Dear Parents,
We remain safe and without incident here in Chispin. We are exceptionally grateful for that.
This is to update you on our itinerary for the next few days. As many of you are aware, we have been scheduled for a major tiyul at the end of this week. The tiyul was planned to include a Thursday night/ Shabbos stay in Tzefat.
At this point, we are still planning for a full day of exciting tiyul options on Thursday. However, we have cancelled the Tzefat Shabbaton and will be continuing on here in Chispin.
Our decision was reached based on a number of calculations. Foremost among them were the following:
- Although both Tzefat and Chispin are in areas approved by our Security Room, we share their assessment that Chispin is an even more ideal location for our group. This is partially based on an analysis of the current conflict, and also based on the historical record of each area in times of similar regional tension. Again, we do not feel that Tzefat is off limits (and may actually schedule a shorter visit in the coming days as part of our tiyul schedule), but we do appreciate the unique status of the southern Golan
- There is enormous demand for rooms in the southern Golan. While Shabbos in Tzefat would be wonderful and also appropriately safe, we are loath to forfeit our rooms in Chispin. We do not want to be in a situation where we are spending multiple days in Tzefat without recourse to return to Chispin. This is based on both security and programmatic considerations.
- While security is our primary concern, it is not the sole factor in this decision. We are also prioritizing stability and calm for the NCSYers, and want to avoid, as much as possible, more packing and moving. Of course, if all other things were equal we would be happy to uproot ourselves for a Shabbat in Tzefat, but the combination of factors here moves us to err on the side of caution.
As such, we will be planning for a fantastic Shabbos here in Chispin. Of course, we will continue to monitor every development closely as we plan our travel and tiyul options both before and after Shabbos.
While it is too early to definitely update you on the plans for next week’s Free Weekend, I will add that we will attempt to further enhance the Free Shabbos options with a larger Shabbaton (optional).
Thank you for you understanding. We look forward to sharing good news soon.
Moshe Benovitz
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