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Hello and Goodbye Hi Central! Last night after a long and hot flight we finally arrived in Israel. At the airport we were greeted with a sign by our new Principal, Madricha and the coordinator of the program. After that we stopped at the Kotel where we met some of the girls in our grade from the Ulpana. They were so nice and welcoming and even ran up to us and hugged us even though we had just met! Afterwards we drove to the Ulpana where we heard shrieking and singing. As we came off the bus the girls in our grade surrounded us and started singing and dancing. We danced for about ten minutes and then continued inside where we ate dinner and began the difficult task of trying to remember everybody's names. (Lucky for us many of the girls have the same name so if we don’t know a girls name we just say Reut or Rachel and hope we're right!) After we ate dinner we went to our dorms and had a Misiba Pajamot, a pajama party! Even though last night was not a dorm night they let the girls in our grade sleep in the dorms so that we could start to get to know them. After a few short hours of sleep we woke up for davenning where all the girls sat in a circle and sang davening out loud. The girls then had a presentation for us including a song and a short and funny video (they also like food!) Although we have only been in Israel for less than a day, we already feel like part of their school. They are all so nice and welcoming and we have already made so many friends. Regardless of whether it is our first time in Israel or our tenth, we feel such a connection to Jewish history and we really feel the presence of Hashem. We hope that by the end of these six weeks we will really know what it is like to be a high school girl living in Israel and we cannot wait to bring back to Central what we've learned and experienced here. We miss everyone so much! posted 12/7/2009 10:00 AM EST | Add Comment | View Comments (0) |
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Day 2 Update from Yolly and Leora Hey everyone!! We miss you so much! These past 2 days have been amazing! Yesterday, we had our first integrated class with the Israeli girls and thank God we knew what was going on! We each had our "personal translators." Then we were introduced to our English subject teachers and we were very pleased to meet them. (One of them was British!) Last night we went to a youth group called "Ariel." First we played a game to get to know each other. After that we painted our own Mezuzot. The whole entire program was so much fun! We finally got a good night's sleep because the Israelis were not sleeping with us. Today we participated in a singing competition called "Ulpizmon." They were all really good...and so were we...we came in second place! We received a basket of gummies. Later on today we went to the underground tunnels at the kotel! It was so meaningful seeing the lower portion of the kotel walls. It gave us a new appreciation and view about how the Beit Hamikdash looked. After the tour we were able to daven maariv at the closest possible place to the kodesh hakedoshim. These past two days were incredible. We are now officially not jet lagged and are finally settling in. We miss you all! Lilah tov! Love, Yolly and Leora posted 12/9/2009 10:01 AM EST | Add Comment | View Comments (0) |
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Dec 13th update from Dina and Tehila Early on December 13, 2009 we enjoyed an incredible experience in the northern parts of Israel. Our first stop of our trip included the Safed candle factory where we saw beautiful and exquisite sculptures of wax. Some of the sculptures included famous scenes from Tanach such as David and Goliath, the Beit Ha'Mikdash, and Shimshon. After making purchases at the candle factory we made our way to the Golan with our excellent tour guide Zvi Bessin. In the Golan we traveled back in time when famous Amoras lived such as Rabbi Abon. There we took part in the making of olive oil, and learned how the people of that time lived. We were able to visit their ancient homes and even got to visit the community's shul. After we went to a museum dedicated to the citizens of Gamlah who faught bravely in the Great Revolt when the Romans controlled Israel. The next day on December 14, 2009 we went to visit the ancient city of Tzipori which was a bustling city in the time of Rabbi Yehuda Ha'Nasi. There we saw the city's theater, mikvas, shul, and beautiful mosaics. Afterwards we drove to a once controlled Syrian area that was used by the Syrians during the Six Day War in 1967.There we saw the bunkers and trenches that the Syrian soldiers used to attack the neighboring Jewish kibbutzim and Israeli soldiers. To commemorate the soldiers who fell protecting their country there was a memorial where we paid our respects. For Mincha we drove to the kever of Chuni Ha'magel, who is famous for praying for rain in a circle on behalf of Klal Yisrael. These first two days of traveling and touring in northern Israel were truly insightful and meaningful to all of us. |
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December 15 & 16 from Tamar and Rachel In Tiberias, we went to the graves of Rabbi Akiva and The Ramchal (who was the Rav of Aco). We davened Hallel there and it was very spiritual. We also went to the graves of the Rambam and Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakai. There, we completed a Sefer of Tehillim in honor of these Tzadikim. We then went to Kibbutz Lochamei Hagetaot, the Ghetto Fighter's Kibbutz. It is dedicated to the resistance fighters of the Holocaust. In this Kibbutz, there is also a memorial for the children of the Holocaust which was created to gently explain the Holocaust to children. After eating lunch there, we went to Aco. Our first stop there was an old prison that had a massive breakout which is shown in the movie Exodus. Our tour guide Zvi Bessin told us all about the breakout and about all of planning that went into it. The prison then turned into an insane asylum and is now a tourist attraction. Chanukah is a holiday for all, so the army went on an educational/fun trip to Aco. As a result, we saw many soldiers from different ranks. From there, we went to an old Tunisian Shul. Every surface of the Shul was covered in beautiful mosaics depicting many scenes from Tanach and other parts of Judaism. We davened both Mincha and Ma'ariv there. The mosaics did not distract us, rather they enhanced our Kavanah. We went to the Plaza Hotel in Nahriah and there we all lit Chanukah candles together. The only problem was, we all have different tunes for Ha Nerot Halleluh so it got a little bit confusing. We went out to a great dinner and after that we went back to the hotel "to go to sleep". We ended up all hanging out with our madricha, Chava, and we had an intense discussion about the Holocaust and many of our questions were addressed. Wednesday December 16, 2009 Today, after another early wakeup, and a good breakfast, we went to Rosh HaNikra. We took a cable car down to the gorgeous grottos and were in awe by the works of nature there. We never knew how powerful the water could be. The water eroded away different parts of the rocks. The next place we went was to Atlit, an old detainment camp where illegal immigrants who tired to sneak into Israel pre 1948 were held until they were permitted to enter. After an awesome falafel lunch, we went to Caesarea National Park and heard all about the town during all different parts of history such as during the times of Herod and the crusades. We were shown different audio-visual presentations depicting these time periods plus how much the town changed with each ruler that controlled it. It has come such a long way since Herod's dream of a town to what we saw today. We came back to Maaleh Adumim and were surprised by some girls who live in Maaleh Adumim who came to light candles with us. They taught us an Israeli game and a new tune to one of the parts of Ma`oz Tzur. Following that, we went to our principal Racheli Kaplan's home for dinner. (Rachel's mom also came!) Dinner was really good and we all left stuffed not wanted to eat another bite, but since we are truly Central girls, we know that day could never come. We love you all!! |
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Student exchange aims to strengthen US teens' ties Read the article Student exchange aims to strengthen US teens' ties with Israel in the Jerusalem Post http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1260181014589&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter posted 12/18/2009 10:03 AM EST | Add Comment | View Comments (0) |
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MTA and Central students switch places with Israel By The Jewish Star Staff Issue of December 18, 2009/ 1 Tevet 5770  The recently "switched" Central students Twenty students from Yeshiva University High Schools will be spending their winter break in school. But not in America. |
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Update's from Emily Kaye and Bracha Lamm On Friday we went with Midreshet Lindenbaum to Safed. We were invited to be part of their Shabbaton in Safed. We stayed at Malon Ron. After arriving we went on a walking tour of the synagogues in Safed. On this tour we saw two magnificent shuls and the Ha'Ari's grave. We went to the Karlebach shul on Friday night. During the davening in between Kabbalat Shabbat and Maariv the members of the shul joined together to dance. It was a very moving experience to see Jews from a lot of different cultures join together, dancing and welcoming in the Shabbat. When davening was over we joined Midreshet Lindenbaum for dinner we all joined together to sing zemirot and then we introduced ourselves to all of Midreshet Lindenbaum. We finished dinner and were joined by a very moving speaker whose name was Tova Mordechai. She spoke to us about her life. Tova grew up thinking that she was Christian because her father was a preacher and had baptized her mother. Tova ended up going to college. The college was very abusive and they had to fast twice a week and sometimes a full week. The longest she fasted was for 8 days. She ended up finding Judiasm and it made us all realize how good we have it. It was an amazing and moving speech. She wrote a book called To Play with Fire. We hope that she will join us at Central to share her amazing story with the rest of the school. On Shabbat morning we went to another historical shul-Beit Kenneset Ha'Ari. The davening was very meaningful and ful of kavanah. We walked back to the hotel and had Kiddush. Then we heard Shani Tarigan speak. She spoke to us about channukah and why specifically it is on the 25th of Kislev. Then we had a very good lunch with more zemirot. Afterwards we heard an amazing story told by Avraham Sinai. Although he spoke in Hebrew, after being in Israel for a week we understood. He spoke to us about how he was Muslim and how he came to convert to Judaism. While living in Lebanon, he spied for the Israeli army for many years. After Seudat Shlishit dinner we joined the Lindenbaum girls for a kumsitz. When Shabbat was over we lit the Channukah candles and went in pouring rain to the Artists quarter of Safad to visit Leon Azoulay's gallery. He is one of the major microcaligraphers, the only art form created by Jews. This is one of the things Safed is famous for. He came especially to teach us about how microcalligraphy is made. It is so cool how he makes a picture out of the whole text of the Torah. He even demonstrated to us how he writes the words. Then we went back to the hotel and ate pizza and jelly doughnuts--li'chvod Chanukah. |
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Article from ynotnews.com Yeshiva U high schoolers earn Israeli culture immersion experience
Yeshiva University announced this week that 20 outstanding tenth graders from the Yeshiva University high schools – 10 from the Yeshiva University High School for Boys/Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy (YUHSB) and 10 from the Samuel H. Wang Yeshiva University High School for Girls (YUHSG) – will be participating in a unique six-week student exchange program with Israeli high schools. Now in its second year, the program aims to immerse the American students in Israeli culture and help them connect with their Israeli counterparts. The YUHSG students, who arrived in Israel on December 6, have already joined their peers at Ulpanat Tzvia in Ma'aleh Adumim, while the YUHSB students will begin classes at Yeshivat Mekor Haim in Kibbutz Kfar Etzion upon their December 17 arrival. “What’s unique about this program is that the students are fully-integrated into the Israeli classrooms,” said Tova Rosenberg, coordinator of the exchange program and Director of Hebrew Language Studies at both Yeshiva University high schools. “The students sit in on all Judaic studies classes, are included in all school activities, and are housed in the same dormitories as the Israeli students. They are not treated as guests, but as members of the student body.” The Yeshiva University high school students will also take part in a series of field trips intended to show them Israel’s out-of-the-way treasures – “not the usual tourist spots” – and will enjoy special Shabbat programs at the Yeshiva University Gruss Kollel in Bayit Ve’Gan arranged by the Kollel families themselves. Later this year, six Yeshivat Mekor Haim students and four Ulpanat Tzvia students will travel to New York to study at the Yeshiva University high schools for a six-week period. In addition to attending classes, the Israeli students will tour New York City and Philadelphia to learn about American history and culture, and will experience life in US Jewish communities. “By sending our students to Israel and bringing the Israeli students to our schools, we are opening the eyes of every student involved in the program to the reality of the ‘Global Jewish Community.’ As our future Jewish leaders, it is vital that they understand and are accepting of other cultures,” added Rosenberg. “The culture of deep spiritual purpose and constant reflection that is the hallmark of the Mekor Haim experience has exposed our students to serious religious and intellectual growth in ways unimagined for the typical tenth grader,” said Rabbi Mark Gottlieb, head of school at YUHSB. “Additionally, the visiting Mekor Haim students inject a sense of passion, urgency and authenticity into the rhythm of school life here. Armed with a newfound understanding of the American Jewish scene, these exceptional students have the potential to become the next generation of shlichim (emissaries to Israel),” said the rabbi. posted 12/18/2009 10:11 AM EST | Add Comment | View Comments (0) |
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3rd Tevet - 20/12/09 Dear Parents
Well it is hard to believe that the Chanuka vacation is over and the girls returned back to the Ulpana this morning for a full week of studies.
Last week the girls had a great week touring the North. They started off for Shabbat in Tzfat with Midreshet Lindenbaum which was a very special experience. On Sunday they were met by Zvi Bessin, a well liked and experienced tour guide who is himself a graduate of Yeshiva University. He took them to many places in the Galil and the Golan including Akko, Rosh Hanikra, Katzrin, Ceaseria,Atlit, Zikron Yaacov to name just a few. The girls had a wonderful time and really enjoyed the experience.
On Wednesday they returned briefly to the Ulpana to change their bags and went to Racheli, the headmistress, for supper. For candle-lighting the girls were joined by their friends from the Ariel youth movement. It was amazing to see how the Central girls gel with their classmates and everyone had a great time.
On Thursday morning the girls traveled to the center of the country and went to Machon Ayalon (the bullet factory) in Rehovot, Independence Hall where the State was proclaimed and then to Latrun where a famous battle was fought and today is the home of the Tanks Corps.In the evening the girls traveled to the Gruss Center in Bayit Vegan for a wonderful shabbat organised by the Yeshiva University kolel families. The Shabbat was packed with amazing programs including a film and discussion on Thursday and Cafe Dilemma on Motsei Shabbat. Much thought had been put into the well-planned program which was enjoyed by one and all.
This week is less hectic. However, there are a number of activities planned for the 10th graders. Tomorrow we are going for an educational trip to Yad Vashem as a preparation for Asara Betevet next week. On Wednesday evening there is a Kumsitz arranged by their classmates which is always an enjoyable evening to look forward to. Next week the Central girls will be spending Shabbat with their classmates in Jerusalem. All the girls are anxious to host their new friends - the only complaint is that there are not enough Central girls to be invited to all the families who want to host.
Looking forward to another great week with the girls. Kol tuv Shoshana and Chava posted 12/21/2009 11:12 AM EST | Add Comment | View Comments (0) |
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This past Thursday, we awoke in our dorms bright and early. We were packed and headed to a kibbutz where members of the Palmach had a secret underground factory to provide bullets for the Israeli soldiers during the War of Independence against the British. Then we went to Independence Hall in Tel Aviv. It was very exciting to see where the Declaration of Independence of Israel was signed. We then had a picnic lunch outside the Independence Hall. After lunch we headed to Latrun to see where our ancestors had heroically fought battles for our country. We were very enthusiastic about being able to climb on the various tanks from over the years. We then left for the YU Gruss center in Yerushalaim. There we watched a very interesting movie, followed by a brief discussion.
The next morning, we were very excited for the day's agenda. We got to go shopping at Malcha Mall. We then got ready for a wonderful Shabbat to be spent with the Gruss Kolel families. Friday night dinner was spent with Aviva and Binyamin Miller. It was a deliciously catered meal from the YU Gruss. After, we had a wonderful oneg Shabbat with few of the women whose husbands are learning in the Kolel. Shabbat morning, we davened with the Gruss kolel in their Beit Midrash. Afterward, we split up and went to the homes of various YU Gruss couples. We then had some free time to chill out and take Shabbat naps. At 3:00, a shiur was given by Binyamin Miller, followed by mincha and seuda shlishit. Then, we davened maariv and went to the home of the Millers for havdala. Motzei Shabbat, we had an exciting night activity called Café Dilemma. There, we ordered different courses of Jewish and Israeli political dilemmas to analyze and discuss. Overall, it was an excellent Shabbat with YU Gruss kolel. |
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