Summer 2016

Our last morning on GIVE 2016 started off like any other. We davened and ate breakfast, and then we had our final chaburah with our moms. We packed out of our hotel and went to an awesome old age home and had so much fun dancing with the elderly people! We then went to Mamilla mall and broke out our super fun flash mobbb and had some time to chill and shop with our friends. After Mamilla, we headed to the OU center to have our final banquet. We started off watching a recap of the summer (parents stay tuned for the link). We then heard from some of our amazing fellow GIVErs and advisors! We cried, laugh, and sang our hearts out. After we received individual sefarim from each of our advisors, we left Jerusalem and headed to Tel Aviv. We’re in the airport now boarding the airplane. NCSY GIVE 2016 is signing out. Thank you to everyone who contributed in making this summer truly life changing and empowering. This summer will forever remain etched in our hearts. 

Shalom! My name is Dassi Dear, and I’m from Philadelphia! Today in the holy land of Israel we had the pleasure to daven at the burial spots of our forefathers. We heard a brief explanation of exactly where we were davening by the famous Rabbi Nissel which made our prayers more meaningful. Afterwards, we headed to get some delicious lunch and supported the Israeli economy by shopping in Meah Shearim and Ben Yehuda (the 3 shekel slushie was amazing!) We then headed back to our hotels and had an incredible supper. After we filled pots with soil to finish our joint project with NCSY’s performing arts camp Maor! It’s really great that both programs worked on this act of chessed together! Afterwards one of the flower pots was used for an eye opening activity. We all had the opportunity to hold the flower pot and reflect on our journey on GIVE. It was inspiring to hear what the other girls said. Some girls described their troubles and triumphs on this trip, while others shared motivational insights. Just as we were all getting quite emotional, our staff surprised us with a super amazing midnight trip to the kotel!! We sat in a circle and had a Kumzitz, and then we had time to write letters to ourselves and reflect and daven. It was such a fantastic day! I’m really gonna miss these type of nights with my sisters 🙂

Hi This is Chana Gertzulin from Monsey, New York and Jennie Mellman from Silver Spring, Maryland. Friday morning we started off by leaving our home, Mevaseret 🙁 We then headed to Kever Rachel it was a very meaningful experience to daven at this holy burial site. Then we had a yummy falafel lunch and proceeded to the shuk to get some cinnamon raisen beagles and food for our families. Next, we went to the hotel to get ready for an inspiring Shabbat in Jerusalem. We started Shabbat, at the kotel Friday night. It was a very moving experience seeing all different types of Jews gathered together as one. We had dinner overlooking the kotel on the netiv aryeh roof. We even got a special visit from the BILT boys! After dinner, we had a long walk home back to the hotel and went to bed. On shabbos we had chaburas followed by a delicious lunch. Later, we had a talk given by Rabbi Felberman about Tisha Ba’av. Afterwards, our advisors put together a fun game involving everyone’s participation. The game made everyone feel a closer connection towards each other. Soon after, we had a very filling seuda shlishit before the fast. We had a mini kumzitz ebbing shabbos, then read Eicha. Out of respect for all of us we decided not to write everything we did over Tisha Baav. However, it was extremely moving and inspirational in many ways. The day came to a climax when we went to the kotel for mincha. Following mincha we broke our fast at Piccolino and had a blast singing and dancing! When we got back to our hotel we continued our dance party and had fun with our friends. Can’t wait for tomorrow!! 

Today was our 3rd and final day working with Hashomer Hachadash! After davening in the morning we had circle time with our guide from the program. Different groups played different introspective and team building focused games. Then we packed up and went to help build terraces around different trees that are under the JNF. We worked very hard to dig out the rocks that were deeply imbedded in the soil, and tried to create a healthier agricultural space. While we did this, we had a really fun time listening and singing to all of our awesome akapella music. We then had an Israeli style lunch and headed off to a different location to have more circle time games. After that we had a cute Israeli March and had a goodbye ceremony. We even got super cool T-shirts!!! We finally came back to Mevaseret and had some time to chill and unpack. After dinner representatives from the jewelry store Hodaya came to take some orders. Later Rabbi Felberman came to give an awesome mishmar (learning session) and it was filled with a lot of thought provoking ideas and concepts! Tonight is our last night on the Mevaseret campus as we head off to our final destination- Jerusalem!   

Hi my name is Meira Axelrod! Today was our second awesome day at Hashomer Hachadash! We woke up early in the morning, at 7:00. After davening we split up into our groups from the day and had circle time. We ate cookies and drank tea as we spoke about what makes a strong relationship in life. We then ate breakfast and loaded the busses to go to יער נס הרים to help clean up the land of Israel. After a lot of hard strenuous yet fun work, we took a step back and saw how much we accomplished there. It was pretty amazing! We then went up the mountain in order to hike down while we learned more about ourselves. When we returned to Hashomer Hachadash we ate a delicious dinner. Our night activity consisted of us being split up into different teams to dress one person up as a stereo-type. When we regrouped, we spoke about the way we perceive others and how others perceive us. It was a good time to think about the affects of modesty. I am so happy we were able to spend the day discovering ourselves while connecting to the land of Israel!!

Hi my name is Cyporah Hershman from Monsey, NY! We started off the day in Mevaseret, where we woke up, davened, ate, and learned with chaburah leaders. After that we went to the busses and headed to our destination with Hashomer Hachadash. Before we began our hike we split up into three groups and did some exercises which helped us to become more comfortable with each other. The tour guides then told us that the place where we were standing, was the same place that David fought Goliyat! We all felt very connected to the land and Tanach. We began our hike- and after stopping many times and hiking for very long we got to our destination. A cave. The same cave many famous rabbis and many Jews lived in when they were hiding from Romans. It was mind blowing to see how they lived in caves that were so small that we had to go on our hands and knees to pass through. Some people even had a Kumzitz in the cave!! After the hike and caves we went to the place where we were sleeping. They assigned us rooms, only this time there were not done by requests so we really got the chance to branch out with new girls. Finally, with everyones’ help we cooked our yummy dinner of Shakshuka, Salads, and other things. Once everyone finished eating and cleaning up we had “circle time”, which meant we all sat in a circle and reflected on our day. Last but definitely not least we made a bonfire and everyone sat around and sang songs. Songs turned into stories which were told by the Campers and overall it was an amazing and quite introspective day!!!

Today on GIVE we started off the day making an awesome carnival for kids from Sderot. Each girl participated in running a booth. The activities ranged from balloon shaving to sponge tossing to the classic Coke and Pepsi game. The children loved it! After that we went to Maaleh, an Israeli film school, and watched some of their original films. Then we had tour of Ammunition Hill and learnt about the history of the Six Day War. Finally, we headed to Beit Shemesh for our long awaited night with Michlelet!!!! We had dinner all together and then Mrs. Yudin, the director of Michlelet, spoke to all of us and gave a beautiful shiur! We then played a really fun and crazy basketball game and enjoyed all the cheering and bonding!!! Tomorrow we head off on a 3 day trip to Hashomer Hachadash in the Galilee! Looking forward!!!

Hi! My name is Atara Neugroschl and I’m from Bergenfield, NJ. This morning, we left Yeruchum and went to the Salad Trial. There, we were given a tour of the greenhouses and learned how people grow produce in the hot, dry desert. We were given the opportunity to taste the different tomatoes, cucumbers, and herbs. It was delicious! We also made fresh pita and topped it with different types of oils. After the tour, we took a picture and released homing pigeons into the air. It was exciting and shocking watching the birds take flight. After leaving the salad trail, we traveled to Sderot for a delicious lunch. Then, we went on a tour of Sderot. We saw the kesam rockets and bomb shelters and learned that about the thousads of rockets that have been fired into Sderot. We saw how close Sderot is to Gaza and that despite the danger, people continue to move to Sderot and develop the city. Our tour guide showed us drawings created by elementary school kids and photographs of the aftermath of the bombs, which were incredibly devestating and inspiring. After the meaningful and enlightening tour, we went back home to Mevaseret. We ate an incredible dinner and then learned about the organization Shomar Chadash that we will be helping this week. Finally, we ended our night with an engaging and insightful question and answer session with Rabbi Katz, the director of MMY. It was an incredible, action-packed day and I can’t wait for everything else GIVE has in store for us.

Hi I’m Racheli Wilamowsky and I am from the 5 towns! This Friday we had color war and it was a lot of fun and Jerusalem won!! Then we went to yerucham down south for shabbos. We had chaburot, we had a beautiful kabalat shabbat overlooking the dessert. We also learned with our friends which was nice, and we listened to speeches and divrei torah. All and all it was a really nice shabbos. Motzeh shabbos we did hitbodidut in the dessert and started organizing a carnival that we are making for young children from sderot on Monday. Can’t wait for this week!