then, he broke out… COLOR WAR!!!

Teams Avraham- the Green Team, Team Yitzchok- the Purple team and team Yaakov- the blue team quickly got right to work, decorating the dining room, making up cheers, theme songs, banner, skits, stomps and more. The excitement in the air could be felt!!

On Wednesday and Thursday, aside from fantastic learning, the girls really let their talents shine, be it in sports competitions, painting the banner, writing and performing cheers, themes songs, choirs, dances and stomps, divrei Torah, playing panoply, the apache race and all around ruach!! A great time was had by all and there was so much fun, positive spirit and energy in the air!

Wednesday evening, for our speaker, we had the special honor of hearing from Rabbi Tzvi Sobolofsky, Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva University and Rav in Bergenfield and tremendous posek. The girls had the privilege to have a question and answer session with him- and got to ask him any question on their mind. The questions crossed the spectrums- from halacha to machshava and more. We were blown away by the breath of his knowledge, how he quoted from sources everywhere on any and every topic brought up. It was truly an amazing opportunity and experience.

Thursday, after a great morning of shiurim with our teachers and madrichot, we headed to the gym to prepare for the carnival we would be making after lunch for children from Sderot. The girls got busy making posters and preparing their booths. Then, after lunch, we had the privilege of greeting a bus full of children from Sderot. What a blast these kids had!! It was so moving to be able to put a smile on these children’s faces and give them a great time, helping them forget the fear and trauma that they go through daily. There was dancing and laughter and tons of happy spirit. When they were leaving, one of their staff members said to us- “You girls were incredible, filled with so much enthusiasm and crazy energy and excitement! Please please make sure to invite us back here next year! Thank you so much!!”

We ended Thursday by fantastic performances for color war, and our recap video which you can see on our blog.

And now, we are all off for our second free Shabbos and are looking forward to another special and meaningful week here at Michlelet this coming week.

Once again, I would love to hear any feedback, comments or questions you may have. Have a wonderful Shabbos.

Mrs. Rivka Yudin

Check out the highlights from our 4th AMAZING week on Michlelet NCSY!!!