On Thursday we arrived at the YU Gruss Kollel in ירושלים for one of our best Shabbatot in Israel thus far. After davening and dinner, we had a special בלי״ץ about סור מרע (to refrain from doing bad) and עשה טוב (to try to do good.) On Friday, we had a guided tour of Har Herzl by our madrich Ashi, and then went shopping in מאה שערים.
The Shabbos we spent there, which was hosted by Avi Schwartz, a student learning in Gruss, was truly inspirational. A great dinner was followed by an hour of singing in קומזיץ, and during Shalosh Seudos, a גר told us his inspirational story and what made him interested in converting to Judaism. A melave malka followed Shabbat, with pizza and speeches by Rav Dovid Miller, the Rosh Kollel in Gruss, and Rabbi Ifrah, a popular Rebbe in Yeshivat Torah Shraga. We spent the rest of motzei Shabbat in the Malchah Mall.
On Sunday morning, Mrs. Tova Rosenberg organized our visit to Rav Yehoshua Eichenstein’s home. It was an honor and privilege to have Rav Eichenstein, a great rabbi and Rosh Yeshiva of יד ארון, provide us a sichah and דברי חיזוק.
After returning to Makor Chaim for our last full week there, we went back to learning with the Israelis in the morning and studying science, English, history and math in the afternoon. The night activities consisted of the regularly scheduled shiur with the father of one of our madrichim (of course with pizza), and coupled with a shiur from Yossi Baumol about why certain Jewish sects deny the requirement to establish a government and live in Israel.
On Wednesday, our tiyul day, we went to the south to swim in the עין גדי oasis and to trek up the very steep cliff of Masada. On Thursday, Rabbi Taubes came to the Yeshiva and spoke to us before joining us for parashat hashavua. The night also involved a regular mishmar. After taking our weekly test, we had another, yet nontraditional, בלי״ץ. We were asked to write our names on papers and then spent the next half hour passing them around and anonymously predicting where our friends will be in 20 years.
On Friday we learned about the everyday lives of our ancestors in Ancient Israel. We went to נאות קדומים where we saw ancient wells and olive and grape presses; we also made our own זטר. It was another great week in Israel!
rience I would feel blessed to enjoy again.”
By Akiva Cooper
