Summer 2014

Yet another incredible day in Chispin here on Michlelet NCSY! After the regularly scheduled morning learning with our Madrichot and teachers, the girls prepared for our annual Chessed Carnival! This year’s carnival was for the children of Chispin whose parents were called up on reserve duty. With booths like Coke or Pepsi and bowling, the kids and our Michlelet NCSYers both had a chance to enjoy themselves! We are so proud of the love and devotion they showed to this beautiful Chessed! After dinner, we returned to the Torah, as we heard from the Prince of Swaziland about the journey of his life. We then had a Battle of the Nerds night activity where our awesome girls got to show off their smarts! A busy, yet beautiful day here in Chispin!

We had a beautiful day of learning here in Chispin as we commemorated Shiva Asar B’Tammuz. The girls enjoyed chaburas with their madrichot and classes with our fantastic teachers. Afterward we had a special Shiva Asar B’Tammuz program where we discussed the religious significance of the day and each girl spoke about how we can implement the lessons from what occurred on that day into our personal daily lives here on Michlelet. Afterwards we had optional films and an optional shiur by Rav Tani Cohen of MTA, Beth Abraham in Bergenfield, NJ, and NCSY Kollel. We were treated to iced coffees to break our fast on, and then enjoyed a yummy meal here in the Chispin dining room. The night activity left us wondering how well we know our madrichot, as we listened to crazy stories and had to guess which happened in real life to each of our madrichot!

Looking forward to another beautiful day up North tomorrow!

Wishing all an easy rest of the fast.

Talia is from Cedarhurst, NY and attends Queens College. Talia is psyched to be a Madricha for the second time to learn with and from the campers on Michlelet summer 2014!!

The NCSYers in Talia’s chabura are Shana Blisko (Chicago, IL), Shira Shalmon (Highland Park, NJ), Rikki Siebzener (Brooklyn, NY), and Rachel Silverman (Woodmere, NY).

Talia’s chabura focuses on the beautiful Tefilot that start off our day. Beginning with Birchot Hashachar and ending with Aleinu, her chabura will be gaining an appreciation and the confidence to WANT to daven each day; and to view Tefilah as an AWESOME opportunity to talk to Hashem.
They will learn together how PRAYER takes work to feel, motivation to build: A LIFETIME CONNECTION!!:)

Q- If you could choose to learn our Chabura in any time period in Jewish history which one would it be?

Shira – Matan Torah because בני ישראל were on the highest level of Kedusha and it would be really cool to learn right after Kabalat Hatorah with the most clarity.
Shana- I would want to learn in the מדבר so I could take part in all of the amazing open miracles Hashem did for בני ישראל.
Rikki- During חנוכה time while the Jews played Dreidel in the caves so we could learn next to the people who were מוסר נפש to learn Hashem’s Torah.
Rachel- During גלות בבל because after seeing the second בית המקדש fall to pieces you could still see the desire to keep the legacy of our nation and a connection with our creator.

We had another beautiful morning of learning here on Michlelet NCSY. The girls enjoyed their chaburot with their madrichot and also had their first teacher shiurs. After a morning of learning, we headed onto the buses for a cooling and relaxing swim in the Kinneret and some down time hanging out at the shore. We then headed back to the Achsania where we had dinner and then heard from Rebbetzin Shevy Yudin about the importance of Chessed. The girls then got to channel their inner designer with our thoroughly entertaining Project Runway night activity! It was a great day here up North! Wishing everyone an easy fast tomorrow.

Today was the first day of regularly scheduled morning activities here on Michlelet NCSY! We started the morning off right with some Torah from the homeroom Madrichot, and then proceeded to break up into our two Chaburot! It was beautiful to hear the kol shel Torah! Afterwords, we had our first morning of activities ranging from jump rope to basketball to art! The girls enjoyed being able to bond with their friends and use the facilities that Chispin has to offer. After lunch we traveled to the Talmudic village of Katsrin where we made clay chairs, fresh pita and learned about life in the Golan in the Talmudic era. After heading back to our hotel, we had our first “regular” night of a speaker and night activity, as the girls heard from Rebbetzin Aleeza Lebowitz, and channeled our inner photographer in a picture scavenger hunt! Overall, it was a great day of learning and fun here on Michlelet NCSY!

What an amazing few days it’s been!

On Friday we spent the morning learning with our homeroom madrichot here in the Achsania at Chispin for the first time. We ended our learning by making cards for chayalim and their families to express our support and appreciation for their mesirut nefesh on behalf of all of Klal Yisrael to protect our homeland. We also split up Sefer Tehillim between all of our campers and were able to complete the entire sefer and daven for peace in Eretz Yisrael. Afterwards we headed out to stock up on snacks and necessities at the supermarket and from there we enjoyed the cool, refreshing springs at Maayanei Eden! We then traveled to our picnic pizza lunch before heading back to Chispin to prepare for shabbos.

Shabbos on Michlelet was incredible and truly unparalleled to past years! The ruach and spirit we all shared reached the heights of our neighboring northern hills! Shabbos was filled with zemiros, yummy food, bonding activities, shiurim, and a fantastic tisch with our resident Michlelet rebbe and rebbetzin! We came out of shabbos on a high and continued it with an unbelievably leibedik melave malka that concluded with our weekly recap video and a pizza party.

We can’t wait to see what this week has in store! Shavua Tov from the beautiful and breezy Tzafon!

Dear NCSY Michlelet Parents, amush

What a whirlwind of a week! Although it has definitely been challenging on this end, rearranging all our itinerary and plans, we are happy to say that considering all, things have really been flowing quite smoothly here! Although not yet being in their permanent rooms for the summer and not knowing how long their stay will be here is a bit unsettling, the girls are doing beautifully under the circumstances. Knowing that their safety is our top priority, as well, is calming for them all.

The truth is, though, that even with all our changes, if one did not know we had initially had other plans, it would really look like these were our initial plans and like a normal Michlelet start. We are having a wonderful time and the program is really going incredible so far. As I told the girls, you can take Michlelet to a different place, but you can’t take Michlelet out of our program, or Michlelet out of a Michlelet NCSYer, no matter where we are! And you really feel that. It has really been a great first few days.

I want to thank, as well, the many parents who have reached out to us, with your kind words, thanks and encouragement.

When the Michlelet NCSYers arrived a the airport, they were greeted by myself, Mrs. Shanie Warman, our phenomenal Assistant Director and Tamar Sharfman, our dedicated Camp Mom. They then got their phones, gave their luggage to our porters, and we went to a shady spot, under the palm trees in the airport to eat a delicious Holy Bagel lunch. On the busses, I told the girls of our change of plans to head North and the girls excitedly cheered for their Best Summer Ever! We drove to the North, and arrived in the beautiful King Solomon Hotel at Tiveriah. From there, we went to the Tayelet, boardwalk, in Tevariah, overlooking the magnificent Kineret, and had a delicious dinner at a restaurant. We sat there, eating our dinner on the waterfront, while looking at the gorgeous Kineret, with the fresh, delicious breeze on our faces, as the sun set. When we got back to the hotel, we had a great getting to know you game, which was a lot of fun. Then, we had a cute getting to know the madrichot presentation. A great time was had by all. From there, we went our rooms, and had a good night’s sleep.

Thursday, after davening and breakfast, we had our Michlelet NCSY 2014 Orientation. The girls heard about our exciting program. The girls heard from myself, Mrs. Shanie Warman; Assistant Director, Tamar Sharfman, our Camp Mom, Ora Laufer and Racheli Schwartz, our Head Madrichot, Atara Starr and Chani Cooper, our Activities Coordinators and Miriam Khukashvili, extra programming. The girls are really so excited and enthusiastic about our summer ahead.

After orientation, we boarded the buses and headed to the Kever of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai. How special it was, to spend their first full day here in Eretz Yisroel, and be able to visit and pray at such a holy site. We then went to eat our yummy lunch from Café Neeman. After that, we headed to the Majrisah water hike. We had an absolute blast. The singing and cheering, splashing and dancing in the cool waters was a great bonding time as we got to know each other and come together as a unit. We really enjoyed! From there, we headed to Chispin and got to our absolutely beautiful grounds, overlooking the Kineret. The view, the air and the grounds are so peaceful, beautiful and magnificent. We had an incredible Night Activity that promoted team building. The girls were broken into groups, chose team names and made up a cheer to represent themselves. Each team was then faced with a series of challenges that promoted working together. The girls were very enthusiastic and there was a lot of excitement and cheering in the room!

This morning, after davening and breakfast, the Michlelet NCSYers had the opportunity to divide up into their small groups with their homeroom Madrichot. They got to know each other, and hear about what they would be learning about this summer with their Madrichot. It was really nice to start learning a bit and get to know the madrichot. Then, everyone did a chessed project together, to try and feel for the pain so many in Israel are going through. We wrote letters of love and encouragement to the people in the South, going through so much now, and to our soldiers, so dedicated and going through such difficult times. We then split up the entire Sefer Tehillim and completed it with the saftey of Israel in mind. The girls really enjoyed the one on one time with their madrichot and really felt productive taking part in a chessed.

After our program, we got on the busses and headed off, our first stop being at a local supermarket in case the girls wanted anything. Afterwards, we visited the gorgeous Maayanei Eden natural water springs. The girls had an unbelievable time singing, dancing, cheering, and splashing in the cool water. We even did a round of Zumba led by madricha Talia Molotsky, a certified Zumba instructor, played an exhilarating round of elbow tag, and a few girls and madrichot surprised us with water shooters they had just bought! Everyone had an incredible time cooling down and enjoying the water. After we dried off we went to nearby camping spot where we treated to a pizza cookout with fresh delicious pizzas prepared for us on the spot with tons of toppings! We finished up with salad, watermelon and drinks and headed back to Chispin to prepare for shabbos.

We are all preparing for Shabbos now, and really excited about our first Shabbos here at Michlelet NCSY 2014. The girls are really pumped and excited. We are looking forward to a beautiful first Shabbos filled with unity, singing, laughter and meaning and we have special programs planned for the girls (including more “getting-to-know-you” activities) as well as Melave Malka for Motzei Shabbat (Saturday night.)

Please remember to check our website for updated blog, pictures, shiurim and more at michlelet.ncsy.org. Our weekly pre-Shabbos recap video can be viewed there as well. Enjoy!

Please feel free to be in touch throughout the summer with any feedback, comments, questions or concerns you may have. My email address is yudinr@ncsy.org. On a personal note, I am looking forward to getting to know better each and every one of your daughters.

I join you all in praying for peace and safety for all of Am Yisroel.

Good Shabbos,

Mrs. Rivka Yudin

Director

Michlelet NCSY

yudinr@ncsy.org