Kollel was back in action on Wednesday, following all of the extremely exciting trips yesterday. Morning Seder and shuir was regular for everyone, but the atmosphere in the beis medrash was still electric!

In the afternoon, even though there were no “official” sports leagues, the amount activities were were definitely not lacking. The 3 on 3 tournament continued and went all the way through the semi finals! There were some intense games that went to the wire! Congratulations and good luck to the teams led by Ari Kaminetzky and Zev Markowitz as they will face off tomorrow in the finals!

Also, many All-Star games were played. In basketball the madrichim took on sports staff, and two separate post 10th grade teams faced off vs the head staff and post 11th grade respectively. In hockey, the NCSYer’s pulled off the upset and defeated the staff 1-0 in a nail biter! Shout-out to Aaron Teitelbaum who scored the winning goal!

Aside from sports, in the afternoon there were also three very exciting mini tiyulim! The options consisted of; A trip to Gezer to see the largest and nicest baseball field in Israel, a unique opportunity to crawl all through the Bar Kochva caves or a relaxed trip to the mall in Beit Shemesh.

However, it was still a slightly bittersweet day as this evening  Rav Twerski departed back to America! Rav Twerski spent the last few weeks giving assorted shuirim and having chavrusas with different staff and campers. It was a true privilege to have him share so much Torah and his presence in the beit medrash will certainly be missed!

Finally, tonight was the official start of the new night Seder program!! Everyone chose new shuirim to attend and now, for the second half of the summer, these shuirim will continue for the remainder of the program. Everyone is looking forward to learning from their new night Seder rabbeim/shuirim all while continuing chavrusa time with different staff members as well.

One of the hottest days of the summer wasn’t able to stop the Kollel from a magnificent trip day. Always rising with the sun, the first tiyul- a hike to Nachal Zavitan- started their trip. The trip had a late change due to heat and Zavitan was chosen for its relaxing water pools. The NCSYers enjoyed the beautiful mountainous region and the clear blue pools for swimming.

The second trip started at the beach. Spikeball, volleyball, soccer and frisbee all had their place and were played throughout our time. The water didn’t only serve as a refreshing oasis, but also allowed the Kollel to play games and bob and weave along with the waves. Following the beach, 3 busses the busses went Go-karting. The NCSYers got to show off there racing skills and, thankfully, many still don’t have their licenses to take their skills off on the streets. Following the stop at Go-Karting, one trip went to the Blind Musuem where they were able to experience what a blind person may go through in their everyday lives. A dark room walking around without any sight of vision is always a difficult task and it was a great experience for all those that went. The other bus went to play paintball. After some target practice the battle took the fields and was extremely intense. After a 2-minute armistice, the team on the left took home the victory. All then went to dinner in Halo Teiman where they satiated their schwarma cravings.

The final tiyul was labeled the “Food Tiyul”. This tiyul started nearby on a dairy farm. The Kollel did not only get to make their own cheeses but they tasted a few as well. Each member on the tiyul then gathered the farmer within them and fed the goats. Not only that but many even milked a goat! After the dairy farm the tiyulim split. One went to Pat B’Melech, a bread-making store in the Gush, where everyone made a pretzel with salt or cinnamon-sugar on top. Then was a lunch stop at חומוס הארץ, a nearby chummus joint known by travelers near and far, to have fantastic pita and chummus. The highlight of the day though was still to come. The tiyul ended around the corner where everyone gathered to witness a shechita and have a BBQ. The Kollel was taught about all the laws which we must abide by during the shechita process. For the ones that were still hungry we had a BBQ dinner of all this fresh meat. Delicious was the most mentioned word while I ate too much was a close second.

After a long hot summer day the kollel returned to beit Meir in order to reenergize for all the excitement still to come in the coming week.

One of the hottest days of the summer wasn’t able to stop the Kollel from a magnificent trip day. Always rising with the sun, the first tiyul- a hike to Nachal Zavitan- started their trip. The trip had a late change due to heat and Zavitan was chosen for its relaxing water pools. The NCSYers enjoyed the beautiful mountainous region and the clear blue pools for swimming.

The second trip started at the beach. Spikeball, volleyball, soccer and frisbee all had their place and were played throughout our time. The water didn’t only serve as a refreshing oasis, but also allowed the Kollel to play games and bob and weave along with the waves. Following the beach, 3 busses the busses went Go-karting. The NCSYers got to show off there racing skills and, thankfully, many still don’t have their licenses to take their skills off on the streets. Following the stop at Go-Karting, one trip went to the Blind Musuem where they were able to experience what a blind person may go through in their everyday lives. A dark room walking around without any sight of vision is always a difficult task and it was a great experience for all those that went. The other bus went to play paintball. After some target practice the battle took the fields and was extremely intense. After a 2-minute armistice, the team on the left took home the victory. All then went to dinner in Halo Teiman where they satiated their schwarma cravings.

The final tiyul was labeled the “Food Tiyul”. This tiyul started nearby on a dairy farm. The Kollel did not only get to make their own cheeses but they tasted a few as well. Each member on the tiyul then gathered the farmer within them and fed the goats. Not only that but many even milked a goat! After the dairy farm the tiyulim split. One went to Pat B’Melech, a bread-making store in the Gush, where everyone made a pretzel with salt or cinnamon-sugar on top. Then was a lunch stop at חומוס הארץ, a nearby chummus joint known by travelers near and far, to have fantastic pita and chummus. The highlight of the day though was still to come. The tiyul ended around the corner where everyone gathered to witness a shechita and have a BBQ. The Kollel was taught about all the laws which we must abide by during the shechita process. For the ones that were still hungry we had a BBQ dinner of all this fresh meat. Delicious was the most mentioned word while I ate too much was a close second.

After a long hot summer day the kollel returned to beit Meir in order to reenergize for all the excitement still to come in the coming week

Today was a very exciting day in the Kollel. Rabbi Gormin’s shiur had the opportunity to tour Aish Hatorah and Rabbi Gordon’s shiur was able to help out at Siach Sod, a facility for special needs children. The rest of the Kollel had regular morning seder and regular chaburahs.

After chaburahs, the annual 3 on 3 tournament kicked off. This massive tournament, complete with its own rules and t-shirts, featured almost the entire kollel in two seperate brackets, all vying to be crowned champs.  In addition to the basketball, there was also free popcorn, cotton candy and slushees being given out. Once teams lost they enjoyed some spike ball and whiffle ball. Following the basketball, there was a massive camper vs. staff dodgeball game in which the NCSY’ers narrowly won.

The beis was rocking during night seder, and afterward we were treated to a special shiur given by Rabbi Aharon Hammer on Torah in the Israeli Army.

Today we were privileged to welcome Rabbi Yaakov Schwartz, menahel of Talmudical Academy in Baltimore, who came to visit his students and spend some time experiencing the magic on NCSY Kollel!

Sam Bellows is 20 years old and is currently enjoying his first summer on NCSY Kollel. He attended Ida Crown Jewish Academy and Yeshivat Hakotel and will be in YU this upcoming year.

Sam’s Chaburah is made up of 5 of the best guys around: Micah Cohen from Chicago (Skokie yeshiva ); Gavi Warso from Chicago (Skokie Yeshiva); Moshe Davidovics from Memphis (Cooper); Ezra Somer from Memphis (Cooper); and Shlomo Levenbrown from Baltimore (Talmudic Academy).

This summer, Sam’s chaburah will be focusing on general Torah topics. They will be learning about a variety of sugyot including Tefillah,Shabbos,Eretz Yisroel, and much, much more. The goal of the learning is to grow as people through the learning.
The summer has been great so far and it should only get better from here!

NCSY Kollel is nearing the midway point of the summer and isn’t slowing down a bit. Strong sedarim and chaburas were complimented by the inauguration of supplemental sports. During the sports break, a bus left Beit Meir for Kraft stadium for some flag football for those whose sports itch still needed to be scratched.

This trip was in addition to the standard mini-tiyul. Today’s was a trip into Israel’s past at the Begin Museum where NCSYers learnt about the life of one of Israel’s most important politicians.

At night, the usual post-maariv learning was spiced up with a visit from Rav Mendel Blachman (KBY). Rav Blachman gave a shiur on the Three Weeks to a packed room to round out today’s learning.

Tomrrow is an exciting day as Kollel celebrates its anual 3-on-3 tournament and festival. Stay tuned for the latest in Kollel news.

Today we welcomed Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin to NCSY Kollel. Rabbi Bashevkin is the international director of education for NCSY, and a columnist for Mishpacha magazine. He is spending time with NCSYers and staff throughout the week.