This year’s NORPAC mission, which brought over 1,000 volunteers to Washington D.C. to lobby elected representatives on behalf of a strong U.S.-Israel relationship, featured TABC students, parents, faculty members and Judaic Studies Principal Rabbi Ezra Wiener.

The day began early at Congregation Ahavath Torah with a 5:15 a.m. Shacharit. It was a particular source of nachat for rebbeim to see their talmidim at this early morning minyan ahead of the long day of advocating on behalf of medinat Yisrael, reflecting the deep commitment of TABC students to the full range of the school’s most cherished values.

The four major points of advocacy for this year’s mission were congressional support for $3.1 billion in foreign aid to Israel for this current year, sanctions against Iran for their continued promotion of terrorism throughout the region and continued development of their ballistic missiles program, renewed and tougher sanctions against Hezbollah and, finally, legislation against the growing BDS movement. In aggregate, the TABC representatives met with almost the entire Senate and over 90 percent of the House of Representatives.

The NORPAC mission is a deep fulfillment of the mandate of Chazal— tziyon hi doresh ein lah- miklal d’baaya drishah— one needs to seek out the welfare of Zion. TABC is exceptionally proud of all of the students who participated in this vital mission: Isaac Forgash ‘19, Moshe Golubtchik ‘19, Yonatan Kurz ‘18, Alex Ostrin ‘19, Asher Powers ‘19, Shai Rosalimsky ‘18, Shmuel Ross ‘18, and Yaakov Zinberg ‘18.