Summer 2013

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On July 29, 2013, NCSY brought together nearly 1,000 NCSYers in Israel for a night of inspiration and live entertainment. It was the highlight of the summer for so many – and this video should give you a taste why.

Don’t forget to tune in to this year’s Yom NCSY live stream on Monday, July 27, 2015 at 1:30pm EST at summer.ncsy.org/yomncsy

Mercedes Essebag stumbled on GIVE USA while googling summer programs for Jewish girls. She was hoping to discover something more meaningful than the routine camp experience for high school girls.

“I’m not a camp person and I wanted to do more chesed,” said Mercedes, 14.

A member of the Moroccan Jewish community in Toronto and a student at Ulpanat Orot, Mercedes Essebag didn’t know much about NCSY but she liked the way GIVE USA sounded and signed up.

Last month, the summer program took Mercedes and 40 other Jewish high school girls to different locales across the East Coast where they performed a variety of chesed activities. Participants planted trees in New Orleans to help the wildlife recover, helped out in soup kitchens across New York State, packaged food for the poor in Memphis and Nashville, TN, and performed in choirs and plays in old age homes across Atlanta.

“It was really amazing,” she said. “We traveled all over the East Coast making a difference and we learned great lessons from our advisors.”

The part that had the most impact for her was the Tisha B’Av program, where GIVE USA director Amy Tropp and her husband spoke about how Tisha B’Av was a commemoration of tragedies that affected both the Jewish world and the secular one.

“We strive to have GIVE USA participants understand that they’re Jewish citizens of a large world and it is their duty to help make that world a better place,” Amy said.

The other most inspiring part of the trip for Mercedes was the conversations she had with the residents of the old age homes the participants visited.

“You got to really connect to the people and they told you about themselves and what they learned during their lives,” Mercedes said. “Like always, believe in yourself and go after your dream and be a friend.”

Her plans for next summer?

GIVE Israel of course.

On July 31, 2013, a young woman and man were married under the sunset overlooking the beautiful mountains of Beit Shemesh. It was a special day by any measure. But what made this wedding truly remarkable was that the whole wedding was entirely put together by the 97 teenage girls on NCSY Michlelet.

NCSY JOLT (Jewish Overseas Leadership Training) is the premiere leadership summer program for high school students. After studying their heritage in Poland for a week, NCSY JOLT traveled to Denmark and spent two incredible weeks running a Jewish camp for unaffiliated German youth.

It’s a Thursday morning in July and NCSY’s TJJ (The Jerusalem Journey) Bus 5 is in Moshav Keshet in the Golan Heights. In addition to the regular minyan, there are small workshops for those interested in learning more about tefillah.

“We had a whole bus experience to teach what it means to daven in a minyan in a shul and what it means to read from the Torah,” says Rabbi Arieh Friedner, Cleveland NCSY director and TJJ Bus 5 director.

It being Thursday morning there is Torah reading at shacharit. Friedner asked if anyone had not received an aliyah before.

Michael Burdjalov, 16, from Cleveland, raised his hand. “This was the first time I finally felt Jewish,” he says.

“You’ve never had an aliyah before? Never in your life? You never had a bar mitzvah?”

Michael responded to all three questions in the negative.

“So how about now,” Friedner asked. “No better time and place than when you’re in Israel.”

Michael was really into it. The staff taught him what to say and he made his first-ever bracha for his first-ever aliyah. His bar mitzvah in the truest sense of the word.

He recalls that everyone was really excited. They sang and threw candy at the new bar mitzvah boy. Well, bar mitzvah teenager.

“It was totally spontaneous and organically turned into a big event for him,” Friedner says.

“Later in the day all the guys in the group went to the mikve in Safed,” Michael says. “And for the remainder of the trip I went to shacharit every day. I definitely feel a lot more Jewish. A lot more connected.”

“I explained that this is a family event and part of the NCSY education philosophy is that it should be celebrated with his parents and family,” Friedner says. “This is a link in the chain of tradition.”

“When I get home I’m sure I’ll celebrate with my family and our friends,” Michael says. “I’m also going to join the Israeli Culture Club at my school [Orange High School in Moreland Hills, Cleveland, OH]. “I want to be much more connected to Judaism.”

Friedner spoke with Michael about spontaneity, about getting something special out of Israel and about being excited to grow and to learn more.

“I really am having the best summer of my life,” Michael says. “And I can’t wait to get home and go to Arieh’s house for Shabbat. This is so much more than just a fun summer experience. It’s the beginning of a relationship. A great beginning.”

The boys on NCSY’s premiere leadership trip for public school students – TJJ Ambassadors – spent two intense days learning, playing sports and bonding with NCSY Kollel. Despite coming from completely different backgrounds, everyone learned that there is much more that unites us than divides us.

 

Don’t forget to read the inspiring story of the week here.

As Samantha Hyman got off the Nefesh B’Nefesh flight to Israel this past Tuesday, she reflected on what a long, strange trip it had been for her. This was the same willful girl who decided, after a bad experience in a religious day school, that at the age of six she wanted nothing more to do with being Jewish.

“My mom would pull me out of her car by my arms and I would cry, kick, scream and do anything to avoid going into the Hebrew school classroom,” Samantha, affectionately known as Sam by her NCSYers, explained.

From then on, as her family moved from California to Kansas and she switched from day school to public school she had nothing to do with religion until high school.

“When I told my mom that all of my friends would come to school and brag about cotillion, Bible retreats, and how awesome Jesus was, she knew I was in trouble but waited until my sophomore year of high school before she dragged me out of her car once again and forced me into the Jewish Community Center (JCC),” Sam explained.

This did little for her spiritual side, she said. “That was when I discovered the world of sex, drugs and rock and roll.”

In January of her junior year her friends from the pluralistic BBYO youth group peer pressured her to go to a joint BBYO/NCSY Shabbaton.

“That was the Shabbat that changed my life,” she said.

Describing herself as full of chutzpah, she heard that a man by the name of Todd was driving to a Matisyahu concert on Motzei Shabbat (Saturday night). This was Todd Cohn, then the city director of Kansas NCSY. On the car ride to the concert, he told her about an inexpensive trip to Israel.

“The next thing I knew I caved to peer pressure again and signed up for The Jerusalem Journey (TJJ).”

Sam spent the summer of her senior year in Israel on the program, which took place during the beginning of the Second Lebanon War.

“Needless to say I had one of the most unbelievable summers of my life,” she said. “No other tour guide can compare to Rabbi Barry Goldfischer. He has this magical way of making the land of Israel come alive. I never knew what he was talking about when I was 17 but I knew it was important because of his passion and enthusiasm.”

After TJJ, she began her senior year by failing Spanish deliberately in order to force her parents to sign a class withdrawal slip to allow her to spend her Fridays with Todd and his wife Naomi learning Torah. Unsure of what to do after high school, she decided to spend the year at the seminary where Rabbi Goldfischer teaches, Machon Mayan. That year she realized that her home was in Israel. She worked out a deal with her parents to finish college in the US before making aliyah and attended Stern College for Women in New York City. She returned to NCSY as an advisor for the Southern region, now under the leadership of Todd Cohn. From then on, NCSY became a focal point in Sam’s busy life.

“Sam has the biggest heart of all the people I know,” said Rabbi Ben Gonsher, director of institutional advancement for Southern NCSY. “Whether on an NCSY Shabbaton or not, she is always thinking about her NCSYers. It wasn’t infrequent that I’d get a frantic email from Sam, asking what she can do to help make transliterated song books for NCSYers who can’t read Hebrew, when she can fly to Miami to help in the office, or where else she can dig to find scholarship monies to send her teens on summer programs. She has always been an advocate for the teens. Although we’ve looked, we simply have not been able to find Southern NCSY’s next super star ‘Sam Hyman’ advisor.”

Rabbi Gonsher said she even delayed her aliyah in order to watch her NCSYers graduate.

“NCSY was the instrument in getting her to where she was,” explained Todd Cohn. “NCSY enabled her to take all this potential she had and fully develop it into the wonderful person we now know.”

As Sam’s flight arrived and she prepared for her new life in Israel, she was greeted by her NCSYers who were spending the summer on NCSY GIVE (Girls Israel Volunteer Experience).

“There’s nothing more amazing than seeing your NCSY advisor’s dream come true,” said NCSYer Orly Ohayon.

Orly was one of the several NCSYers waiting for Sam. They held a poster which read, appropriately, “Welcome Home.”

To the ones who raised us, took care of us when we were sick, held our hand when we were scared and told us it would all be alright. For sending us on a life-changing summer and everything else… this one’s for you.

In the waning days of The Jerusalem Journey (TJJ) summer program in 2011, Bus 7 pulled into a secluded hilltop that overlooked the city of Jerusalem. The program was the first time many of the teens had been in Israel and it was an emotional moment, but for one teen, the moment proved to be life-changing. As the teens sat in a circle, Bus Director Josh Gottesman presented a pair of tefillin, sponsored anonymously, to Peter Century, a tenth grader from Cleveland Heights.

“We knew it would mean something to Peter,” Gottesman explained. “Tefillin is such an incredible mitzvah in terms of personal growth. Peter had a spark and we knew it would kindle something deep inside him.”

Peter was bewildered and inspired. TJJ was what he considers his first real Jewish experience. Up until then, his only other Jewish experience was what he described as a “fake bar mitzvah” that he asked his family to throw him because he thought he’d get cash. Otherwise, he had been almost totally unaware of his Jewish identity. During the busy summer, Pete had seen advisors and other members of the trip put on tefillin. They had explained the mitzvah to him and helped him wrap the black leather straps around his arms and head.

The pair of tefilin was only the beginning for Peter. He didn’t really know how to put them on so he needed to start learning. When he returned, he began visiting Cleveland NCSY Director Rabbi Arieh Friedner. Soon his visits became more frequent and he began spending every Shabbat with the family.

“I kept going back,” he said. “That was the only Judaism that I could hold on to.”

Since he didn’t have a Jewish name, the Friedner family helped him pick one: Yosef Shalom. Peter became closer and closer to the family, not only spending every Shabbat with them but also visiting them during the week. Since there wasn’t a synagogue close by, Pete began putting on his tefillin before school every morning. The next summer Peter decided to attend NCSY Kollel, another NCSY summer program, where he learnt more about his heritage.

This summer Peter returned to Kollel as a Counselor in Training (CIT). Mrs. Friedner made him promise to call her at least once a week. In a few months, Peter will begin his year in Israel, studying in Yeshivat Netiv Aryeh. The year in yeshiva will be the culmination of a long journey for Pete, one that he says was inspired in part by a pair of tefillin.

“When I was presented the tefillin, I guess you could say I thought to myself that now I actually have to do this,” he said.

To sponsor a pair of tefillin for a teen, click here.

Fifteen years after going on NCSY Kollel, Canada’s Daniel Gryfe returns year after year.

One participant of NCSY Kollel keeps on coming back.

As the fast of Tisha B’Av wanes to a close and the sun begins to set behind the Western Wall, hundreds of teens on NCSY summer programs sit on the stone courtyard and sing together as part of a kumzits (gathering). Frequently, passers-by will sit in the circle and join the teens as they commemorate the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash (Holy Temple) two thousand years ago. Among those seated in the circle is real estate investor Daniel Gryfe who attended NCSY Kollel 15 years ago.

In 1997, as a junior in high school, Daniel Gryfe decided to spend a summer on NCSY Kollel. He was never really active in NCSY, but the experience was significant for him. “It was my first yeshiva experience,” he explained. “It was fantastic. It was a stepping stone. I still remember the sugya, topic, I learnt on Kollel: the seventh perek (chapter) of Berachot.”

After the summer, in his senior year, he began learning night seder in the Toronto-based Ne’er Israel and then went on to study in Israel at Kerem B’Yavneh (KBY)— one of the few students from his high school who attended the esteemed yeshiva— and then Yeshiva University where he majored in business. He met his wife, Dena Graff, a student at Stern College for Women, while he was there.

After graduation, he joined his family’s firm and began working in Toronto. In 2004, at the tail-end of a European business trip, Daniel ended up in Israel for Tisha B’Av. As he went to daven Ma’ariv at the Kotel (Western Wall), he saw the familiar circle of NCSYers and joined the group.

“I stumbled upon it,” he said. “There wasn’t a problem joining the circle. It was a remarkable feeling of achdus, of unity. It’s a great feeling— it’s a sense of inspiration. The achdus that it provides is a major factor of what the redemption of Tisha B’Av is supposed to be based upon.”

Gryfe noted that he’s seen Jews from every walk of life— religious, not religious, Ashkenaz, Sephardic — join the circle and sing with the teens.

Every year since then, he makes it a point to spend his Tisha B’Av in Israel and spends the last hour of the fast with NCSYers. At his last count, he’s made it to nine kumzitses.

Rabbi Moshe Benovitz, the director of NCSY Kollel, said that the kumzits developed organically. “It was actually a grassroots movement, energized by many NCSYers and advisors who felt that they simply could not stay away from the Kotel on Tisha B’Av,” he said. “Not only are there no extravagant bells and whistles, but there are not even spoken words of explanation and inspiration.”

Daniel is also highly committed to Canada NCSY.

“I’m on the board of Canada NCSY,” he said. “I attend meetings as a board member and give my support both financially and personally. It has to do with my own personal experiences as well as the fact that NCSY does a phenomenal job on Jewish continuity. They really enlighten kids who would never have the chance to get enlightened about yiddishkeit. I know firsthand several people that it has done wonders for in their lives.”

Rabbi Glenn Black, CEO of Canada NCSY, was effusive about Daniel’s activities. “Daniel is part of our Young Leadership Team,” explained Rabbi Black. “He’s a person I turn to on a regular basis for advice. He’s got an amazing business mind and he’s able to help me develop my thinking and create programs and events that are just right for our community.”

As for the kumzits, Daniel plans to continue to attend and hopes to bring someone along with him. “My son will probably be there with me in the next couple of years,” he added.

For the 85 girls on NCSY GIVE (Girls Israel Volunteer Experience), this summer is an opportunity to give back some of the good that they received in their lives. Over the next few weeks, the girls will contribute to the many needs of Jews living in Israel. But this week, they focused primarily on giving to the children of Israel.

 

Don’t forget to read this week’s Story of the Week: “Last Minute Switch“

For the 980 teens on NCSY Summer, this week was the beginning of a summer in which memories will be created, moments will be shared and life-long friendships will be formed. But right now, this is where the journey begins.