Shabbos on NCSY Kollel is unlike any other and the first one of Kollel 2013 was no exception.

Everyone gathered in the beis medresh for mincha and kabbalas shabbos. Rabbi Benovitz introduced shabbos speaking about the importance of working together. He quoted the San Antonio Spurs coach, Greg Popovich, who said, “They have all the talent, but we have each other.”  

We had a rocking kabbalas shabbos filled with singing and dancing. The z’miros were strong, the dvar torah by second year NCSYer Gabe Barishansky captivating, and the achdus and unity was palpable.

The tisch is always a highlight of the shabbos. Rabbi Lebowitz led us in inspiring songs.

Before lunch on shabbos day, there were three different shiurim. One by Rav Schachter, another by Rabbi Benovitz discussing the significance of the mitzvah of tzitzis and their connection to Michael Jordan, and Mini-tiyul leader extraordinaire, Yosef Ginsberg, gave the final of the three options.

At lunch, an unforgettable dvar torah was  delivered by another second year NCSYer, Shlomo Stark. He spoke of his experience’s from last summer and advised everyone to stop and look around once in awhile so they don’t miss anything on Kollel.

In typical NCSY fashion, our seuda shlishit was an inspirational moment. The ru’ach and singing were strong.

A more informal meet-and-greet took place after shabbos as the NCSYers traveled to their morning shiur rebbe’s house for a melava malka. Everyone enjoyed some great homemade food and had a chance to get to know their rebbe and the other NCSYers in their shiur better.

Daily Halacha Shiur from Rav Schachter on the topic of Rosh Chodesh

Dear Parents,

It has been a breathless and exhilarating opening few days on the NCSY Summer Kollel.  The amazing start has exceeded our already high expectations, and we are more excited than ever about the promise of the rest of the summer.  On the programming side, it’s been one highlight after the next, but the real source of the fantastic start is the group itself.  The staff and NCSYers have been phenomenal, and are beginning to come together as an even greater whole.

As always, you can follow along daily on our blog to receive detailed information about the program and to enjoy the links to pictures, video and audio recordings of events on the Kollel.  The site is updated regularly, and will be the next best thing to actually being on the NCSY Kollel!

I look forward to sending a weekly email with some additional “behind the scenes” perspective on the NCSY Kollel events.

It’s hard to believe that we’ve only been here for a few short days.   The program is already in full swing and the NCSYers have gotten more than a taste of a variety of components that contribute to the overall NCSY Kollel experience.  They’ve had a chance to learn with Rabbeim and madrichim, we’ve been out of Beit Meir each day since our arrival, providing an early does of Israel and our touring, and the courts have already come alive with the sounds of basketball and hockey.

A few moments stood out.  At the top of that list would have to be our first visit to the Kotel where we davened on Tuesday night.  The spirit that accompanies all prayers at that special spot was accompanied by a unique sense of purpose and anticipation.  Equally obvious as a highlight, but in a very different way would be the incredible night we spent at the water park, bonding and enjoying under near ideal conditions.

But there were more subtle moments as well.

The first morning seder, on Thursday morning, always offers a chance for reflection on the extraordinarily special ambitions of the NCSY Kollel.  How to describe the sight of 150+ teens spending their summer in a traditional learning environment?  This was a morning seder with world class instructors and top level learning.  There was energy and enthusiasm and a palpable sense of pride and accomplishment.

Thursday night, long after we returned from the water park, was another chance to appreciate the opportunity we have been given.  We announced an optional late night mishmar, and were overwhelmed by the response.  At 11:30 there were over 100 people still learning, staff and NCSYers alike.  This was a grassroots and clear statement about the quality of group we have this summer.  Not far away, under midnight darkness, our esteemed sports staff was hard at work (flashlights and all) putting the finishing touches on our courts for Friday’s opening day of league games.  It struck me as a pretty good snapshot of what makes the NCSY Kollel special.  Here were dozens of teenagers, spending a late Thursday night in an inspiring Beit Medrash, and a few of our community’s finest young scholars and leaders spending the same time out on a basketball court, making sure that the relationship between the two will be strong.

Of course, there were regular adjustment issues along the way, and not everyone is completely and perfectly acclimated yet.  We are working with each and every NCSYer, and we greatly appreciate your feedback and patience.  We are anticipating an uplifting first Shabbat together as we just welcome Rav Schachter and his wife to Beit Meir, and we are raring to go.

We look forward to hearing from you.  Please contact our Camp Mom, Mrs. Shoshie Ellman with any technical issues.  She can be reached at kollelmom@gmail.com.  And as always, I can be reached at benovitzm@ncsy.org.

Have a great Shabbos

Moshe Benovitz

Check out our first week of Kollel in this video!

After a few days of pickup basketball and hockey, the opening day of leagues has finally arrived. We started off the day early to fit everything in before shabbos.

Three league periods, twenty four basketball teams, eight hockey teams. Kollel leagues are always exciting and competitive, and today was no exception.

The first hockey game of the season was an overtime thriller. Team E came back from a 2-0 deficit to tie it in the third and force the game into overtime. Team C won it on a full court slap-shot halfway through overtime. The star of the game was Yaacov Schneider who had a goal and an assist.

Basketball was also filled with exhilarating finishes. Come backs, two point wins we had it all. It should be a very competitive summer.

In between the first and second sports periods we took a break and headed to Yerushalayim, to the Meah Shearim/Geulah area.

A big thank you to our sports commissioner, Marc Poleyeff, and hockey commissioner, Ari Miller, who worked hard to have everything ready for this big day.

Have a great shabbos!

What a day! We started out with regular morning shiurim. Before lunch we had the privilege of hearing from Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt, Rav of the Riverdale Jewish Center who spoke about what being in Israel for the summer should mean to us.

Even though it was already late in the afternoon, the best was yet to come.

We packed the buses and headed to an enormous water park we where had the entire place to ourselves. There were slides, a lazy river, and a gigantic pool. If that wasn’t enough, they also had had a soccer field, multiple basketball courts, and tennis courts. The cherry on top was the soft serve ice cream that everyone received a voucher for.

And it still wasn’t over. Back in Beit Meir, the beis medrash was packed for our first optional Thursday night mishmar. At 11:30 at night there were 102 (!) people in the beis medrash going strong.

To help out the learning later in the night, shwarma was served to all those learning.

Day two of NCSY Kollel was filled with firsts: our first full day of Kollel, the first chaburas, and our first mini tiyul.

It started out with a more detailed orientation for all members of Kollel, both NCSYers and staff included.

The NCSYers met their Shiur Rebbe who will be teaching them every morning for the duration of the summer. Both the Rebbeim and the NCSYers are looking forward to spending more time together after shabbos when everyone will travel to their Rebbeim’s homes for a more informal get-together.

Our first Mini-Tiyul of the summer took place in the afternoon. Led by Yosef Ginsberg, our mini tiyul coordinator, a group of NCSYers had the opportunity to check out the Greater Beit Meir area and its views.

We traveled to the beach in Bat Yam for some relaxation. We enjoyed the refreshing water, intense games of soccer, volleyball, ultimate frisbee, and NCSYers vs. Staff football (staff won, by the way).
The day was not over yet. Back in Beit Meir the Grand opening of our canteen, Yummy’s, was held. Poppers, french fries and trivia galore. The winner of the Chabura Faceoff Challenge was Ezra Zanger’s chabura. The NCSYers in his chabura are Donny Brodsky, Avi Katz, Mordechai Lis, Yosef Mammon, and Yoni Samet.  Congratulations!

We look forward to taking the excitement from today and building on it tomorrow in the beis medresh and water park. 

The day we had been waiting for has finally arrived, NCSY Kollel 2013!

150 NCSYers with their parents packed Terminal 4 at JFK Airport. After check-in we headed to the chapel area where we were greeted by David Cutler, Director of NCSY Summer Programs, Jen Goldman, the assistant director, and literally hundreds of slices of pizza.

Even with a slight delay on the runway, we landed on schedule at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel. We loaded the buses to Beit Meir, the campus of Yeshivat Ohr Yerushalayim, our home for the next six weeks.

The first full Kollel gathering took place at 5:00 with mincha in the Beis Medresh. Rabbi Moshe Benovitz, Director of NCSY Kollel, gave a short orientation and introduced some of the talented people working with us this summer including Mike Kahn, our head Madrich, and Andrew Israeli, our Co-head Madrich.

After dinner we headed to the Old City of Yerushalayim. Our first stop was the roof of Yeshivat HaKotel with its unparalleled panoramic view of Har Habayit. Andrew Israeli spoke about the opportunity and potential that we have in front of us in the next six weeks.

 We had the special privilege of davening maariv as a group at the Kotel.