Dear Heilige Parents and NCSY JOLT Israel’ers,

I hope this email finds you well. Last we left off, we were traveling up to Avnei Eitan which is a beautiful Moshav up in the Golan. We stayed in an awesome campsite called “Kfar Indiani”, there are air-conditioned Teepees, bungalows called “Tzimmereim” and large round sweat lodge looking things. Boys had one and girls had the other. After getting everything set, we went to dinner, which was solid! We ate hot dogs, schnitzel, rice, roasted potatoes and salads. We walked back to our respective “sweat lodges” and started to build a bonfire. After several attempts and thanks to the hard work of Rabbi Rosenfeld and Josh Weiner, we got a roaring fire going. As a group/family we sat together around the fire and began to debrief from our very emotional and fulfilling eight days, (24 hours a day) of running “Macheneh Hachi Achi”. First, I addressed the kids followed by Rabbi Rosenfeld who was excellent! After we spoke from the heart, we opened the floor to the kids to share their thoughts, feelings and experiences. No one was forced to speak and everyone understood that it was a safe environment to share ideas and memories. Many of the kid’s spoke, some just listened but everyone was moved! This de-brief went on for about two hours and we segued into telling funny and heartwarming stories about our ZAM ZAM campers.

After finishing this important program, we stayed up, hung out around the fire and some people went to sleep. Wake up was early this morning and we davened outside as the sun rose to the East. We ate breakfast, packed up and loaded the buses. We were leaving the North for the rest of our time here in Israel.  Just so you understand, our Tochnit said we were going to be hiking “Nakik HaShachor”- Black Canyon. However, the parks authority closed this trail due to extreme heat. The kids took it in stride and we did the next best thing…we took them water-skiing in Tel Aviv!!!

Of course, we couldn’t be in Tel Aviv and not visit Heichal HaAtzmaut-Independence Hall. This is the place where it all went down in 1948. It was actually one of the better presentations I heard from all the groups that I have taken there. We learned about the history and establishment of the modern State of Israel. After leaving we got delicious burgers for lunch. I guess everyone was hungry because the burgers went quickly J

After lunch we went to a very nice exhibit and explanation of old Tel Aviv. There were pictures and videos that helped to explain the very interesting history of this city. We loaded the busses and went waterskiing in Park Begin. Girls went first while the boys played Ultimate and then the boys went. It was awesome and perfect for today’s weather! Everyone had so much fun. There is nothing better then seeing the kids smiling and laughing.

We made our way back to our new home for the next few days in Yad Binyamin and the kids are in heaven. They are loving the open space, the simple but awesome accommodations and the tremendous basketball court.  Dinner was fantastic and we had really intensive and well presented learning sessions this evening. Of course as with almost every evening there is an optional shiur tonight. So lots of learning going on and lots of good things happening. Most important of all is the growing that’s taking place spiritually, religiously, emotionally and of course as leaders.

Tomorrow we have an awesome day planned for down South and I can’t wait to share it together with the kids and then with you.

With warmest wishes from the Holy land,

-Rabbi Weinberg

Dear Heilige Parents and NCSY JOLT Israel’ers,

I hope this email finds you well. Things have been non-stop and amazing!! Our ZAM ZAM kids just left and it was a difficult goodbye. There was lots of crying and hugging but it was beautiful. I would argue that the beauty of the goodbye was that we accomplished what we sent out to do. We taught our JOLT Israel kids how to be effective leaders in a short amount of time, we created relationships and we changed lives. Our ZAM ZAM kids were able to focus on nothing but fun and exciting activities and trips. No mention of the word cancer, darkness or tears. Beauty and love permeated everything we did and everywhere we went and as such the children experienced the most amazing time of their lives!

Today is a chill day, and that is important for our kids. They Mamesh gave it their all and met success, but now they need time to relax. We took them to the mall to walk around together and soon we are taking them swimming in the Kinneret at the separate beach. It will be good for the JOLT Israel’ers to reconnect with each other. They spent a lot of time and energy connecting with our ZAM ZAM kids and I want them to now dig inward with each other.

Allow me for a few moments to fill you in on the past few days, so you get a sense of what we did and how amazing it was. Friday we came back from our activities, as you know, and got ready for Shabbos. All the kids came down in their Shabbos best and took beautiful pictures together. The reason why I feel that this is so important is because of the fact that just like when relatives stand together and take pictures there is an internal and subconscious sense of connection, the same holds true when we take pictures together! After pictures, we went to the shul to Daven Mincha and Kabbalas Shabbos.  It was amazing to see everyone singing and dancing together in a real show of Achdus. After davening, we went to our room for Seudas Shabbos and enjoyed the amazing food and friends. The smells and tastes were awesome and I know our kids enjoyed all of the delicious choices. Following the food the ZAM ZAM kids went to sleep and we had an Oneg for the Zichron Menachem staff and our JOLT Israel kids. There was no specific structure to it although we did have singing and some games. The most important thing to me was to make sure that we were all integrating well and simply laugh together. Mission accomplished!! It was imperative because of the fact that Shabbos day was meant to be intensive with a lot of focus on activities for the kids and the success of those programs were dependent on the success of everyone melding into a team, which was happening beautifully.

Shabbos morning we all davened together in the shul and from there we went to  lunch. After lunch we davened an early Mincha followed by a talk with our JOLT Israel kids. Our idea was to give the kids actual tips and pointers on how to run effective programs for kids. The things that I specifically wanted to share with them were things that I believe they can integrate in many facets of their lives, moving forward. We spoke for about 45 minutes which included breaking up into groups and working on games to play with the kids. It was awesome, the energy and excitement from JOLT Israel was palpable. The ZAM ZAM kids came and went to predetermined classrooms in the building that we were using. It was awesome to watch what unfolded. The games, the smiles and the laughter were all indicative of a well-planned event.  It was significant lesson for our kids to see, namely, when you organize and plan then you can expect success.

After the activities, which went on for over an hour, we all had nap time! It was well needed!! At 4:30 we met for some coffee and cake and then at five we all met and took a tour of the Kibbutz. We walked through the Refet (where the cows are), we saw the horses, the Kibbutz farm and some important sites such as the shul. It’s amazing how much thought goes into everything. It’s also an important lesson for the kids to see and hear.

After the tour we went to Seudah Shlishit and and ate AGAIN!!! We looked outside and saw the mountains with the sun setting over them. There were beautiful colors of red and orange and pink. We sat on the grass together and slowly the magnetic pull of the sunset brought the entire group over. We sat in a large circle and sang until long after Shabbos was over. I also took the opportunity to speak to the kids about making good choices. I told them a story that happened to me upon my latest trip to Poland when we interviewed a non-Jewish woman, which told us with glee of her opportunity to steal a doll from the bed of a child who was taken to the forest and killed. We spoke about the challenges that people face and the choices that we make. I then tied it into leadership and how good choices make good leaders.  Upon finishing singing we walked together to the shul, davened Maariv and had a beautiful and moving musical Havdalah. Arms around each other, swaying and singing in the soft glow of the candle we molded into one and it was profound as it was heartwarming.

Motzei Shabbos we went straight to our activity rooms for more games run by our JOLT Israel’ers. The ZAM ZAM’ers went to sleep and we had an awesome game night for our JOLT Israel’ers. Of course the evening would not have been complete without a quick birthday party for Michael Frolich with homemade cake and all.

Sunday was awesome! We had an early wake up, early davening, early breakfast and then two fantastic water hikes. The first one was a great little hike in the Banyas where we saw a beautiful waterfall and felt the refreshing spray of the water. The smells of the wild fig trees were intoxicating and the beautiful flora and fauna really made us take a step back and say “Mah Rabu Maasecha Hashem”! Before leaving we had lunch delivered to us. We had two different types of pasta choices as well as salad, fruit and cold water. From the Banyas we traveled for about half and hour and got to one of my favorite water hikes called Nachal Majdrase. We walked through the cool, refreshing water surround by wild horsemint, grape vines and other interesting vegetation. As we continued to walk, one quick splash of water became an all out water fight and our little ZAM ZAM campers were screaming with laughter as we all got into it! It was non-stop fun as we all splashed each other and made sure that not one person left the water dry!! My friends, there is nothing like seeing young children with smiles that take over their little faces.

When we got back to Lavi, we showered, changed and ate dinner. From dinner, the kids went to their classrooms to practice for their team songs for our Zimriyah. We brought in an awesome guitarist from a Moshav near Meron. He was totally my style, long payos, long beard, linen shirt and pants with a large “Mitnachel” yarmulke and an awesome story of how he grew up on a “Chiloni” Kibbutz. Anyway, we went to the boys and girls and practiced with them before we all went back to our room and had our amazing Zimriyah.

When we were all finally assembled there was an energy in the room and everyone was ready to get up and sing. The boys went first with a quick interlude of singing and dancing. Then the girls went and sang their own lyrics to “One Day”. When they were finished, we spontaneously combusted into a frenzy of dancing, singing and hugging. It was totally awesome! After dancing we handed out the tye dye shirts to everyone from our activity we had in the beginning of the week.

We put the kids to sleep and gave the JOLT Israel’ers some free time to pack and hang out and we met as a Tzevet. We reflected about the week and came to the same unanimous conclusion…our camp Hachi Achi was an absolute success! 

This morning we davened, ate breakfast and packed up the bus. After everything was packed we all met in out meeting room and thanked each other fopr an experience of a lifetime! Then we watched an amazing video made by Benji Kalmanowitz and Deena Drazin.  We did some special ZAM ZAM chants and went to get lunch. After lunch we walked each other to the buses. Needless to say there was lots of crying and lots of hugging. It’s tough when you become a family and then have to part. The crying to me was indicative of everything we did right. We succeeded in creating a family and we will always be in each other’s hearts.

We left swimming, which was awesome, and we traveled up North to Avnei Eitan. On the way up we stopped at an overlook in the Golan called Mitzpeh Ophir named after a young boy who died of cancer several years ago at the age of 16. In hios memory there are 16 Olive Trees. The lookout was amazing and allowed us to seer the entire Kinneret as the sunset. It was truly inspiring. This evening, I want to use time to reflect with the kids about this amazing week. After we are finished I will try to send out another email and share these thoughts with you.

We have been uploading tons of pictures to Facebook, twitter and Instagram PLEASE PLEASE follow us!! We have also been uploading our videos to Facebook. All you have to do is go to the JOLT ISRAEL page and enjoy! They are awesome videos and awesome pictures.

I hope I didn’t bore you with the length of this email but I really wanted to share with you what we have been doing and how much we have actually accomplished! Please continue to share your comments and reach out, of course, if you have any questions.

I wish you a sweet and holy day. We are taking in the beauty and Kedusha of our homeland!

With warmest wishes

-Rabbi Weinberg

Dear Heilige JOLT Israel’ers and Parents,

Yesterday and today were another two successful days!!! I’m not gonna lie, this is definitely hard work. The kids are working hard, it is hot and we are outside a lot but the campers are having an amazing time and the chesed we are doing is really big. Let me give you all another insight into why what we are doing is so important. 

 

We have a little boy with us whose 15 year old brother was diagnosed with cancer. He went into remission and I was told that due to the chemotherapy he developed Leukemia. His parents are divorced and his mother has been with either him or his brother every single day with no break for the last two and half  Years. Now, the other piece of information you need to know is that Zichron Menachem runs a lottery every year and this mother won a free trip to the spa for two people. However, because of the fact that she was always with one of her children she never had a chance to redeem this prize. Her son with cancer went with Zichron Menachem to London for the week and she was so excited to get a vacation for a few days, the first in two and a half years! But, Murphy’s law, this boy cries every night for his mother and he wanted to go home. His mother spoke to the psychologist who asked if he was having a good time besides at night when he misses her. She told the psychologist that it was absolutely amazing. He asked her if she trusted us, she said “200%”. So he told her then let him remain with us her and she should go on vacation and not worry. This is Mamesh such an amazing chesed!! I used this story to be Mechazek our kids last night. I explained to them that when I go hiking, I always look straight ahead and put one foot in front of the other, I never look up to see how more I have to go. But every so often I will turn around and look behind me to see how far I have come. When it comes to experiences like this we also need our “Turn around and look back on the mountain” moment. It is a moment that we need to embrace as we take in how far we have actually come. This story highlights in real time, the level that we have achieved…. actual tangible chesed. These are opportunities to give people things that we take for granted, like a few days of rest and relaxation. 

Yesterday, was one of the more difficult days. We spent the day with our Zichron Meachem kids (ZamZam) but we didn’t go anywhere. The enitr day was spent running stuff in house. We had an awesome schedule, everything was organized and the kids had an amazing time. One little boy said to one of our JOLT Israel’ers “I am having the best time of my life.” I explained to the kids often but I will be reiterating it, that our ZamZam kids love every second because of the hard work that we put into it. Without hard work, and being organized and accounting for minutes and details, things get confusing and we wouldn’t be able to deliver the product that we are giving them. Our activities ranged from swimming to art and Zumba, dodge ball and soccer. It was a flu day of activity capped off by an American style movie for the kids in Hebrew with popcorn and candy. We were all throughly exhausted by the end of the day and because of the fact that our kids have been staying up late and not getting enough sleep I put them all to sleep at 10:30. Surprisingly, most of the kids were happy about it.

This morning we woke up at 7:30, davened at 8:00 and then had breakfast. The food was amazing as usual and for those who are interested I had several slices of fresh and hot whole grain bread with cranberries and raisins, eggs, salad with feta cheese, sliced cheeses made fresh on the Kibbutz, Shakashuka, and a bunch of different fish. By the way, I am most impressed with the sophistication of many of our JOLT Israel kids in terms of the food that they eat. I love the fact that so many of them are open to trying new foods and experiences different flavors then what they are used to. I know it seems silly, but it speaks volumes to me as an educator. We loaded the busses and headed up North to Nahariyah where we did something called Tornado boating with our little ZamZAm’s. Basically these are long rubber dingy’s with seats. There is a massive motor on it and we fly through the water jumping over waves. It was actually really awesome. The warm, salty water of the Mediterranean spraying on us as we would fly in the air and then land back on the water. It was loads of fun. In the background was Rosh HaNikra and Lebanon. It was really beautiful.

After that we went to Kibbutz Metzuba where we had fresh baked pizza…again 🙂 It was so good! We all ate our fill and had a great time. Our kids and the ZamZam kids loved it. Hey, whats not to love!!

We just back to the hotel and the girls are going swimming and some of the boys are playing an intense game of pre-Shabbos basketball. At 6:30 P.M. we will be getting together for pre-shabbos pictures where we will all look beautiful and elated to spend another Shabbos in Artzeinu HaKodesh! Please make sure that you check out our Facebook page for our awesome video of the week!! Big thank you to Benji Kalmanowitz and Deena Drazin who worked on it together!!

Some of our kids came over to me today and asked if we can skip the free Shabbos and all of us spend it together. Makes you feel kinda good, that we created a family of kids that really, truly like each other. I hope you are getting a real sense of what we created in this short amount of time. I know you are seeing the pictures and reading the emails but in real life it an experience that is above and beyond! The kids are using words like family regularly now! It’s amazing! They are even asking for reunions in the middle of the year! This is something special….

We have an awesome Shabbos planned that includes games, activities, singing, playing and of course resting!

I want to take the opportunity to wish you all a Git Shabbos and a sweet Shabbos. Thank you for entrusting your children to me, Nechama, Rabbi Rosenfeld, Deena, Kara, Rebecca, Jack and Michael. We love them all and are blessed to have the next three weeks to continue bonding and growing with them.

Looking forward to filling you in Motzei Shabbos

With Warmest Wishes

-Rabbi Weinberg

Heilige Chevra,

Don’t get nervous…it was a long day today but an awesome day. However, I am exhausted and I want to do this email justice. So I am going to not send out a recap of today and send out a special Shabbos addition tomorrow. Can’t wait to speak with you and tell you about our “Turn around and look back on the Mountain Moment.” More on that tomorrow……

Pictures, pre-Shabbos videos- Please follow us on Facebook, twitter and Instagram.

Speak with you then

-Rabbi Weinberg

 

Dear Heilige Parents Of NCSY JOLT Israel’ers,

Today was perfection! But before I tell you about the details and about the food, I want to share a story with you. As I was sitting in a raft on the Jordan river today with several 8-9 year old boys from our camp, one of the boys whose 15 year old brother is sick with cancer said the following thing to me: “Rebbe, I love every minute of this camp. But tell me, if my brother gets healthy by next summer, will I be able to come back?” It was Mamsh one of those moments where you want to cry and hug and retreat back into yourself bemoaning the loss of innocence. But I looked at him and told him “It would be our honor to have him come back!” I hope that gives you all a bit of an insight into the amazing level we have taken this opportunity to. I mean these kids are living and loving every minute! Our JOLT Israel kids are so above and beyond, and our advisors are totally amazing! This is really the recipe for success.

Breakfast was amazing, once again! we are getting a bit spoiled here! But the truth is that we deserve it, and by we I mean all of us who are working so hard each day. Just on an aside, they made delicious Belgian waffles this morning and I had some fresh made strawberry jam on it. It may be in my top ten!

We all loaded the buses and we left for our first hike: Ein Tina. It was a beautiful water walk with a tiny bit of hiking. The kids had a great time and our kids were awesome and 100% on point with everything. From there we traveled to Kfar Blum to go on the rafts down the Jordan river. First thing we did when we all got together was…drum role please…..EAT! We had fresh delicious hamburgers delivered with fries. Awesome!

Rafting was sooo much fun. We were splashing and laughing, jumping into the water starting water fights. By the time we were fished we were exhausted. After changing our wet clothing we loaded the bus and went straight to Teveria where we rented “Party Boats” The girls had their won rave.party and so did the boys! It was so awesome! We danced, we sang, we jumped around and had an awesome drum circle. From the boat we went straight to El Rancho which is an awesome Argentinian restaurant. There was so much amazing food including salads and Pita and of course food from the girl. We were all so exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel.

The advisors met for a few minutes making some last minute tweaks to our schedule for tomorrow so that it is as perfect as can be. After that meeting they met with their specific JOLT Israel kids in their bunks to go over certain things for tomorrow. It’s going to be amazing and rewarding….and super hot!! So we make are that everyone is wearing the proper clothing and lots of water!!

I thank you again for your beautiful emails to me. I am humbled and I accept all of the compliments on behalf of our team. Because that is exactly how we function and our tremendous success thus far is a combination of everyones talents!

I am looking forward to being in touch with you tomorrow.

Have a wonderful evening

-Rabbi Weinberg

 

Dear Heilige NCSY JOLT Israel Family,

I am exhausted..actually we are all exhausted. But you know, in life there are two types of exhaustion. The first is when you are so tired you can’t move and you pass out. The second type is when you think to yourself how much you accomplished during the day and go to sleep with a smile on your face. Today was our first full day of Camp Hachi Achi and it was out of the this world. We had such an awesome day, with non-stop fun!

Should we start with breakfast?! Yalla! It was awesome as usual. large spread, tons of choices, and everything is delicious. I have still not brought myself to eat Kugel for breakfast but not sure why. Anyway, after breakfast we got our stuff and loaded the buses for a full day of music, singing and amazing programs. Because of the number of people that are part of the camp, We had to split up into 3 buses. we did it by bunk so it was two girls buses and one boys bus. In addition, because not every place could fit all of us at once we had the girls go one place then the boys to another and then we flipped.

The girls started today eating chocolate at the DeKarina Chocolate factory. We took a tour of the factory, mad our own chocolate and then we had a chance to buy homemade unique truffles. Just because I know everyone is curious I will tell you the flavors I got: Coconut, Date and Honey, cinnamon, citrus, black pepper and hot chili pepper. They were all amazing! The boys went to a place called Groovsters where they learned and then actually made their own hippy dippy tie dye shirts! We all ate a delicious pizza lunch in a park in the Golan and then we switched. We all had such a great time. Afterwards we all went to Har Bental together and look into Syria. We heard the fighting in Syria actually, just to give you a sense of where we were. We had such a beautiful view of the Hermon and other mountains. It was really a sight to behold! We also heard a bit about the history of the place and why it is such an important strategic area.

From there we went back to our base, washed up and then went to dinner. Dinner of course was out of this world as usual. I ate too much as usual. But I worked it off because we had an awesome night activity! We played human Pac Man with glow sticks in the dark. It was so much fun. The campers loved it and our kids once again rose to the occasion! I am so proud of them! You, the parents, are so lucky to have kids like this. After Maariv, Rabbi Rosenfeld had an awesome optional shiur for the kids and it was beautifully attended. Tomorrow, I believe I am going to give the Shiur…

Tomorrow we have an awesome day. I will tell you everything in detail but everything we do tomorrow includes water! 🙂

Thank you for your comments to last nights email. I love getting them so feel free to send.

I wish you an amazing and productive day with Bracha from the Holy Land!!

With warmest Wishes

-Rabbi Weinberg

 

Good Evening Heilige Parents of NCSY JOLT Israel’ers,

I hope this email finds you well. Let me begin by thanking you all for the amazing feedback that I am receiving regarding JOLT Israel and from you in general. Keep the comments coming!!

Today was something like I have never seen before!!

We had an early davening specifically so that we could sit together and have a nice breakfast. The food was so crazy out of this world. Fresh belgian waffles, pancakes, eggs, omelet station, smoothie station, fish, salads, potatoes, bourekas, fresh delicious bread, cakes and different fresh cheeses made on the kibbutz!!! The kids couldn’t get over it (neither could I)! It was awesome!

After breakfast we made some last minute changes, reviewed protocol and waited for our kids buses to arrive! The first one came early and we were set to go! When the kids came from Zichron Menachem and the bus pulled up, we ran up to the front door and made a human tunnel, we blasted music, we sang for the kids as they stepped off and we danced with them. Some of them were scared, some were overwhelmed and some of them were laughing and giggling. It was amazing. The energy level was high, our NCSY JOLT Israel kids were fantastic and it could not have gone smoother. Every child from Zichron Menachem comes with a story and tales of sadness but our focus is only happiness and that is exactly what we did. With singing and cheers we made sure that there were only smiles and laughter.

After bringing all the luggage in, we broke up into bunks and everyone got to know each other. From there we went to lunch, which was awesome and then outside for some amazing activities. After those activities had the campers bring their stuff to their rooms and we met as a team. We reviewed the day and spoke about what was to come. Following Mincha we had our activities and then finished the day with changing eating (again) and an awesome night activity….Disco Gaga!! After Maariv, we had a review of the day meeting with all of our JOLT Israel’ers and advisors. I focused on the fact that leadership is learning to take in the sights around us and learning to be part of a solution rather than creating an issue. We focused on time management and maintaining structure. I gave them specific examples of how easy things could fall apart if we don’t follow directives and go rouge. It was an important conversation and I made it clear to them that if they want to be leaders than they need to be open to hearing feedback also. Sometimes the feedback is feel good, like the way they interacted with the kids from Zichron Menachem today. And sometimes the feedback is critical (in a soft and clear way) such as when kids thought it would be fun to almost start a water fight instead of stay with their bunks. That conversation of being aware of immediate surroundings and responsibility is super important for our kids to hear. We are talking about real future leaders and I want to help shape and sculpt them to be the best they can be. With love and caring and with clearly articulated goals and feedback.

This evening Michael Goldman one of our awesome advisors gave an amazing Shiur which had a really awesome turnout of kids who just wanted to learn Lishma! How awesome is that!!

In short, today exceeded all expectations. I can’t tell you how impressed both Rabbi Rosenfeld and I are, of our JOLT Israel’ers. You should be proud to be their parents!

I will share one personal thought with you as I reflect upon today and this si actually something that my wife Nechama mentioned so I echo her words. Our camp is a mixture of all different types of kids. Some Charaeidi, some regular Orthodox, non-observant, traditional…All different types. But the thing that really gets me is that fact that were it not for cancer, their paths would most probably never have crossed. And yet, here they are playing together, laughing together, hugging each other and becoming the closest of friends. We should be blessed to see and be part of a Jewish community, that does not require tragedy to bring it together, but rather the simple love that brothers and sisters share for each other.

On that note, I always love hearing from parents so please respond and let me know your thoughts. Please make sure that you follow all of our pictures and videos on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Tomorrow is going to be another amazing and food filled day, I mean fun filled day…Well actually I meant both!! Can’t wait 🙂

Have a great night

-Rabbi Weinberg

 

Dear Heilige NCSY JOLT Israel Parents,

We are almost there….I am writing to you from the beautiful Kibbutz Lavi hotel right now. We are relaxing and getting ready for what is going to be an exciting, exhilarating and emotional nine days.

We woke up this morning at 8:30 and had a beautiful davening at 9:00. Immediately following davening we took our luggage straight tot he busses and loaded them up for our quick drive to Kibbutz Lavi. On the way we stopped at the supermarket and gave the kids  few minutes to buy food and snacks if they wanted. I have to say that fasting in Israel, especially in the heat of Tiveria is not an easy thing to do. Anyway, we unloaded our luggage and stored it in a room as we waited for our specific rooms to be ready. Immediately following that, we broke into learning groups and did a wonderful activity appropriate for the day. I wanted the kids to learn that the solution to Sinas Chinam is Ahavas Chinam and that the first step in learning to love unconditionally is getting to know the people around you in a deeper and more meaningful way. In this vein the Chaburas spent time going around and pushing the kids to learn about each other just a bit more. I actually had kids coming over t me thanking me for the opportunity to learn about others and share about themselves! How awesome is that?!

After the learning, we sent the kids to their fresh rooms, with new roommates and the advisors met to do some last minutes planning. We met with the kids at 4:30 and started to go through expectations and procedure for tomorrow when our campers get off the bus. By the way, the name of our camp is “Hachi Achi” which is translated as “Best Brother”. Each of the groups came up with bunk names, started getting ready for their activities tomorrow and the kids made welcome posters and beautiful name tags for the kids. We will have 57 children who have siblings with cancer that we will be working with. We spoke to the kids about the great Chesed that we are performing and the fact that we are actually going to be providing a Chesed for the entire family!

We gave the kids a bit of free time, Michael had an optional Shiur and then we had an optional ebbing for the kids 20 minutes prior to Maariv. After davening we were treated to some amazing food! I wish I could really tell you everything we had but there were so many choices!! I’ll tell you what I had….  🙂 I started off with a Pea soup. It was less thick than American style split pea soups but really delicious and a perfect thing to break the fast on. Then I needed a cup of tea so I started with dessert (I know, I know, totally unconventional) It had an amazing piece of walnut cause soaked in maple syrup and a Moroccan pastry which consists of fried dough dipped in honey. They were so amazing!!!!

After dessert I went back to my main. The kibbutz actually served Fleishig tonight and I thought that would be too heavy so I opted for fish. I had two different kinds. One I believe was salmon and one was a thicker fish as well but I wasn’t sure exactly what. It tasted a bit like Carp but wasn’t sure. The spices were soft but excellent and melded perfectly with the fish itself. I had a few salads as side dishes. A cucumber dill salad, a couscous with prunes, walnuts and cranberries and some grilled vegetables. Needless to say it was amazing!!

After we ate, we all met again for a few minutes, reviewed some last minute things and gave out our camp shirts. The energy level is high, our kids are super excited and we are ready to roll! one of things that really worked out feel is all of our hard work and focus on group dynamics to ensure that within a week we would totally come together as a family! It happened with us as advisors and it happened amongst the kids. This sense of togetherness will only serve to ensure the success of our camp.

Tomorrow it all begins and I am super excited to fill you in on how our day was. We should be blessed with the strength and fortitude to be Mechazek these children and shower them with love and attention. And Hashem should help us in our mission of Chesed and should shower His CHesed upon us as well.

I look forward to speaking with you tomorrow.

With warmest wishes

-Rabbi Weinberg

A Git Voch From Artzeinu HaKedosha,

I hope this email finds you well. There is so much to tell you about the past three days. They have totally amazing and I want to bring you in to a bit of what we have been experiencing. Thursday was an early morning. We began our day at 5:30 with wake up then davening and on the bus to Yerushalayim. It was an important day for us because we were going to meet with our Yad Eliezer counterparts. I told the kids that we couldn’t go to our Holy city and not visit the Kotel first….soooo….we made a quick pit stop at the Kotel and then made our way to the Bayit Vegan guest house for a meeting with our new friends from Zichron Menachem. It was a great day! As one would expect the beginning took some time for everyone to warm up to each other but by the time we finished lunch and did some binding in the Jerusalem forest together we were like one big family. Our most important take away from the time that we met was that what we are about to embark on is a true Chesed Shel Emes. We are going to be changing lives and in a real way and those changes will impact on us as well.

After finishing with our counterparts we changed into our special shirts and went on our way to Bar Ilan for YOM NCSY. I have been to many such events in my life, but I must tell you, this was perhaps one of the most electrifying events I have ever been to the Ruach was literally palpable. I wish you could have seen the kids dancing and singing and being moved by the inspirational speakers. I am already counting down the minutes until next year! After daveing Maariv we left and headed back to Ohalo. We got home at about two in the morning and dragged ourselves to sleep.

Wake up on Friday was late and we finished davening, ate a scrumptious breakfast and headed to Tzfat! What a magical city. I felt that it was important for the kids to have some free time in the artists quarter to buy gift for family and friends. After free time, our amazing Madrich Yoel took us around the old city of Tzfat and gave us an amazing tour of the famous sites. We then broke for lunch (delicious schnitzel sandwiches in fresh baguettes) and when finished headed back to the bus. On the way back to our hotel we stopped at the Kever of Rashbi where Rabbi Rosenfeld taught us a beautiful piece of Torah from the Zohar. Upon learning these holy words, we headed straight inside to the never for Mincha and some time to add our own personal Bakashos.

We headed back to Ohalo and the kids had about two hours to get ready for Shabbos. After everyone showered and changed we took some beautiful pictures by the Kinneret and then davened an amazing Kabbalos Shabbos outside literally with the red mountains and blue water as our background. There happened to have been a group of young German Jews in the same place as us and they joined together with us for davening. I spoke to the kids about how awesome it is that we have the opportunity to share this experience with our brothers and sisters from Germany. I also told them how amazing it is that even though we met, the beauty of the Jewish people is that we feel so connected to each other, even upon meeting for the first time. I wish you all could have seen how beautiful the dancing and singing was….It made all the hard work worth it!

After our Seudah we had an Oneg that lasted late in tot he night. It was actually our NCSY JOLT Israel family sitting around and doing shtick, laughing, singing and just having awesome chilled time together. The shtick may or may not have included a freestyle rap battle between me and Rabbi Rosenfeld.

Shabbos we had a beautiful davening and then Kiddush. Following Kiddush we had learning with our respective Chaburah’s and then lunch. We had several hours free time in the afternoon which I implored the kids to take advantage of. I explained to them how important it is for them to have their strength for this week. Thankfully, most of the kids took me up on it and took a nice long nap. At five, we davened Mincha and then had amendatory ask the Rabbi session with the kids. There were some pretty awesome questions that were asked. I love these kids by the way. Their questions are thought provoking and deep. I am really impressed with where so many of them are holding intellectually. We walked together to Seudah Shlishit and after that went up to the roof for a roof top ebbing overlooking the Kinneret. It was really something special. After a beautiful musical havdalah we had about an hour to get ready and then we all met for a massive bonfire and kumsitz. We chilled, played music, roasted marshmallows, threw random pieces of wood into the fire and then had a midnight delivery of burgers and fries which we devoured of course. Perfect for the night before a fast…. 🙂

It was a magical week and a perfect ending. We are all excited about our move to Kibbutz Lavi tomorrow and about beginning our camp. I told the kids that as good as the food has been here in Ohalo, they should just wait until we get to Kibbutz Lavi!!!

The kids are pumped and so are we as a staff. It’s going to be life changing for all of us and can’t wait to share it all with you.

I look forward to being in touch tomorrow. I want to wish everyone a Tzom Kal. An easy and meaningful fast.

With warmest wishes

-Rabbi Weinberg

Shalom From the Holy Land!

I hope this email finds you well! We had such an awesome day today. I am so excited to tell you about our day. We had an early wakeup to accommodate our drive up North for our rappelling hike. After davening and a delicious breakfast, we started our drive to Ma’arat HaKeshet. We began by standing at a monument for two Israeli soldiers kidnapped and killed by Hezbollah. We spoke about Gevurah and what real courage means. It was a meaningful moment and one that resinated with the kids. From there we went to the rappelling spot. If you have never been there before, it is an absolutely beautiful snapshot of nature. The word Keshet means rainbow, and the reason why the place we were at is called “HaKeshet” is because there is a natural stone bow that drops down into a cave. We rappelled down into the cave which is about a 20 Meter drop. It was exhilarating and really pushed many of the kids out of their comfort zone which is exactly what we tried to achieve. After everyone made it down, we began our decent through dirt, rocks and mountain goat droppings (The kids loved that part). Then it was an ascent back up to the parking lot.

Tired, dirty and smelly we made our way to a nearby Kibbutz that had fresh pizza cooking in outdoor brick ovens. There were personal pizza pies topped with onion, garlic, corn, tuna, pesto, zhatar…And of course some juicy, sweet and refreshingly cold Israeli watermelon. After a Bracha Achrona we got back on the boat and went to our next stop, Acco. It was there that we were once again introduced to the story of Jewish courage and bravery to truly inculcate the message of leadership. We spent about an hour touring the old British prison. It was there that we read bio’s of some of the Jews who were hung by the British in 1947. One of the more powerful moments was when we all stood in the room where these Jews were hung and we said a Kel Ma’aleh as well as snag the Hatkivah together. Powerful….

After Acco, we headed home but we thought it was important to daven Mincha somewhere powerful. We decided on the Kever of Rebbe Meir Ba’al HaNeis. Rebbe Meir was a Tanna and a true leader of the Jewish people. What better way to end our day about leadership than davening at the Holy Kever of this Tzaddik. After Mincha we got on the bus and went back to our hotel. We ate a delicious dinner, davened Ma’ariv, went through tomorrow and the kids broke up in tot heir learning groups. I want to tell you that it is really quite impressive to watch the way the kids learn each night. As we continue to get more comfortable with each other more and more kids are coming up to the Advisors and asking them questions about Halacha and other issues of Jewish philosophy. It is really awesome to watch this play out.

Tomorrow is a very early wake up, but the kids have a two and a half hour ride to Jerusalem so they will all be sleeping on the way. Tomorrow is our training day with our counterparts from Zichron Menachem. It’s an important day and one which will really set the stage for next week. Of course, we can’t go into our holiest city and not visit our holiest place. So we will be making a quick stop at the Kotel prior to our workshop. I feel that it’s totally appropriate and necessary. From there we will be going on to Bayit VeGan.

On a side not, I know I said it before, but it is work repeating. Our advisors are so amazing! They are fantastic with the kids and each and every one of them brings something very unique to the table. We are constantly doing Shtick, laughing, singing… It’s so great!!!!

Please don’t forget to follow NCSY JOLT Israel on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. I want you to see the smiles!

If you have any questions place feel free to reach out as always. I am available for anything and everything.

I will most probably not be writing tomorrow night due to Yom NCSY, but I will definitely write before Shabbos.

Have a great night. With deep brachos from the Holy land of Israel!

-Rabbi Weinberg