On February 19th, special programming kick-started the festive season of simcha for the whole MTA family. The previous night, the visiting Makor Chaim exchange students decorated the halls and library with awesome decorations, helping to set the tone for the day. They then helped lead a special Rosh Chodesh davening in Lamport Auditorium in the morning, featuring lots of singing and dancing during “Hallel.”

At the Chagiga down in the Lions’ Den, following a breakfast that included an assortment of hamentaschen, MTA band and chorus instructor David Ross and his band, Shir Soul, got the ruach started with quite an electric set of simcha music. At one point, the circles of dancing kept spiraling inwards, creating a mesmerizing effect. Each shiur had the center circle at one point or another, with the seniors and their rebbeim leading the charge.

There was then a short rest period during which the students had the opportunity to hear some words of Torah from Rabbi Taubes and from Yeshiva University S’’gan Mashgiach Rabbi Josh Blass (formerly a rebbe at MTA), who shared inspiring thoughts about true simcha and how we can achieve it.

Following the Divrei Torah, the award-winning MTA Chorus sang a very cool arrangement of “Salam/Shalom” to the audience’s delight. Next up was the MTA band with some rockin’ talent, featuring solos by David Boim (’15), Josh Appel (’17), and Emmett Weisz (’15). Yoni Mandelbaum (’16) held the beat on the drums. The MTA band segued straight back into set number two of dancing with Shir Soul.

After another strong set of dancing and “shtick,” we were treated to a hilarious video about Chagiga stereotypes produced by the senior class with the help of Shimmy Socol (’16).

The festivities continued in the evening when everyone was treated to chulent and kugel before mishmar, where the singing and awesome spirit continued.

More is planned as we continue towards Purim.