Written by GIVEr: Caroline Masia

Hey guys! It’s Caroline Masia from sunny South Florida! I can’t believe that I am here with GIVE NCSY this summer! So far this summer has been amazing and super fun! Everyday and night, we do something that is special. One of the activities we did last night really touched me. We went to a very special play. Before we went to the playhouse, we went to a fabulous restaurant. After we ate dinner, we had ice cream for dessert. It was probably the best ice cream I ever had in my life! After dinner, the entire group went to a play called Na LaGa’at. Basically this playhouse is for people that are deaf, blind, or mute. These people are able to act on stage- which is pretty incredible.

Now let me tell you something about myself, I am profoundly deaf myself in both ears. Now you are probably wondering, how can this girl be writing this? Well I have the wonderful technology called cochlear implants. A cochlear implant is a surgically implanted electronic device that provides a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing. I got my first implant when I was 16 months old and my second one at 7 years old. At an younger age, I had to go through a lot of therapy. I connected very deeply with this play because I can relate to them on a personal level,because of my situation, . After the play, we were able to go up on stage and meet the actors. I told them that I was deaf and they smiled, even though they couldn’t see or hear me, that smile touched my heart. We had that instant connection right away. It was an incredible experience that I’ll never forget. It meant a lot to me because when I get home from GIVE, I know that I want to be able to give back to people that are deaf and give back to the community. I can’t wait to see what more is to come!

P.S. A huge shoutout to my amazing parents and the best region ever, SOUTHERN REGION NCSY, for helping me get to this amazing program! ?

Today was a very special day on GIVE. We all went together to the holy city of Chevron. We started off with a walking tour with the famous Simcha Hochbaum. When on the tour, we really felt as if we were walking in the footsteps of our forefathers. We ended off the tour at Ma’arat Hamachpelah. It was beautiful. We went inside and visited all of our Avot and Emahot’s kevarim. As we all approached them we opened up our siddurim to say tehilim. Chevron is such a special place to be. You feel as if you are living in Torah. After, we made our way to a park called “Oz Gaon”. It was a parked made in the memory of our three boys — Gilad, Eyal, and Naftali. There slogan is “Somchin Metoch Ha’ka’av” “From pain we flourish”. In times of darkness and pain, we as Jews never lose ourselves. We do just the opposite. We get up, build, and grow. This is what one of the founders of the park taught us. We ate lunch in the park and then had the opportunity to do volunteer work there. We all got a hoe and gloves and went down into the park. We helped to remove all the rocks and weeds from the ground. In addition, we had to create a stone path down the park. Although it was hard and very hot, we had a blast! It was fun, challenging, and SO meaningful! We were building up Eretz Yisroel! Later that day we went to a place called, Tzomet Institute. They create gadgets and different objects that can be used on Shabbos! It was so cool!

Next, we headed towards Kever Rachel. It was such an inspiring way to end off our day! At Kever Rachel we davened Mincha. All the girls were pouring their hearts out and really connected. For some it was their first time there, and for others it was their 10th! Either way it was 100% meaningful to all!

To fully conclude our day, two staff members from NCSY came to run a public speaking program. Girls had to get up and speak about something that is important to them. They were all video taped, so the pressure was on! It was a challenge, but the girls rocked it! They all got up there and spoke with passion and confidence!

Thank you GIVE for another fabulous day! See you tomorrow!

 Written by GIVEr: Shaindle Goodwin

Personally, today was one of the best days on GIVE! Today’s agenda was to go to a hospital and act like clowns. The irony of the whole ordeal is that I’m afraid of clowns! Imagine one who is afraid of clowns becoming one! So, we began our day with medical clowning, which all of us can agree was hilarious! I never realized the silliness and thought behind being a clown! They try so much to bring laughter to an individual, whatever the cost! After learning an appreciation for clowning, it was finally our turn to experience being one. As our red noses and tutus left the bus, we went to a children’s ward in the hospital. There, there was a boy, he didn’t speak English, but that didn’t matter. With a fellow GIVEr, I made funny noises and skits that left this boy laughing! It was the most incredible feeling in the world!- To be able to cheer someone up with laughter when they are going through a hard time. And at that moment I knew that this was why I came on GIVE! It was uncomfortable at the beginning, but by the end I loved being a clown, just like the boy loved me as one! After the hospital we went to a play that the deaf and blind created about their dreams in life. It was amazing to watch, and the biggest amazement was that it took two years to practice! As a fellow actress, I’m inspired by their persistence to keep on practicing every day and living their lives! I thank Hashem that I am able to have this incredible and humbling experience! 

NCSY GIVE had an incredible day today! It was fun and chessed packed!

Bus 1: We started off the day with the amazing chaburot that the advisors prepared for the summer! Yad Lakashish was our first stop! Yad Lakashish is a place that allows the elderly to come and use their artistic abilities and work! They supply them with hot meals, a job, and a bus card. It was so impressive to see what they can all make. From challot covers to pillows, these men and women knitted and painted with their amazing talents! After watching them work and seeing their beautiful creations, we went to the gift shop. At the gift shop everyone was able to buy the artwork, from the elderly working at Yad Lakashish. We then walked to Ben Yehudah and all had the time to get ice cream! Yum! Later, we went to the OU center and heard about the Arab-Israeli conflict. It was very interesting and the girls enjoyed the discussion. Aleh was our next chessed. Aleh is a facility that takes care 0f special needs children and adults. Aleh is different from any other special needs organization because the children and adults there are extremely low functioning. They can barely respond to you when trying to talk or sing to them. Although this chessed was a bit more difficult, it did not stop the GIVE girls! All the girls went in dressed up and excited! We danced, sang, and held their hands. Even though it was hard to see their reactions, we knew how much they loved it. Here and there a child or adult would show a little smirk and giggle even though it is difficult for them. It is moments like those when you know you are impacting someone’s life. Seeing that smile is pure happiness. There is nothing else like it!

Bus 2: The day started off in the geriatric home. As always, the girls entered with simcha and joy! They sang and danced around with the elderly! Many of the girls not only sang to them, but also had conversations with them! Many of these elderly people don’t get visitors often, by GIVE coming to have fun with them, it meant the world to them. After the geriatric home, we went to Hatzalah! There they taught us about the procedures of Haztalah, how to do CPR, and the importance of it. At the end of our day we then traveled to Ma’aleh. Ma’aleh is a school for film making. We watched two films that were so impressive and powerful! One was about the Kotel. It showed the different perspectives of the Kotel and the different people that go there to visit.

Both buses ended off the day with a presentation about an organization called Emunah. Emunah is a place that accompanies and supports children from abused or underprivilegded homes. They make a new home for them and care for them. The man who started the organization spoke to us. It is incredible to hear from a person who dedicated their life to this. We had an awesome day and GIVE and cannot wait for tomorrow!!!! Who’s excited?!?!!?

Today was a great start to an awesome week! Early this morning we woke up and started with chaburot. We then all left Arad and went to a green house in the desert! You don’t see that everyday, do you?! It was one of the coolest and most interesting experience! We arrived and began with a tour of the green house. The green house consisted of tomatoes, strawberries, carrots, melon, cucumber, etc. We got to pick off termites and strawberries and eat them! They were delicious! It was so special to have the opportunity to eat holy fruits and vegetables from Israel! Afterwards we met with the man who started  the green house. He explained to us that he wanted the South to bloom because thats what Ben Gurion wanted. He started it all on his own, with only his family. This was really inspiring for us to all hear because it showed passion and motivation. He even gave us the ability to try little samples of tea that were grown in the green house, as well as passion fruit slushies! It was so good! YUMMM! Next, we had the chessed aspect to the day — We picked off all the rotten and bad tomatoes and put them in a bag to go to the garbage. It was super special to help out in the desert farm and was, for sure, different from any other day we’ve had on GIVE!

After a long day out in the sun we finally made our way bak to Mevaseret! We had a delicious dinner and then started our night activity! We played See, Run, Paint! It was a great team building game and we all really enjoyed it. But, like all games that include paint, it resulted in one MASSIVE paint fight! Woohoo!

What a great day on GIVE 2015! Tomorrow here we come!

Written by GIVEr: Ayelet Rosenwasser and Miri Rogoff

Hey everybody!!! It’s Ayelet Rosenwasser from Chicago, IL ? and Miri Rogoff from Five Towns, New York?! This past Weekend was AMAZINGGG- as usual! It all started on Friday when we decided to do a very special chessed of packaging hadlakat narot ??beautifully and handing them out in the mall, in Be’er Sheva, to strangers for Shabbat. When we arrived at the mall, it was so special to see how a few of the women we gave them to, didn’t usually light candles for Shabbat, accepted our candles and told us they would light this time just because WE gave it to them??. Afterwards, we arrived in Arad with surprise guests from a Mach Hach bus  ?!! As soon as we got there we started getting ready for Shabbat and we couldn’t wait for it start. We were so excited for another amazing Shabbat with GIVE!! As soon as Shabbat started we welcomed it in with a beautiful kabbalat Shabbat ? in the desert. It was so amazing to see the sun setting ?  as everyone davened to Hashem ?? . After we finished davening maariv we made our way to the chadar ochel for the Shabbat meal. It was mmmmmmm delicious ??????!!! We had the privilege to spend Shabbat with our Shabbos Abba and Ima, Dr. and Mrs. Luchins. Since we shared a dining room with Mach Hach #ACHDUS , we had a cheering battle and OBVIOUSLY GIVE won ?!!! Later in the meal we heard inspiring divrei Torah, sang beautiful zmirot ?, and bentched out loud together. After our meal, we had an awesome Tish with lots of snacks and singing, visited by the camp “Rabbi and Rebbetzin” (aka Zisse and Daphna!!) Who were hilarious! Shabbat day, we started off with Tefillah in the morning and an amazing speech by Mrs. Luchins. Then we had kiddish with yummy snacks and drinks. After we had kiddish, we had an amazing and inspiring Chabura with our AWESOME advisors!! In between our Chabura and lunch, we played a game with the whole camp where everyone was split up into groups and two people would be behind a sheet and once the sheet went down, the people behind the sheets would have to say the name? of who was opposite them behind the sheets . It was such a fun icebreaker! After our  lunch and rest hour ?, we had Beit Midrash, where we were able to learn Torah ?  with any of our AWESOME madrichot on any topic we wanted! I loved it! Then we had Seudat Shlishit with yummy food and great divrei Torah. While Shabbat was ebbing away, all the GIVErs got together in a circle and sang beautiful songs. Towards the end, Mach Hach joined us B’achdut and we sang ? the last song together while Shabbat ended! After that, all the GIVE girls got together and cheered ? and sang together. Our havdalah was sooo beautiful! As our night activity, I experienced something that I have never experienced in my entire life before. Instead of an ordinary night activity, we decided to take 15 min as time for hetbodidut, where we separated ourselves from everyone else while sitting in an open field with the stars right above us ? without any distractions, like our phones. It was just between me and Hashem, developing a stronger ?? relationship with ourselves and a stronger relationship with Hashem. It was so inspirational for me and it really made me think about how special it is to be a Jew . It was truly such an amazing weekend and I’m so happy I was able to spend it with NCSY GIVE 15′!!

Written by GIVEr: Meira Greenland

Written by GIVEr: Tzivia Appleman

Monday, July 13.  It was meant to be one of the most important days of my life- the day we go to the Kotel. For me and many girls on this trip, we have been waiting for this day our entire lives, as it is our first time in Israel. Going to the Kotel was all I could think about the entire day. I was feeling every emotion possible- happy, scared, nervous, excited. On the bus ride to the Kotel, tears of happiness were welling up in my eyes. When Erin got up to make an announcement, my heart started beating very fast, knowing that we were about to hear the instructions for getting off the bus. I couldn’t wait any longer.

My heart dropped when the announcement was the exact opposite of what I expected it to be. Because of the high security around the Kotel due to Ramadan, we were unfortunately not able to go to the Kotel that night. My tears of happiness quickly turned bitter. The moment I’ve been waiting for my entire life was taken away from me so quickly. Why?

These unusual circumstances must mean that this happened for a reason. These past two days, I’ve been trying use every new experience as a way to enhance my Kotel experience. Maybe our journey to the Kotel was delayed so that we could first go to the Nefesh B’Nefesh flight and gain a stronger sense of nationhood. Maybe it was so we could go to the Blind Museum and truly appreciate the fact that we would be able to physically see the Kotel. Maybe it was so we could go to the army base and meet our future husbands. Whatever the reason was, I know this for sure- That original bus ride to the Kotel was necessary for me to genuinely reflect on myself, and the moment that was about to happen, even though it didn’t happen that night.

But that Kotel moment- that experience- happened last night.

Eyes closed.

A thousand thoughts and memories were rushing through my brain. This is the wall where the holiest temple stood, where my parents had their first date, where generations of Jews before me have cried out their Teffilot.

Eyes still closed. I start to cry.

As I’m passing through, I hear two women talking in Hebrew. One of them sounded worried that I was crying, but the other woman reassured her- ״לא. היא בשמחה. ״ No. She is happy. Happiness is an understatement. 15 years I’ve been waiting for this moment. 15 years I haven’t felt that connection to Israel, and my Judaism and connection to God have suffered as well. This was it.

I open my eyes.

There are no words to describe the feeling of bliss as my Father greeted me. Touching the Kotel for the first time felt like holding God’s hand.

And now, I’m home.