Summer 2016 Archives - Page 2 of 7

NCSY Michlelet 2016 Greets Nefesh b’Nefesh!!

Last Tiyul Day!

If you thought we already did as much as possible to do in one day, think again! Today was such an amazing busy day!

We woke up at 5am to greet a Nefesh b’Nefesh flight of hundreds of olim chadashim!!! With flags, posters, and dances, we welcomed and congratulated the new olim on their aliyah to Eretz Yisrael!!! Such an amazing and inspiring experience!

Then we went to Luna Gal water park where we splashed around and had a blast in the pools and on the water slides!

Then we went to Kfar Kedem where we learned in a very hands on way about how they made food back in the day. Dressed in our ancient garb, we ate delicious pita, milked goats, and rode donkeys! We had so much fun!

We accomplished so much today and had the BEST.LAST TIYUL DAY.EVER!

Check out all our pics and stay tuned for the last few blogs left of summer 2016!

Sdeirot Carnival!!

We started off the day with a crazy fun carnival in the gym for children from Sdeirot. Fun booths included activities like apple bobbing, face paint, and various relay races, to mention just a few! The smiles on everyone’s face definitely out shined our bright tutus!

Today was our second to last day of learning on Michlelet 🙁 We love every chaburah and class, and we can’t believe how fast the time is flying! We keep singing “we don’t wanna go..”

We prepared for the talent show and hung out with out friends!

Shana bet had a special BBQ dinner at the Yudin residence.

We were privileged to hear Rabbi Yosef Mendelovitch speak to us tonight.

The grand talent show was amazing, entertaining, hilarious, and so fun!!! Campers and madrichot performed various songs, drama scenes, skills, impersonations…the list goes on! We have such talent on Michlelet!

We ended off the night by making WELCOME HOME SIGNS for the Nefesh b’Nefesh flight that we plan on meeting at the airport early tomorrow morning!

WHAT A GREAT DAY! Thank Gd! Can’t wait for tomorrow!

Stay tuned and check out all our pictures online!

NCSY Michlelet Week 5 Video!

MICHLELET WEDDING!

Yesterday on Michlelet, we had the opportunity to do an INCREDIBLE chesed. From set tables and decorated mechitzahs, to centerpieces and shtick, we made a wedding for a chosson and kalla from start to finish!

The beis was alive as we learned with our madrichot and teachers for our third to last day of learning on Michlelet. We spent the rest of the day preparing for the wedding and then celebrating with the kallah! We set, served, cleared, photographed, danced, and shared in the amazing simcha! What an incredible feeling to know we were able to give in such a significant way to this new couple in Klal Yisrael!

The wedding was long, but the memories will last for longer.

MAZEL TOV!!!

Guest Speakers

On Michlelet, we have had the INCREDIBLE opportunity to learn from amazing guest speakers throughout our summer here! These shiurim have been uploaded to YUTorah.org for your easy access.

To listen to any of these amazing speeches, click HERE and you will see the list of recordings available for online viewing or download.

Enjoy! Learn well!

Tisha b’Av

We had a very meaningful tisha b’av program here on Michlelet.

Rabbi Yudin read Eicha for us, and then led the kinos along with our Madrichot in the Beis. We went out to the beautiful porch and continued our program with a moving skit and choir by the madrichot, and a beautiful kumsitz.

Today we had a kinos program in the morning until mincha.

We heard a shiur by Rabbi Chaim Marcus. We then had optional movie showings, followed by an inspiring shiur on respecting our friends by Mrs. Yudin. We ended off the day with a kumsitz as we watched the sunset on the Beit Shemesh hills, and then we broke our fast on a delicious dinner.

We had an inspiring day, and we hope that next year, we can celebrate together in Yerushalayim with the Beis Hamikdash!

But the day was not over- we had an auction to raise money for the wedding we are making on Michlelet tomorrow!!!! If you’d like to donate, please click here: https://ncsy.org/michlelet-wedding-sponsorship/

STAY TUNED! ONE MORE AMAZING WEEK LIES BEFORE US AND WE’RE GONNA ROCK IT!

Weekly Update #5 from Mrs. Yudin

Dear Michlelet NCSY Parents,

This has been an incredibly strong and powerful week in so many areas. The experiences we are having are extremely bonding and the energy and connection felt here has been equally strong! I have been moved so many times this week – watching the girls connect in so many different venues and seeing how we have really come together with a connection that is hard to describe, as a real Michlelet Family. The bonds we are making here, and the excitement that is so alive, are extremely wholesome and part of the growing experience of Michlelet.

I have been watching the girls grow and bond through the learning that takes place here. With so many pressures of tests and the like nowadays, it is so refreshing to see young women, learning to really love learning Torah and with only positive associations. Our learning here has been strong and powerful. It is so special to see how much the girls enjoy learning with each other and from their teachers and madrichot. This week, we had a priceless opportunity to have a question and answer session with Rabbi Sobolofsky, Rav in Bergenfield, NJ, Rosh Yeshiva at YU and NCSY’s posek. The girls were awed by his breadth of knowledge and his ability to answer questions in all arenas. It is amazing how you could literally have heard a pin drop as our speakers this week, Rabbi Yamin Goldsmith, Rabbi Avrohom Willig, Rabbi David Katz and Rabbi Noam Fix spoke. The girls have really come to appreciate each and every opportunity to learn. When I spoke this week when we hosted Give NCSY and when Rabbi Willig spoke this week when we hosted Sulam, both for some learning and basketball, it was beautiful to see the pride our girls took in the learning that takes place here and how excited they were to share that pride with our guests!

Of course, just because they learn strong, doesn’t mean they can’t have great fun! If anything, each enhances the other! The bonds created through the fun we had this week were equally touching to see. They laughed in sheer delight as they ran around the mall on Sunday night, in search of their madrichot who were dressed up hysterically and blended into the mall for a Madricha Scavenger Hunt. You had to see the way they cheered the night away, with such pride, energy and excitement at the basketball games against Give and Sulam this week. Who can describe the cheering, ruach and unbelievable talent shown on Wednesday and Thursday during Color War! How special it was to watch the performances Thursday night, and see each girl shine and so involved! How beautiful it was to hear their theme songs, sung with such sincerity about how much they have learned and grown on Michlelet and how much they have come to love it.

A different type of connection was built through the meaningful tiyul we experienced on Tuesday, during the nine days. The girls had the opportunity of connecting to their past by going to Yad Vashem and hearing from Rabbi Hanoch Teller and others. They then had the privilege of going to Har Herzel, where our soldiers are buried, and to daven there and to learn about them, and be connected to them by hearing from Rabbi Michael Olshin and Rabbi Moshe Hamburg. After that moving visit, they had the ultimate bonding experience ending the day in Rose Park in Jerusalem doing ODT, team building activities where they had to work together as teams to accomplish certain fun and interesting activities. They had a fabulous time!

Our chessed this week was another opportunity for the girls to form attachments through meaningful, chessed activities. On Sunday morning, the girls had a three hour professional training on how to be medical clowns. They then had the distinct chance to go to either Shaarei Tzedek or Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, and medical clown there. What a profound opportunity- to enhance the lives of the sick and their families, and bring smiles to their faces and joy to their hearts. What better a feeling can one have than to be a part of that enhancement of a fellow Jew’s lot and what better way can there possibly be to perform that chessed than to bond with each other through that experience? On Thursday, we had another moving experience and slightly different twist of a chessed trip. The girls had the opportunity to go to either the Dialogue in the Dark, otherwise known as the Blind Museum, or the Invitation to Silence, otherwise known as the Deaf Museum. Another really connecting experience, as each group worked together as they were led through different interactive encounters to help become more sensitized to what it must be like for someone who is deaf or blind. It was very touching and will hopefully be something we take with us as we encounter people with many types of disabilities and challenges throughout our lives.

And who can describe the awesome experience of going to daven at Kever Rachel today, erev Tisha B’av? What an unbelievable z’chus to daven at Rachel Imainu’s kever, our mother who Hashem has promised, “in your merit, Rachel, your children will return home.”

So this week has been an incredible one, with unique and special experiences shared. We have really come together as a unit and formed ties which can only be built here, through such a rich combination of uplifting and exciting experiences.

We are looking forward to another beautiful Shabbos, filled with singing, bonding and ruach and pray that this Tisha Bav will be one in which we do not sit on the floor and cry, rather one in which we dance to the Beis Hamikdash!!

Once again, if you would like to donate to be part of the beautiful wedding we will be making this Monday, you can do so at https://ncsy.org/michlelet-wedding-sponsorship/

Please feel free to be in touch with any feedback you may have.

Good Shabbos,

Rivka Yudin

Kever Rachel!

We were thrilled to have late wakeup today after an extremely busy week!
We ate breakfast and had the special opportunity of visiting Kever Rachel for shacharis!!

Back at campus, we ate lunch and then had free time to go off campus and get ready for shabbos!

Looking forward to a beautiful Shabbos Chazon together filled with singing, learning, fun, and of course, delicious shabbos food!

Can’t believe it’s already our second to last shabbos on Michlelet 2016! We don’t wanna go!

Stay tuned and remember to check out our pictures!

SHABBAT SHALOM!

Chaburah Spotlight: Gabby Rahimzada

Gabby Rahimzada is from Great Neck, NY. She went to Central and after that spent a year in MMY. She is now a junior in Stern College majoring in Jewish Education. This is Gabby’s third summer on Michlelet – she spent two years as a camper and is so excited to be back as a Madricha this summer!

The girls in Gabby’s homeroom are: Ariana Balk (Engelwood, New Jersey), Tehila Deil (Great Neck, New York), Elinoa Draiman (Chicago), and Sela Boord (West Hempstead, New York).

Gabby’s chabura goes through the Jewish calendar and relates the various chagim to different themes and concepts within them. The girls discuss how each chag is “A Time To…” focus on something specific and find practical applications for their lives. For example, while studying Purim we discussed how Hashem is hidden throughout the story and the Jewish people needed to find Him in a time of such struggle. Based on this idea we can have greater appreciation and hakarat hatov for the little things in life and an understanding that Hashem is always there in any situation or obstacle we face, even though we may need to put in effort to find Him.

What is your favorite chag and why?
Ariana: My favorite chag is pesach because it’s a time when our whole entire family is together and our seders are amazing and we sing a lot and its always so beautiful and meaningful!
Tehila: My favorite chag is Purim- it actually really wasn’t always at all but after learning about it and the holiness to that day I’m now looking forward to it now.
Elinoa: My favorite chag is Chanukah because of the donuts and presents and family time and singing and dreidel spinning with my sisters 🙂
Sela: My favorite chag is Pesach because it’s so different than any other chag and I love to spend time with my family!