Hi my name is Sarah Rosenblum. I’m 16 years old and I live in West Hempstead, NY! The last day of GIVE came so quickly. It feels like just yesterday we all landed in Israel for the Best. Summer. Ever. On our last day, some of the girls woke up at 3 am to hike Massada, while the rest of us woke up at a regular time and headed to Ben Yehuda. It was a truly amazing experience to be able to explore Israel in the middle of all the hustle and bustle with all of my friends. After lunch we walked to Ma’asharim. Many of us got new siddurim to remind us of our experience in Israel. Following our day out we went back to our hotel, packed up, and got ready for banquet and the ceremony preceding it. At the Ceremony we all sat in a circle passing around a candle, sharing our memories and thoughts from our time on GIVE. It was simply beautiful to hear everyone’s experiences. Seeing a lot of the girls get emotional was truly inspiring. After listening to everyone’s meaningful words we headed to the banquet where we shared our last few d’var torahs for the summer. My favorite part of the night was when the advisors selected books from the beit midrash to give to each girl with a personal note inside. We then said our goodbyes and headed to the airport. NCSY GIVE was truly the most inspiring, spiritual, and over all amazing summer I have ever had. I know the connections I made with everyone will last with me for a lifetime and beyond. GIVE 2014 will without a doubt be part of me forever.

By now most of you are home, and if not I hope you are having a fun time in Israel (or you have a safe flight on your connecting flight!) The last day together was a whirlwind of emotions, but nonetheless a beautiful day. After shopping on Ben Yehuda and Ma’asharim area, we made our way to our last program. This program was called pass the candle. Each girl gets the opportunity to tell her favorite moment, or just say a thank you when you are passed the light candle. It was a very moving ceremony that brought many girls to tears. Afterwards, we had a wonderful banquet put together by our staff, which ended off the summer with a big bang! We had yummy food, great speeches, a siyum, some songs, and a banquet video by the end (which you can see posted on the blog as well.) We handed out booklets of information, camp jokes, and each girl received a book from our traveling Beit Midrash that we had with us all summer. With teary eyes the girls said good bye to one another, but knowing they will always have their 73 sisters there for them. The staff of NCSY GIVE 2014 wants to express to all of you that we had a wonderful summer with each and every girl. Through thick and thin you girls held on tight and made the best of your experience. We know we will be hearing from you soon, so this is not goodbye just “See you later.”

I think many girls would agree that today’s jam packed day was a memorable one. We started our day off in a place called Yad L’kashish. This is a place that takes in elderly immigrants that don’t know the language or have skill and teach them a trade. After the girls had a chance to interact with the workers they saw the beautiful gift shop of all the things that elderly actually make. We then made our way back to the hotel for lunch and our Body Image program. We started off by splitting the girls into groups and giving them newspaper to create an outfit from a specific category. After each team performed, we watched a video and Miriam Borenstein spoke to the girls about many aspects of this important topic. When finished we made our way to the One Family fund headquarters. There the girls had a chance to interact with kids whom’s families have been traumatized one way or another by a terrorist attack. They went on a scavenger hunt around the area and really had a chance to get to know and have fun with the kids. We went back to the hotel for dinner and had a big surprise waiting for the girls. One of our advisors had written a letter to chayalim during one of our programs. She had left her number at the bottom and in doing so a chayal in tanks decided to extend the thanks and call her back. She explained to him what GIVE does and asked him if he wanted to come and speak a few brief words to the girls. He came and truly ended off our summer bringing it into a full circle. After that very emotional talk, we walked to the Kotel for the very last time on GIVE 2014. This jam packed day was filled with truly great memories.

On Friday the girls split up to have the opportunity to do two chessed’s simultaneously. One bus went to a home for low functioning adults calledAleh. While the other bus went to a nursing home near by. Both places sang Shabbos songs to enhance to resident’s weekend. Afterwards, the girls were able to experience the shuk on a crazy friday afternoon. We made our way to the last stop, Beit Gesher, where we will be until the end of the program. The girls enjoyed their last Shabbos on GIVE by going to the Kotel friday night, hearing from their friends, singing together, and performing an amazing flashmob Saturday night in Mamilla. All in all it was an incredible last Shabbos together on NCSY GIVE.

My name is Tamar Weiss and I’m 16 years old and l live in Beit Shemesh, Israel. Today was elective day, and I chose to do a whole day of learning with teachers from four different seminaries. The learning was so interesting and really inspired me. To start off the day, Rabbi Yamin Goldsmith from Shalavim for women gave us a shiur on He talked about how we, as jews need to always remember the past, lecher lachorban, while striving to a better `lecher lamikdash. Next, we had Rabbi Eli Mayer from Tiferet and he talked about chessed. Then Mrs. Abraham from Machon Maayan spoke about the parsha. Lastly, Rabbi David Katz from MMY came and spoke to us about smiittah because next year is smitthah year. I personally connected to two of the shiurim more then the others. One, Rabbi Goldsmith’s lasting message about incorporating our past and future into our present lives. The second one I connected to was Rabbi Katz because he spoke about smittah, and for me living in Israel this really affects my day to day life. All in all it was an absolutely amazing day of learning and I’m really glad I chose to do this elective. After elective day we met up with the whole camp at Malcha mall in Yerushalyim, We had free time there to walk around and create more memories. Then obviously I got a rebar, because….how could how I go to the mall without getting a rebar. Today was another amazing and unforgettable day on NCSY GIVE.

HI! My name is Shana Adler and I am 16 years old from Teaneck, NJ.  Today, we had elective day, and I chose to do an extra day of chessed! It was an absolutely awesome day! We started the day off at Ohr Meir U’Vracha, an amazing organization that helps victims of terrorist attacks throughout Israel.  The concept and impact that this organization has is beyond words. Not only do they distribute food to these victims of terror, but they deliver toys and organize programs for the children that have been affected by these attacks.  We spent time at this organization packaging food that will be distributed to the victims in need.  After that, we went to a home that helps people with Alzheimer’s disease, called Melabev. This organization not only provides care and numerous therapies for people struggling from Alzheimer’s disease, but it does the best that it can to help their families as well.  The GIVE girls spent time at Melabev dancing and singing with the patients, and brining so many smiles to their faces. These people were so happy to see us, and it was an amazing to see the genuine happiness on their faces. Afterwards, we headed to Zichron Menachem, an inspiring organization that helps kids with cancer, in addition to their families.  This organization spends an immense amount of effort trying to take the children’s’ minds off their illnesses and lift their spirits. The Zichron Menachem center has classrooms, playgrounds, music studios, and so much more, in order to bring happiness to the lives of kids with cancer, along with the other children in their families. The GIVE girls created a carnival for these kids today.  We did everything from face painting, to sand art, and basketball games. It was an amazing sight to see huge smiles appear on the faces of these children, as we hung out with them.  Finally, we headed to the Malcha mall for dinner and shopping. I headed to the amazing Pizza Hut with some of my friends, and then spent a little time roaming the mall. As usual, it was an absolutely, positively, amazing day on NCSY GIVE!!!

My name is Chaya Robinson, from Manhattan, NY. Today for elective day, I chose the hiking elective. We got on the bus in the morning and headed to Nachal Arugot, in Midbar Yehuda. We got off the bus with our hats, sunscreen, and 3 liters of water, and began the hike. The scenery was gorgeous. We were surrounded by the huge mountains of the desert, with trees growing out of the sides and mountain goats jumping up the cliffs. At some points of the hike, we were walking through a stream, which was really cool considering it was in the middle of a desert. We stopped for lunch at a waterfall, and took a break to cool off in the water. Then, when we finished the hike, we got back on the bus and headed to the Dead Sea! We ran down the beach to the water, which in contrast to the cold waterfalls in the desert, was warm and salty. When we went into the water, we found it almost impossible to stand, because the salt water was pulling our feet up to the surface of the water! After the Dead Sea, we got back on the bus to join the rest of GIVE for an awesome time at the Malcha mall. it was another amazing day at NCSY GIVE!