Daily Update
The last Shabbat on the Kollel is always extraordinary. It is the crescendo of the summer’s ruach and emotion, and provides an incomparable platform for the achdut and goodwill that has been building for the past 6 weeks. Rabbi Kaminetsky led a rousing Kabbalat Shabbat that led into a seuda with overpowering zemirot and spirit. The Friday night Tisch was incredible, thanks to words of chizuk from our Head Madrich, Yehuda Turetsky and a special siyum made by Ezra Buchbinder (sports staff) and Zach Fein. Ezra and Zach dedicated their night-seder chavruta to learning a few mishnayot a night, and over the course of the summer managed to complete all of Seder Mo’ed. What an accomplishment! On Shabbat morning we added yet another learning highlight, as we ran an “Achdut Seder” after davening
The entire Kollel united in the Beit Medrash. Chavrutot were assigned completely randomly, and some new and interesting pairs were formed. Even at this late point in the summer, there was an opportunity to solidify that chevra and the social bonding of the NCSYers, and it was especially sweet to do that in the context of Talmud Torah. The chavruta learning was preparation for a shiur from Rav Sobolofsky on the topic (appropriately) of Areivut and Communal Responsibility. Rav Sobolofsky ended the shiur with a riveting account of his recent trip to Germany and Eastern Europe, and his reflections on that experience added a poignant postscript to the shiur.
This incredible Shabbat was followed by a most amazing Motzai Shabbat. We celebrated our Mesibat Siyum (closing banquet) as part of our Melava Malka. We started by honoring the members of Yosef Miller’s post-maariv (optional) gemara shiur, who completed the entire Masechet Taanit just this summer. Their diligence and commitment was a summer-long inspiration, and it was a privilege to honor them at the banquet. Mazal Tov to Yosef, as well as Yaakov Schiff, Avi Hirt, Jonathan Tavin, Gershi Adler, Eli Muschel, Moshe Jaroslowicz, Sruli Farkas, Moshe Kazlow, Isaac Shulman, and Netanel Rosenzweig on this fantastic achievement! The banquet continued with a long lists of thank yous and tributes to all of the individuals who contributed to such and incredible summer. There were also skits and a very entertaining video that highlighted many of the great events from the past 6 weeks. This was followed by our annual summer’s end kumsitz, which featured reflections from close to twenty of the NCSYers. It was a late night affair, and full of heartfelt depictions of accomplishment and growth. NCSY KOLLEL 2009
