Last weekend, the inaugural class of Naaleh High School for Girls shared in their highly anticipated school shabbaton. The theme of the shabbaton was “Footsteps”—which lent itself to rich programming and discussions about the process of charting one’s course, including the importance of looking back to great role models of their past and looking ahead to those who will follow in their footsteps at Naaleh and beyond.

In anticipation of the shabbaton, the students created centerpieces featuring a range of exemplary Jewish female figures—from biblical to contemporary—who have set the standards for chesed, scholarship, emunah and unwavering commitment to Torah and mitzvot. The girls learned about each woman, appreciating the importance of charting their own paths in the footsteps of true greatness.

The program began Friday morning with a trip to the Community Foodbank of New Jersey. For the weeks leading up to the shabbaton, Naaleh’s chesed committee, REACH, organized a student-led campaign to collect canned goods for the foodbank. The girls loaded up the collected items and proudly deposited them at the foodbank, where they proceeded to sort and pack boxes of food items for the CFBNJ warehouse. The girls then traveled to Florham Roller Rink for a private skate session filled with music and games on the rink.

After a full day of chesed and bonding, the girls arrived at their hosts’ homes in Passaic for Shabbat. The girls joined together for beautiful tefillot, Divrei Torah, singing, games and delicious meals with faculty and their families in the Young Israel of Passaic-Clifton. Shabbat concluded with seudah shlishit held at a student’s home, with inspiring Divrei Torah from guest speaker Rabbi David Einhorn, who stressed the centrality of being a Jew always “on the go,” moving forward and making headway in avodat Hashem. The enthusiasm of Shabbat carried over into a melava malka with glow-in-the-dark mini golf and arcade games.

The shabbaton proved to be a remarkable opportunity to enhance school spirit and achieve many of Naaleh’s co-curricular goals. The girls walked away both inspired and connected to one another, to their teachers and to the values at the core of Naaleh’s mission.