Elli Spinowitz is very much enjoying his fourth summer on NCSY Kollel, his second as a madrich. Hailing from Teaneck, NJ, Elli has attended TABC for high school, Yeshivas Sha’alvim for two years, and will soon begin his second year at Yeshiva University. When people ask him why he comes back year after year, he has no other response but to exclaim, “how can I not come back?!”
Elli may be a fine madrich, but without his amazing chaburah, he would be nothing. Starting from the top, coming from Boston, MA, Michael Wald has been a foundational member of the group. Moving down the coast, we find another core piece of our program, Zev Epstein, coming all the way from Philadelphia, PA. Noam Berman, yet another foundational component of the chaburah hails from a city even further south, known as Potomac, MD. As we hit our most southernmost point on the map in Boca Raton, FL, we can find two more key aspects of the team, Meir Lanner and Elyada Shabtai. While on paper the group may seem geographically dispersed, in reality, there couldn’t be a more tight-knit group. Whether it’s during chaburahs or not, the chevra will frequently be seen hanging out with each other, both in laughter and in deep conversation.
In the chaburah slot, while we definitely do get to work, we try to do everything bisimcha and with a real ruach. We have been going through different sugyas that generally come up as we go through a regular day, such as netillas yadayim, bircas hatorah, shomeah ki’oneh, and tfillah. What happens at the end of school if someone offers you a ride home? Are you obligated to split the cost of the gas? This is how we got to the sugya of zeh neheneh v’zeh lo chaser. The goal of the chaburah is to develop a deep love for learning as we get more and more comfortable reading through the mekoros and discussing the topics at hand.
This summer has been beyond phenomenal and we can’t wait to take it to the next level this coming week, as we close out the summer strong!
