Eliezer Feder has returned to NCSY Kollel for his second summer, this year as a Madrich. Last summer, he assisted on the tech staff and with office operations. Eliezer has just completed two successful years in Yeshivat Sha’alavim, and is headed to Lander College next year. He lives in West Hempstead, NY.
The NCSYers in Eliezer’s chabura are Ezra Alyeshmerni from Lawrence, NY, Meir Avracen from Cedahurst, NY, Yaakov Hoffman from Staten Island, NY, and Yoni Pomper from highland park, NJ.

The chabura is focusing on topics connected to the Gemara on Shabbos 31a, which discusses the six questions that one will be asked when he is brought before the ultimate court in heavens. So far they have discussed the order of the questions and its lessons as well as delving into topics connected to the first question, “did you deal honestly in your business.”
On Wednesday the chabura took a trip to Shaare Zedek hospital to bring some cheer to the patients there. Eliezer was trained by Lev Leytzan, a clowning program. Expecting just a normal trip to the hospital, the chabura had no clue what they had truly entered into. They went from floor to floor, room to room, spending time in multiple departments; from Pediatrics to the elderly. They brought joy to the patients there by singing, dancing, and simply clowning around.
Eliezer commented afterwards “I have been doing this for 6 years now and I can only imagine how many stories are being written every time we enter a room, only that we most probably will never find out the end of those stories.”

Tonight we will be having a leil iyun on the topic of: Why Cry?

See below for our schedule for the evening and the questions for our panel discussion.

Questions for Panel Discussions

1. How does the Churban and the lack of the Beis HaMikdash manifest itself in our everyday lives? We see an apparent abundance of learning, growth in the number of shuls and yeshivas, a flourishing state of Israel and even thriving Jewish communities across the diaspora. What are we missing? And how do we motivate ourselves to feel a real sense of loss?
2. What is the true definition of Sinas Chinam? What are its root causes? What is its opposite and what is its remedy? What practical steps can an NCSYer take towards improving in this area?
3. Chazal identify one of the causes of the destruction as “shelo birchu baTorah techila”. How are we supposed to understand this? In what ways are the churban and our relationship with Torah intertwined? How do we deal with frustration in learning, particularly in learning Gemara? And how is Talmud Torah connected to nechama?

As the NCSYers get more and more accustomed to the Kollel schedule, the excitement and fun continues to build.
Adding on to our regular schedule, Nachi Cooper, Communications Director and EMT, kicked off our mussar seder speaking about finding meaning in the mitzvot that we do every day. (That shmooze can be found here.)
Night seder culminated with an optional, but extremely well attended, post-maariv shiur, given by Rabbi Doni Marcus. As always, Rav Doni’s shiur was captivating and exciting. (Nobody can tell a story as well as Rav Doni.)

Despite the packed and busy schedule, we were treated to a special event. (And no, I am not referring to the Pizza Hut which was served after ma’ariv at “Yummies”.) The entire Kollel came together this afternoon for an inspiring siyum (completion of Gemarah) on Mesechet Bava Batra by Sruli Perton, a member of the NCSY Kollel Tech Staff. We know that this was only the first of many siyumim which we will be privileged to share together this summer on the NCSY Kollel.

Opening Mussar Shmooze from Nachi Cooper

Rav Zvi Sobolofsky’s daily gemara shiur to madrichim.

Rav Zvi Sobolofsky’s daily gemara shiur to madrichim.

Michael, a native Chicagoan, is a graduate of Yeshiva University and current RIETS student, who now lives in Israel. After his year in Yeshivat Torat Shraga, Michael became involved with NCSY and never looked back. Throughout college, Michael had the opportunity to be an advisor working for Midwest NCSY and Midwest JSU. He is spending his 5th summer on the NCSY Kollel. He previously served on the sports staff, as a madrich, and the Head Dorm Counselor but this summer, Michael is back as the Head Madrich of Kollel. After graduating YU, Michael spent a year studying in Yeshivat Hesder Hagolan in Chispin. Michael is very excited to be working for the best summer program in the world.

The NCSYers in Michael’s chabura are Elliot Fuchs (Teaneck, NJ), Noam Levy (West Hempstead, NY), Alex Maryles (West Hempstead, NY), Akiva Meyerowitz (Chicago, IL), Yehoshua Rosner (Beit Shemesh, Israel), Ariel Sacknovitz (West Hempstead, NY), and Moshe Spirn (Lawrence, NY).

The Chaburah is broken down into four units: Eretz Yisrael, parallel and interrupting stories in tanach, philosophical Jewish topics, and mussar discussions. The unit on Israel focuses on the Mitzvah to live in Israel, different perspectives and views of Religious Zionism, and Yeshiva students fighting in the army. The philosophical topics include a discussion on free will, why bad things happen to good people, as well as understanding how to relate to the mourning of Tisha B’Av. The tanach topics are based off the work of Rabbi David Fohrman, an expert in Tanach. His revolutionary style of learning gives the NCSYers an opportunity to improve their critical thinking skills and to gain new insights on stories in Tanach that they are already familiar with.

The main goal of the chaburah is to come out of the summer with a greater appreciation for seeing many different perspectives and views on hot topics in Judaism as well as developing a more critical way of thinking in Torah and to discover deeper levels of meaning in Judaism.

“There are many answers to difficult questions in Judaism, we may not always agree with everyone’s perspective but we should at least be accepting of other’s views.” – Elliot Fuchs

Although we can certainly say that there is never an ordinary day on the NCSY Kollel, today was actually the first day of the ordinary Kollel schedule for the summer. After Shacharit, we were privileged to hear the first of the daily Halacha shiurim delivered by the world renowned Rabbi Herschel Schachter. (Rabbi Schachter’s shiur on The Laws of Rosh Chodesh can be found here.)

The beis medresh was packed, and truthfully inspiring, as the NCSYers continued to learn in Gemarah shiur with their fantastic morning shiur rabbeim. Chaburas also continued today with the first full-length chaburas.

Taking a break from the learning, we headed to the courts where we had a great time playing in both competitive basketball and hockey leagues. But the day was not over there.

Tonight marked the inauguration of our wonderful Night Seder Program where each NCSYer had a one-on-one chavrusa with a staff member and attended an exciting night shiur, choosing from nine different options.

In addition to the shirum offered by our very own Roshei Yeshiva, Rav Schachter and Rav Sobolofsky, many other rebbeim, known for their roles in many premier Israel yeshivot joined the night seder staff. (This list includes: Rabbi Moshe Taragin of Har Etzion, Rabbi Mendel Blachman of Kerem BeYavneh, Rabbi Mordechai Burg of Yeshivat Shaarei Mevaseret Zion, Rabbi Horn from Yeshivat HaKotel, Rabbi Bronfeld of Yeshivat Reshit, Rabbi Hartstein of Lev HaTorah.) Two exciting new shiruim added to the Night Seder Program this year are Rabbi Elyadah Goldvicht’s shiur “Technology Meets Halacha” and Zev Kahane’s shiur “The Sweetness of Chassidus”.

The day was still not over. Even after ma’ariv the beis medresh was still filled with NCSYers eager to continue learning, and the canteen, “Yummy’s”, served some delicious Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream.

By: Ari Zwiren

It wasn’t very long ago that I was imagining spending the weekend of July 6-7 in New York on my way to Poland, Denmark and Israel  on another amazing NCSY Summer Program, JOLT (Jewish Overseas Leadership Training). Instead, I found myself in Beit Meir on the Ohr Yerushalayim campus on the first weekend of NCSY Kollel.

When you spend all year preparing for one thing and end up making  a spur-of-the-moment decision that changes your life, it is hard to adjust, as was the case with my situation. It was only as I sat in the chader ochel (lunch room) singing with the other Kollel guys that I was able to relax.

As the bright pink, orange and yellow setting sun streamed in on the Ohr Yerushalayim campus, Rav Netanel Leibowitz spoke about Moshe Rabbeinu. He mentioned that the reason Moshe didn’t go in to Israel was not as a punishment for hitting the rock, as opposed to talking to it, but in fact because Moshe’s attitude proved not to be the ideal demeanor for a leader of an Am Yisrael that didn’t leave Egypt, but rather an Am Yisrael of the desert.

As I thought about that lesson, I realized I was not completely unlike Moshe Rabbeinu on a much smaller scale. Moshe planned fo most of his life to lead the Jewish people into the land of Israel. I, in turn, planned to attend JOLT. Both of our paths were diverted. Hashem decided that Moshe was not the leader that was needed to bring Am Yisrael into Eretz Yisrael. Following that same idea, I believe Hashem diverted my path and put me on NCSY Kollel so that I may learn the lessons of Moshe Rabbeinu and pass them on… So here goes…

Just because you prepare for something and end up somewhere else doesn’t mean the preparation was useless. In the words of my Shiur Rabbi, Rav Mickey Ellman, the journey is often more important than the endpoint itself. Often the best lessons we learn are in the preparation, not the destination, but when you finally get to where you are going, don’t let it go to waste. I leave with a quote that has become a part of Kollel 2013, a quote from Matthew Broderick in Ferris Beuller’s Day Off: “Life moves by pretty fast, if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

What do the four holy cities, chocolate, kayaking, and the Black Canyon have to do with each other? NCSY Kollel tiyul day, of course. Today was our first awesome full tiyul day.

There were three options for everyone to choose from.

Option #1 – The Four Holy Cities

The day started out with shacharit in Chevron at Maarat Hamachpela. Rav Sobolofsky spoke about how Avraham and Kalev stood up to peer pressure and thye drew their strength from Chevron.

Overlooking the Old City of Yerushalayim and Har Habayit on the Tayelet, Rav Schachter discussed Kedushat Yerushalayim and its importance to us.

In Tevaria we had an amazing time on the beach playing football and swimming in the Kineret. We had the unique opportunity to learn about the Kineret from Rav Sobolofsky while we were in the Kineret. At the kever of Rebbe Meir Ba’al Haneis he told us of the fascinating history of our mesorah and how both the Talmud Bavli and Yerushalmi are connected to Tevaria.

Option #2 – Kayaking and Chocolate Making

Kayaking down the Yarden and making your own chocolate was the second of the three tiyul options. We were able to get out of our rafts and swim in the refreshing waters of the Yarden, taking advantage of the awesome weather, for much of the journey. After drying off we went to a nearby chocolate factory and everyone got to make theirown delicious bar of chocolate.

Option #3 – The Black Canyon

For those looking for a more physically intense option, they found it at Nachal Yehudiya in the Black Canyon. The seven hour hike included jumping into pools of fresh, clean water, rappelling down cliffs, and climbing up and down rocks. It was not for the faint of heart.

Everyone Back Together in Tzefat

We all met up after our separate tiyulim in Tzefat.  There we had many options for dinner at the various Tzefat eateries. In order to bring the Four Holy Cities option to a close, and to give everyone a chance to get more of an understanding of Tzefat, we split up into groups to meet some of the personalities of Tzefat. Some of us were given a review of kabalistic art and others had the opportunity to meet some special residents of the city. For those that wanted, there was a tour of the Tzefat cemetery where they learned about some of the great Jewish figures of Tzefat’s past with mini-tiyul leader extraordinaire Yosef Ginsberg.

We again came back together as a full Kollel for Maariv. Rabbi Lebowitz prepared us for this davening explaining that tonight is Rosh Chodesh Av and therefore the Nine Days begin today.

 It has been a long and invigorating day. We hope to take that energy and channel towards our first regular day of NCSY Kollel 2013 tomorrow.