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.