We will resume blog posts tomorrow.  Until then please look for email updates regarding the situation.

Baruch HaShem, NCSY Kollel has arrived safely in Israel and is ready to embark on what is sure to be an amazing summer!!!  After a long flight, the NCSYers have loaded their bags onto the trucks and are on the busses, headed towards the Kollel campus in Beit Meir.  Having met so many new people already, the NCSYers and Madrichim alike could not be more excited to arrive and begin the Best.Summer.Ever!!

There are only 7 days remaining until the flight takes off from JFK. Check out the video to see what Kollel is all about.

Listen to Andrew Israeli deliver a shiur on the mitzvah of lulav live from Yerushalayim.

Kinus Teshuva 5774
Rabbi Yisroel Kaminetsky
Mayer Simcha Stromer

Basketball Championship Video

Sason Gabay is spending his first year on Kollel as a Madrich. He is from Skokie, IL, went to Skokie Yeshiva for high school followed by spending two years in Netiv Aryeh in Israel. He just graduated YU where he spent one year in Rav Sobolofsky’s shiur followed by two years in Rav Mordiachai Willig’s shiur.

The NCSYers in Sason’s chaburah are Roni Dulitz from Teaneck, NJ, Yehuda Feman from Teaneck, NJ, Aaron Simmons from Philadelphia, PA, and Danial Yager from Teaneck, NJ.

The chabura is learning about the Aseret Hadibrot through halacha and hashkafa. This past week they focused on kibbud av v’em looking at the halachot of this special mitzvah and then understanding the Hashakfa of this Mitzvah and how it is meant to develop our middah of Hakaros Hatov.

“I like how we have long discussions about the topics like we did on kibbud av v’em. I really got to understand what the meaning behind this mitzvah is and what it’s all about.” –Daniel Yager

The highly anticipated sports league championships were played on Friday. In the morning, both basketball semi-final games were played. The Pelicans, led by Daniel Stroh and Yisroel Benovitz, upset the number one seed, Hadar Geula, in a very close game to make it to the finals. In the other semi-final game, the Assassons beat the Dunkin Donaties.

At 12:15, the hockey championship was played between Bugs Bunny and Marvin the Martian. Akiva Hochbaum, appearing in his second straight hockey championship, scored the first goal of the game to make it 1-0. Yitzchak Greenberg then scored for Marvin the Martian to tie the game up at one. Both sides battled very hard through three periods and the game then went into overtime. In overtime, Sam Gelman knocked down a clear, shot the ball on net and scored the game winning goal to give Bugs Bunny the championship. After shaking hands, both teams walked off the court with their heads held high after playing in one of closest Kollel championships ever.

In the afternoon, the Pelicans faced off against the Assassons in the basketball championship. After the starting line-ups were announced by Leor Rapps, the highly anticipated game began. The game went back and forth for most of the first half. At half time, each Madrich sent up one member of his Chaburah to play in the exciting game of Chaburah line-up. Aaron Simmens, an esteemed member of Sason Gabay’s Chaburah, won the competition.

As the second half began, it became clear that under the leadership of Ezra Teichman and team captain Seth Grossman, the Assassons were not going to give up the lead any more. Madrich Sasson Gabay and defensive specialist Yonaton Cytrin continued to lead the team in the second half. As the lead grew, role players Avi Jacobs and Rafi Sanders pitched in to help the team gain a significant lead. In the end, the Assassons defeated the Pelicans 54-39. (Click here for a video of the game.) Both teams competed on a very high level throughout the entire summer and we look forward to another great summer of sports in summer 2014!

For the first time in NCSY Kollel sports history, the entire camp faced off against each other on Thursday afternoon. In this unprecedented sports tournament, called the Boss Bowl, all NCSYers were broken up into four different teams. This tournament was played in appreciation of the hard work that the “Boss”, David Cutler, puts in for all NCSY summer programs. The four captains of teams were the two directors of the program, Rabbi Moshe Benovitz and Rabbi Netanel Lebowitz and the Co-Head Madrichim, Michael Kahn and Andrew Israeli. The captains then appointed other staff members to coach each of the sports teams. The four sports that were played were basketball, hockey, soccer and our newest addition to NCSY Kollel sports, water polo. Each of the four teams then divided their players into four squads to play the four different sports.

This experience offered the NCSYers a chance to play with other NCSYers whom they hadn’t played with all season. Each team played with competitive spirit and cheered on their squad, chanting the names of their team captains. In the end, team Andrew Israeli won the Boss Bowl and Andrew was crowned the new “Boss” of NCSY Kollel.