Culmination

In the 2018 NCAA Men’s basketball tournament, the 8th seed Missouri Tigers lost their first-round game and were eliminated from the competition.  This in itself is rather unremarkable.  However, some of the circumstances of this contest were more intriguing and relevant to a social experiment that helped define the last full week on the NCSY Summer Kollel.

Missouri was led by a phenomenal freshman, Michael Porter Jr.  Porter was one of the leading prospects in his class and the centerpiece of a very promising team.  Unfortunately, he sustained a back injury in the opening moments of the team’s very first game in November.  He missed almost the entire season, only returning for limited action in the game before the tournament.

The team was sufficiently talented.  All that was missing were the months of practice, gametime, and gelling as a team.

So what matters more?  A collection of talent and stars, or a growth process over time that culminates in success and achievement?  Can those weeks of buildup be replaced by some shortcut?

Missouri’s loss is not a significant sample size, but it would seem to be at least an example of how valuable that setup time can be, independent of the outcome.

Our very special past week had a regular (by NCSY Kollel standards) array of sensational moments.  But the common denominator was how many of them benefited from weeks of work and effort to bring us to a place of maximum appreciation and effectiveness.  So many aspects of our time together now were built on elements from earlier.  These were celebrations and achievements that were true culminations.

Appropriately, this began and ended in the Beis Medrash with our learning activity.  Monday night was the second of our two special learning programs this summer.  Some of the most outstanding presenters and speakers in the Jewish world provided a night of great education and inspiration.  The first part of the evening offered a choice between two panel discussions.  The first was headlined by Rav Mendel Blachman and Rav Moshe Taragin, and the second featured Rav Yosef Bronfeld and Rav Mordechai Burg.  After, we reconvened as a single group and heard from the electrifying Charlie Harary.  Surely, this would be a great lineup on any night, and in almost any context.  But there is no doubt that the learning was greatly enhanced by the subject matter and even more so from the weeks in the Beis Medrash that preceded it.  The topic of the night was how to best relate to learning while in High School.  It was clear that the summer-long encounter with high level study was the ideal preparation for these presentations.  What would have been merely accepted 6 weeks ago was now embraced on an entirely different level.

Over the course of the week we ran an NCSY Kollel-wide Torah Bowl competition.  After various formats through two qualifying rounds, we assembled to cheer on our five finalists.  The answers were impressive and there was quite a bit of drama as we approached the final questions.  More than once, Rav Sobolofsky needed to exercise his powers as the official ruling judge for the Torah Bowl.  In the end, we crowned co-champions in Dovi Flug and Akiva Sturm.  Dovi and Akiva were real stars in displaying their accumulated knowledge and Torah acumen.  They set a great example of what we can do with time, patience, and commitment.

Other aspects of NCSY Kollel benefited similarly from this kind of process.  Perhaps nowhere more so than on our legendary courts, where playoff basketball and hockey carried us through the week.  We have already documented how these are the largest leagues we’ve ever run, but the quality has been even more impressive than the quantity.  This is not a reference to some athletic superstars, but to the overall competitiveness and sportsmanship that has marked the sports program all summer long.  The playoffs were more of the same, on a grander scale.  Everything about these games was just tremendous fun.  All of the energy from the thrilling action on the courts easily spilled over to the rest of the campus.   As a snapshot:  Thursday afternoon presented two semifinal games in basketball, a hotly contested matchup between the team of Rabbeim and the NCSYers, and another two semifinal matchups in hockey.  Both basketball playoff games naturally went into overtime, and the last one was decided on a basket in the final second.  The Rebbe Talmid game was a real thrill.  The NCSYers tied the score on a beautifully executed sequence and 3-point basket, only to watch the rabbeim win the game with a 3 pointer of their own as the clock expired.  This improved the Rebbe’s impressive all-time record and gave another crucial point of interaction and inspiration between teachers and students.  On that note, one of the hockey matches pitted Rav Bronfeld’s squad against the team led by Rav Yosef Hirschel.  Here too, there was great sport that was intertwined with great growth and learning.  It’s impossible to tell where the beis medrash ends and the sport begins on NCSY Kollel.  And this is not achieved overnight.  A great basketball game on July 11 would not have created the same buzz, drawn the same crowds, taught the same lessons, or elicited the same smiles and joy.  Culmination.

So too on our off-campus excursions this week.   While there was no full day tiyul this week, most every day enjoyed a significant outing.   Many of these were centered around more time in Yerushalayim, which has played such a vital role in our summer experience.  We visited the Old City, walked the streets, and had a constant back and forth flow between Beit Meir and the Jerusalem.  What was most remarkable was how 6 weeks can help transition the Jewish capital from a tourist destination to a place that feels like home.  The comfort level has been built high, and there is a palpable sense of always imminent return.  These trips are like valedictories for our summer together, and the great part the land of Israel has played in being our host.

Not all of our Yerushalayim journeys were exactly the same.  Tuesday morning, we took over the heart of both Ben Yehuda and Machane Yehuda for our annual Chabura Games.  It was an elaborate scavenger hunt and bonding experience for Chaburas as they made their way through the city completing tasks and having fun.    It was a great source of energy and enthusiasm that was, again, all the sweeter because of what came before.  This event would have worked less well as an ice breaker or chabura introduction.  Instead, it was the perfect way to share thrills and meaning with (new) old friends and to cement lessons of an entire summer.  In that way, it was also a chance to more fully appreciate the beauty and color of Yerushalayim, and to cap off a summer of great times in the holy city.

As energetic as the Chabura Games may have been, even that was almost dull compared to the exhilaration of Wednesday night’s activities.  After a Burger’s Bar banquet, we headed to the iJump trampoline park for some good old NCSY Kollel style exuberance.  It was impossible not be swept up in the awesome energy and momentum.  We invented games and challenges that hadn’t yet existed and lasted well into the early morning hours.  The energy and joy were clear reflections of the entire summer and it was special to see such enthusiasm and happiness on the faces of so many.  Meaningfully, the evening was sponsored by an anonymous alumnus of NCSY Kollel, who has stayed connected to the NCSY Kollel family and who wanted to give back to the program.  That kind of connection provides an extra dimension to the festivities, and from the perspective of our thousands of alumni is a culmination of a different sort.

On that note, Thursday night was a historic first on the program.  With the calendar having our final weekend coinciding with the first day of Elul and the opening of the Yeshiva season, the country welcomed legions of students from across the world.  A good number of these are NCSY Kollel alumni.  Over a full busload opted to join us for the final Thursday mishmar learning program of our summer, even as it was the first day in Israel for most of them.  It was a great honor for us, and a spectacular lift to our beis medrash and learning.  It was also a culmination in the greatest sense, as these students reminded us of the continuity of our growth process and of the great landmarks that await us on our journeys.

Which brings us back to what we described at the start.  The ultimate culmination of our summer was the extraordinary late Thursday night learning.  A beis medrash that felt like home, pulsating energy and joyous spirit, long hours of learning and great conversation.  It seemed that every investment and program from the past few weeks was designed to bring us to this crowning moment of learning and connection.  It was NCSY Kollel at its finest.

And of course, we are not done yet.  Shabbos will be another capstone to our summer, and we eagerly anticipate a weekend of nostalgia, pride and great times.  Shabbos has been our guide throughout the summer, when we first got to know when another, when we appreciated the moments of pre-Tisha B’av reflection, and we enjoyed the unforgettable aura of Tzefat.  Now we take one last chance to delight with each other and with our accomplishments, and to ride the wave of this magical experience.

These culminations don’t imply an end or any finality.  They are moments that are built on the past and are designed to propel us even further in the future.  Like any great NCSY program.

Wishing all of you a special Shabbos from the hills of Jerusalem.

Moshe Benovitz

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