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Summer 2012

Cuz I’m Leaving on a Jet Plane

We’re all aboard the plane and about to take off… We can’t believe the summer has actually come to an end. We love GIVE and Israel! See you on the other side. Safe trip, GIVErs!

Our Final Chessed and Banquet

Today we had our final chessed projects- visiting Yad L’kashish and Yad Sara. The girls, of course, ended with a bang and wowed both organizations. (Not surprising!) We ended tonight with a meaningful closing banquet filled with cheers and tears, and a whole lot of GIVE pride! We’re going to miss our GIVE family!

Kvarim and Yerushalayim

Over the weekend we visited both Kever Rochel and Me’arat HaMachpailah, two very holy sites that mark the final resting place of our patriarchs and matriarchs. It was so incredible to bring Judaism to life through seeing these historic sites with our own eyes and being able to daven to Hashem directly in their merit. We then spent a beautiful, holy, and uplifting shabbos in Yerushalayim, which began with a meaningful Kabbalas Shabbos davening at the Kotel, dancing and singing alongside soldiers, Birthright groups and other holy women who helped to make up our electic tefillah group. The experience was so moving! We then ate dinner in the Cardo (cool!), after which we enjoyed a nice, long walk home. Shabbos was filled with singing and learning, and afterwards, we had a rockin’ GIVE talent show (because we’re oh so talented!) And then made our way for a midnight Kotel run! It was so inspirational to see the Kotel still packed so late at night and to know that there are constantly holy people davening on our behalf. Wow!

Ohr Meir Uvracha, Yad VaShem, and Israeli Folk Dance (a likely combination)

Thursday was spent packaging food for victims of terror at Ohr Meir Uvracha and then traveling to Yad VaShem to explore our history and understand what the generation before us had suffered. When we arrived back in Mevaseret, we participated in a fabulous Israeli themed evening filled with make-your-own-pita, henna, and Israeli folk dance with a professional folk dancer! It was spectacular. We then packed up our belongings and prepared for our departure from Mevaseret 🙁

Yom NCSY Video is Available Online!

And the winner is…

THE RED TEAM!!!!

Red team captains Aleeza Langert, Chelsea Kornmehl, Shoshana Mermelstein, and Aviya Fried did an AWESOME job leading their team to victory! Great job everyone!

COLOR WAR!!!

We’re in the middle of a HEATED color war battle between the red team, Ahava (love) and the yellow team, Simcha (happiness). The competition has been FIERCE. With everything from a talk-off, to musical chairs, from egg-on-head trivia, to tug of war over a baby pool filled with slime, to a WILD apache race, this color war has been insanely fun! We’re about to have final presentations and will tally up the final score… may the best team win!

Reflections on Gush Katif

Anita Tucker, former resident of Gush Katif, shared her personal stories and expriences with us this morning after we watched the movie “Home Game”. She made aliyah in the 70’s and moved straight to Gush Katif where she set up her home and built her family. She shared with us the stuggles and emotional challenges of going through the disengagement from a first hand perspective. We learned a lot and were encouraged to think critically about what our nation has gone through.

Sally the camel has 4 humps! GIVE heads down south…

On Monday we started off our day at Leket, collecting vegetables in the fields and at Chazon Yeshaya, preparing lunch at the local soup kitchen. If you think about it, many of the vegetables we collected will be used in soup kitchens just like Chazon Yeshaya! We were a part of the process from start to finish! WOW.

We then headed to Kfar Nokdim, where we went camel and donkey riding and prepared for our awesome slumber party in the Bedouin tents! Dinner was filled with kabobs and rice, followed by delicious Bedouin tea and fresh watermelon. We ended off the night with a huge bonfire and kumsitz under the stars. We love the desert!

We woke up early the next morning, well, early is an understatement. We woke up at 4 am to climb Massada and made sure to get there before the sun did. We were successful and watched a beautiful sunrise, davened and learned about the history of this historic landmark. The next two stops for the day were the Dead Sea, which was quite exfoliating, and Ein Gedi, where we hiked a bit and enjoyed the beautiful waterfalls.

Before leaving, we bumped into NCSY BILT and used the run-in as an opportunity to break out… COLOR WAR! More to come

Beit HaYeled in Gilo and United Hatzalah

Once we met back from the free weekend, our group split between the Beit HaYeled in Gilo and United Hatzalah to get back into our chessed routine. At the Beit HaYeled, a project of Amit, we ran activities for the children who cannot be at home with their families. We modeled and painted clay, baked cookies, made balloon animals- it was a blast! At Hatzalah, we took a course in basic CPR and toured the premises. Hatzalah does so much to help ensure the safety and security of our people all over the world. Of course the day was then suplemented with some excellent shopping and then ended with a rousing game of… HUMAN PACMAN! (check out the pictures to get a better idea of just what constitutes human pacman.)

 

We’re so glad to be back with our GIVE family