To see a video recapping the day, click here.
This past Wednesday, I along with several peers and madrichim spent the day visiting the Lamed Hey Army Base in the Gush, as well as taking a tour around Yad Vashem and/or Har Hertzel. At the base, we took a tour around the facilities and thanks to generous donations from many parents of NCSYers who visited, we did not come empty-handed. We gave the soldiers over eighty camel-back water backpacks, which provides easy water access to soldiers on a long, hot summer day. It was inspiring to see what a difference this made to the chayalim as their hakarat hatov was evident throughout the day, and reaffirmed by the base commander who took time out of his demanding schedule to speak to us.
Some of us visited Yad Vashem, while others went to Har Herzel. This could not have been a better ending to the day as we heard stories of people who made the ultimate sacrifice for the Jewish land and the Jewish people. Everyone came out of the day awe-struck and it was truly an experience that the NCSYers will never forget.
-Zvi Kaminetzky