Today began off with tons of action. Many of the shiurim had the opportunity to spend the morning on a variety of shiur trips. The shiurim of Rabbi Bomzer, Rabbi Hirschel, and Rabbi Gormin had the opportunity to go to Aish Hatorah. The shiurim of Rabbi Isaacson, Rabbi Cohen, Rabbi Marcus, and Rabbi Bronfeld went to Ptil Tcheiles. Rabbi Ellman and Rabbi Grajower took their shiurim to Yad Eliezer to pack food for the poor. Rabbi Reich, Rabbi Rich, and Ravi Schneider took their shiurim to Sderot.

In the afternoon, the NCSYers were given the option of attending a mini tiyul to Meah Sheurim in which they were taken on a tour of the town and given free time to buy seforim and of course eat food.

Tonight’s night seder was a great way to finish off the week. After the standard night shiurim and chavrusashafts, there was tremendous participation during the voluntary chavrusa learning between campers and madrichim, post-maariv. Additionally, at this time there are no less than 5 optional post night seder chaburahs being given during that time. Among those who delivered these chaburot were Yakov Kaminetsky, Gavi Rosenberg, Dovid Pinzour, Jacob Bach, and Gilad Vann. After the great chavrusah learning and chaburot, Rav Burg delivered an impassioned shiur to a packed beis, followed by some chulent and kugel.

The night concluded with a Yis Richter led kumzitz/tish that was quite leibadik.

NCSY Kollel welcomed Rabbi Eli Wagner to the Beis Medrash tonight. Rav Eli is an alumni of NCSY Kollel as a staff member, and NCSYer and a Rebbe in several Yeshivas and Seminaries in Israel.

Aaron Brooks is 19 years old and is currently enjoying his 1st summer on NCSY Kollel. He attended Denver Academy of Torah and Gush and is currently planning on attending YU next year. This is Aaron’s 1st year as a Madrich.

Aaron’s Chaburah is made up of 6 of the best guys around: Yosef Fertig from Woodmere (DRS); Hillel Jacobsen from Woodmere (DRS); Benny Jacobsen from Brooklyn (Rambam); Dovi Schwarcz from Bergenfield (Heichal Hatorah); Yaakov Wertentheil from Bergenfield (Heichal Hatorah); and Chaim Schrek from Lawrence (Rambam).

This summer, Aaron’s chaburah will be focusing on Hilchos Brachos and Tefillah . They will be learning about a variety of topics including, Tefilas Haderech, Bracha Levatala, Eating before davening, and much, much more. The goal of the learning is to To learn a lot of Torah and grow together.

The summer has been great so far and it should only get better from here!

Zach Rothenberg is 20 years old and is currently enjoying his 2nd summer on NCSY Kollel. He attended TABC and Hakotel and is currently planning on attending YU next year. This is Zach’s 1st year as a Madrich.

Zach’s Chaburah is made up of 6 of the best guys around: Hillel Gerstein from Far Rockaway (DRS); Azriel Kirschenbaum from Bergenfield (TABC); Yoni Schneider from West Hempstead (DRS); Daniel Gopin from Bergenfield (TABC); Avery Stepner from Teaneck (TABC); and Dani Pfeiffer from Teaneck (MTA).
This summer, Zach’s chaburah will be focusing on Sports in Halacha. They will be learning about a variety of topics including, Can You move down seats at a game or  Can you ball against your father, and much, much more. The goal of the learning is to To become the best עבד ה׳ you can be.

The summer has been great so far and it should only get better from here!

We welcomed Rabbi Yoni mandlestam who came to spend time with his talmidim from TABC. Rabbi Mandlestam is spending the summer with NCSY Hatzlah Rescue Program and is a former Madrich on NCSY Kollel.

NCSY Kollel welcomed Rabbi Shalom Hammer to our bais medrash last night. Rabbi Hammer spoke about his new book and had conversations with NCSYers about his experiences in the Israel army.

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