Summer 2019

It was an extremely exciting day on kollel! There was so much going on, all the way from morning until the end of the night!

First off, in the morning, many shuirim had regular Seder and shuir, while others had the opportunity to go with on trips. There were two trips, some shuirim went to the beautiful Aish building in the old city and others went to visit Sderot.

In the afternoon, there was an amazing and well attended mini tiyul. Many people went to Kever Rachel, which was very appropriate for the current time period of the Nine Days. After the trip, on the way back, there was also a stop at the Malcha mall. Everyone overall very much enjoyed the entire tiyul.

Today in sports, with the play-in games, it was the start of the basketball playoffs! There were many exciting games and now the full and official playoff bracket is set! Additionally, there were some all-star games that took place. Head staff took on the madrichim, some 10th graders faced off against the 11th graders. The premiere matchup was the 10th grade A team vs the sports staff. Huuuuuuge shoutout to the campers on pulling out a crazy upset overtime win!!

After maariv, there were many announcements regarding proper tisha bav preparation and what will take place on the kollel and at the kotel throughout the day.

To cap off the amazing day, the beis medrash was packed with post-maariv chavrusa and chabura learning. Rav Burg gave an amazing shuir to a packed crowd! There was great singing and dancing, chulent and kugel and an amazing tisch all to help us gear up for what promises to be an incredible pre-Tisha Baav Shabbos Chazon  in Beit Meir!

Azi Fine is 21 years old and is currently enjoying his third summer on NCSY Kollel. He attended TABC and Shaalvim and is currently planning on starting Semicha in YU. This is Azi’s second year as a Madrich.

Azi’s chaburah is made up of 5 of the best guys around: Bennett Stein from Philadelphia  (Mesivta of Philadelphia); Yonah Erlbaum from Philadelphia (Mesivta of Philadelphia); Judah Troodler from Philadelphia (Mesivta of Philadelphia); Tani Engel from Teaneck (MTA); and Chaim Davidowitz from Teaneck (MTA).

This summer, Azi’s chaburah will be focusing on sugyos in Shas that relate to the nature of specific bein adam lechaveiro and bein adam lamakom relationships.. They will be learning about a variety of topics including Kibbud Av Vaem, Kavod Rav for bein adam lechaveiro, Tefillah, and much, much more. The goal of the learning is to gain a deeper understanding of our relationships with others and with Hashem while gaining skills in learning b’iyyun..

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

Zvi Kaminetzky is 22 years old and is currently enjoying his 7th summer on NCSY Kollel. He attended TABC and KBY and is will begin his second year in YU. This is Zvi’s third year as a Madrich.

Zvi’s chaburah is made up of 5 of the best guys around: Moshe Loew from Highland Park (MTA); Elie Goldberg from Teaneck (MTA); Ari Broder from West Hempstead  (YFR); Daniel Becker from Teaneck (TABC); and Akiva Magder from Atlantic Beach (DRS).

This summer, Zvi’s chaburah will be focusing on various “Shas Sugyas”. They will be learning about a variety of topics including Adam Muad L’Olam, Shomeiah K’Oneh, and much, much more. The goal of the learning is to learn how to properly break down a Sugya B’Iyun and analyze the concepts and debates therein- hopefully cultivating an enduring relationship with Limud Hatorah.

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

Shaya Forman is 20 years old and is currently enjoying his 5th summer on NCSY Kollel. He attended MTA and Shaalvim and is currently planning on joining the IDF next year. This is Shaya’s first year as a Madrich.

Shaya’s chaburah is made up of 4 of the best guys around: Leib Yaakov Cohen from Edison (MTA); Avi Feldman from Woodmere (DRS); Yaakov Fuchs from Teaneck (TABC); and Eli Ocken from Baltimore (TA).

This summer, Shaya’s chaburah will be focusing on understanding Judaism on a Machshava Level. They will be learning about a variety of topics including “Wrappers vs Rappers”, “Finding Your Mission in Life”, “The World’s Greatest Listener”, and much, much more. The goal of the learning is to grow closer to Hashem.

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

We welcomed Rav Boaz Mori, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Lev Hatorah to give a night Seder Shiur to NCSYers tonight.

Today we welcomed Rabbi Gershon Turetsky! Rabbi Turetsky addressed the Mechina group on the importance of Shabbos and added to the Yom Iyun on Shabbos Kodesh.

Kollel is approaching many climaxes. Wednesday marked the halfway point of the week as we approach our first Shabbos in Beit Meir since week 1. Additionally, the Nine Days continue to progress as Kollel continues to prepare for what is to come. Finally, it is becoming painfully clear that we are approaching the end of our time together and the summer is beginning to wrap up.

This could be seen throughout the day. The morning was as jam-packed as ever, featuring Davening workshops, shiur trips to Uri Pilichowski, shiur, and sedarim, all with the added fervor of the imminent events. The afternoon break saw an appropriate mini-tiyul to Machon Hamikdash, where the NCSYers learned about our Holy Temple and what we have lost. 

In sports, the regular season wrapped up today giving some NCSYers a different taste of churban. The playoff bracket is now set and we are ready for some pulse-pounding playoff action tomorrow!

Night Seder was highlighted by a guest shiur given by Rav Yonassn Sacks who gave night shiur for the second night this week in addition to his continued involvement with the chaburot. Post-Night Seder saw a return of Rabbi Horn’s 20-minute Workshop as well as a guest shiur from Rabbi Drazin, complimenting all of the usual late-night learning. French Fries were sold by Yummies to ensure that the Kollel went to bed spiritually and physically satiated.

Today we welcomed R. David Goldfischer, Assistant Principal of Frisch and a former madrich on NCSY Kollel. Rabbi Goldfischer spent the afternoon watching basketball and catching up with his students.

Running a 9-days tiyul can sometimes be pretty difficult, especially while trying to balance the seriousness of the time period together with having a great experience. The Kollel rose to the challenge and came up with four different ideas which gave all the NCSYers, not only an enjoyable experience, but a meaningful one as well. A trip to Judaism’s great rabbinic leaders was one option which the boys took advantage of. One bus headed to Yerushalayim with the Kollel’s own Rabbi Gordon which was headlined with a shiur given by Rav Asher Weiss. The other Gadol trip headed to Bnai Brak with Akiva Ackerman. This one stopped by R Chaim Kanievsky and the NCSYers were able to witness some of the holiness the Rav possesses.

The next trip went to the Shomron with Rav Mo Kaplan. They made some stops across the Shomron witnessing it’s naturally beauty as well as understanding the danger which the citizens put themselves in daily. Stopping at Beit El and the sight of Mishkan in Shiloh we were taken to our past, before looking to the  future in Kfat Tapuchim to witness some dog training. Later on the NCSYers were taken to a lookout on Har Grizim where you could see Shechem and the Kever of Yosef from above. 

The trip to the old city went a little less far back into the past. As they visited Ir David and learned how Dovid constructed the sight of his palace right next to the Old City. Following that the NCSYers exploredt how Chizikayahu built underground water tunnels in order to take away the water from Sancheirev and his army. The boys were excited to hear about the miracle of how the Assyrians fell but were even more excited to walk through the actual tunnels which Chizikiyahu built. Following the tunnels, the groups moved to the virtual reality tour of Har Habayit and the Beit Hamikdash in its full glory. It was really cool to see the grandeur of the building and the details which were depicted on each and every aspect of its structure. The boys were saddened to realize what we no longer had but began to appreciate what will eventually come in the future. For these trips, the last activity was a much more relaxed scavenger hunt around the Old City which have everyone running around the Rova taking selfie’s with mosaics, finding obscure door handles, and spitting raps

The final option was made to educate the NCSYers about some of the modern-day tragedies that have affected our people. Starting in Har Herzl we learnt about the great sacrifices which many have made for our country. Then in Kfar Etzion the boys learnt about the sacrifices many had to make during the wars in order for Israel to continue to exist. Unfortunately we learnt that those sacrifices didn’t stop even in recent times as they visited the memorial for the three kidnapped boys from the Gush as well.

The trips all ended together in Chevron where we all enjoyed some hot pizza, crunchy chips and way-too-sweet ices. After nourishing ourselves the Kollel made their way up to the Keverim of Maarat Hamachpela. There we heard some inspiring words from R’ Netanel Lebowitz, who challenged everyone to step up just a little more during tefilah to make it into one of the most meaningful of the summer. He reminded everyone that Chevron is the place where we can connect to G-D even when Jerusalem is destroyed, implored the crowd to take advantage of this opportunity. Together the Kollel davened one of the strongest, loudest and most meaningful marivs of the summer.

Heading back to Beit Meir, the day still wasn’t done. Moshe Horn made a siyum and Yummies opened up, allowing the boys to enjoy the simcha of Torah and, by extension, the simcha of meat as well.

David Kirsch is 21 years old and is currently enjoying his first summer on NCSY Kollel. He attended Frisch and Hakotel and will begin his second year at YU this year.

David’s chaburah is made up of 5 of the best guys around: Azi Goldberg from Teaneck (MTA); Gabe Pudell from Teaneck (MTA); Solomon Dobin from Houston (Skokie); Dovid Criqui from Cincinnati (Yeshiva of Cleveland); and Adam Fleeter from Cleveland (Fuchs Mizrachi).

This summer, David’s chaburah will be focusing on “The top ten machshava questions I wish I had explored in high school”. They will be learning about a variety of topics including “Why did God put me here?”, “Does tfilah really work?”, “Identifying our tafkid in life”, and much, much more. The goal of the learning is to inspire a positive environment around torah; one in which the guys feel at home when they’re in the Beis Medrash and with their chevra.

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