The general assumption about NCSY Kollel is that Tuesday is Trip Day.  In fact, Tuesdays are indeed our preference for full outings in the Holy Land.  It’s nice to spin the week around the axis of time (Shabbos) and space (the Great Land of Israel) and it’s good to break up the intensity of our daily learning schedule with some extra fun and energy.

But it would not be even a slight exaggeration to say that every day on NCSY Kollel is Trip Day.  Especially this past glorious first full week, this was true from at least two important perspectives.

First, actual trips are in no way limited to Tuesdays.  Without counting Mini Tiyul and Shiur Trip rotations (we will get to those in a moment) and before describing Tuesday’s all kinds of awesome, consider the following:  We arrived last Tuesday.  Wednesday saw two separate program-wide trips- the beach in the afternoon and the Kotel at night.  Thursday was NCSY Extreme Day, with options of Mountain Biking, Kraft Stadium, Water Skiing, Backstage Machane Yehuda Tour, and more.  Friday saw virtually the entire program filling the streets of Yerushalayim.  On Motzai Shabbos each shiur ventured out to shiur Melava Malkas at their Rebbe’s homes.  Tuesday was Tuesday.  Wednesday was YOM NCSY, one of the great events of the summer.  8 days in total, 6 days featuring the 8-bus caravan from Beit Meir base.  Were we bound down to campus on those other two?  Hardly.  As part of our morning learning program, we schedule dozens of “Shiur Trips” each summer.  These are more educational outings, accompanied by the regular morning rabbeim and staff.  They include Israel Advocacy at Nefesh B’Nefesh headquarters, seminars at Aish HaTorah, tours of Shemittah farms, Chessed activities and more.  Primarily for those not playing in our sports leagues, there are multiple daily mini tiyulim throughout the afternoon.  This week, the options included the Biblical Museum of Natural History, Old and New Beit Shemesh, the site of the epic battle between David and Goliath, guided tours of the Old City of Yerushalayim, and a few basketball gyms too.  Without a stretch, that adds up to 17 trips in 11 days.  Not bad for a static learning program!

All of this is very much by design.  These tiyulim achieve many purposes.  First, we get to connect to the land we are proud to call home.  Second, we can create some unbridled enthusiasm that gets channeled directly back into the Beis Medrash.  Third, it is important to us that no NCSYer should have to choose between trips and Torah.  Or between learning and fun.  They can have it all, they deserve to have it all, and we are proud to offer it to them.

Let’s go back to Tuesday and Wednesday (Yom NCSY).  Each gave powerful example to the best of NCSY Kollel travel.  Tuesday’s tiyul was one for the ages.  For a couple hundred NCSYers, it was technically a two day tiyul, starting before midnight Monday and not ending until after sundown Tuesday.  Through the system of choice for the trips, we can fit each NCSYer into an option with maximum buy-in and tailor made fit.  So we had high level hikes and less challenging climbs.  Water hikes and water sports, consuming calories and burning calories, the best of Israel North, South, and West.  Our boys swam the Kinneret, Red Sea, and Mediterranean.  There were new trips for our beloved returnees, and eye-opening adventures for the first-timers.  Sure, some of the morning rabbeim reported a bit of fatigue from the NCSYers Wednesday morning.  But that’s a short-term obstacle.  The exhilaration and awe pay long-term dividends in the beis medrash and beyond.

Yom NCSY was a home run yet again.  3000 teens and guests, Mordechai Shapiro, all-you-can-eat BBQ buffets, and celebration of all things NCSY.  The fireworks were impressive, the concert was electrifying.  But above all, our NCSYers were stars.  They were part of something big, and they themselves felt bigger.  

And this brings us to the second, more substantive reason why every day is Trip Day.  NCSY Kollel goes places.   But it is also a place people go.  It’s a destination.  Not in the metaphorical or life journey sense, but simply as an attraction and something to see.

The following distinguished individuals walked through our doors this week:

Sunday- Rav Hershel Schachter, Rav Doniel Kalish, Rav Dov Zinger

Monday- Rav Moshe Hauer, Mr. Moishe Bane, Mr. Yoni Cohen

Tuesday- Rav Zvi Sobolofsky

Wednesday- Rav Dr. Josh Joseph, Rav Yisroel Kaminetsky, Mr. Laizer Kornwasser, OU/NCSY Leadership (Including Rav Mikey Albala, Rav Mo Eisenberg, Rav Yehoshua Marchuck)

Thursday- Rav Dov Emerson, Rav Lavi Greenspan, Rav Gil Perl, OU/NCSY Leadership (Including Mrs. Rina Emerson, Ms. Breindy Glicher, Rav Yudi Reisel, Ms. Racheli Schwartz, Mrs. Karen Steinberg), Parents Delegation for the “NCSY Kollel Experience”

These weren’t all exactly “visitors.”  Rav Schachter and Rav Sobolofsky will be with us for multiple weeks.  Rav Kaminetsky has joined us for the entire rest of the summer.  Rav Dov had a weeklong residency, and Rav Lavi will retake his place as a mainstay of our beis medrash throughout the summer.  Furthermore, most of the list above come to contribute, and contribute they did.  Our staff and NCSYers were privileged to learn from these leaders, their erudition, and their example.  But this staggering list also came to see- not just to be seen.  For our parents’ trip, NCSY Kollel represents a tourist site no less intriguing or impressive than mini-Israel or virtual reality.  For Rav Dov Zinger, one of our generation’s foremost educators, NCSY Kollel is a laboratory of outstanding chinuch that he wanted to witness.  Our Thursday night Mishmar- the learning, the spirit, the cholent on the Ramot Shapira lawn- was a show to rival Ishay Ribo at Sultan’s Pool.

All eyes were riveted this week to President Biden’s travel to the Middle East.  Where the president chooses to go reflects his priorities and executive agenda.  Imagine a small tech start up in Palo Alto.  One indication of its ultimate valuation will be when it makes it onto the list of sites for a double decker bus tour around the neighborhood.  “There’s Google!”  “There’s Intel!”  Well, here is NCSY Kollel!  An actor in Hollywood needs a few hits and some fame before they start pointing out where he lives on a tour of the stars.  But when he makes it big, his front yard becomes a destination.

That was part of the magic of Yom NCSY.  Our boys were the guests of honor at a party that celebrated them, and rightfully so.   And when NCSYers walk through our campus, just doing NCSY Kollel things- learning for a few minutes, asking a question to Rav Schachter, playing ball with impeccable sportsmanship, working through Ninja Warrior training, just being good and laughing with friends- and they are being marveled at and admired, well, they begin to understand what kind of confidence, self-esteem and personal greatness can be reached over these 6 weeks.

They deserve all that we endeavor to provide them.  They deserve Rav Kalish singing with hundreds of them at 11:30 at night, they deserve Rav Zinger teaching prayer and meditation to small group after small group.  They deserve a chance to learn with Rav Schachter and to walk the campus with Rav Sobolofsky. They deserve the attention and support of the entire OU community, and they deserve a staff that is trained and inspired by our community’s greatest luminaries.  They deserve Eliat and the Black Canyon.  They deserve Yom NCSY and Burgers Bar.  They deserve normalcy and they deserve happiness.

We can’t wait to provide them more and more.

Wishing you the most holy of Shabbos, from the hills of Jerusalem

Moshe Benovitz

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