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Inspiring the Jewish Future
The Upstate Update November 8, 2009 / Volume II, Issue I

SPECIAL THANKS

A big thank you to Congregation Beth Sholom, Rabbi Shaya Kilimnick, the Rochester chapter board, chapter advisors Ari and Li-or Holtzman, and the entire Rochester community for hosting this shabbaton. Thank you to all the families who housed NCSYers and advisors: Merzel, Baruch, Holtzman, Kornfeld, Shrier, Hirschfield, Becker-Pinker, Maimon, Esan, Montag, Rosenbaum, Kilimnick, Kluger, Lebowitz, and Schlagman. Thanks to all the people who helped with cooking, particularly to Carmella Marzouk and the Beth Sholom Sisterhood, and to everyone who helped in the kitchen: Kim Holtzman, Kathye Simon and Aharon Baruch, Alex Baruch, Nonna and Brian Hirschfield, Helena and David Shrier, Elaine Esan, Hope and Matt Rosenbaum, Steven and Lisa Schwartz, and Marjorie and Ethan Montag. Thank you also to all the advisors who helped make this weekend great: Sam Ash, Ari Neuman, Natan Brownstein, Dov Pianko, Yisrael Katz, Reuven Lebovits, Noah Stein, Danny Alweis, Marc Fein, Nate Herzfeld, Shayna Busch, Alexis Baron, Elisheva Kapnick, Sari Yekutieli, Sarah Medved, Chana Wiznitzer, Malkah Harris, Ari and Li-or Holtzman, and Eli and Yocheved Guterman.

In this issue:

• Special Thanks
• Fall Convention Highlights
• What we learned
Fall Convention Highlights

On Ocotber 30th, 2009 over 50 teens from across Upstate NY converged in Rochester for Fall Convention 2009: a spiritual weekend full of fun, friendship, and Torah study. The program of the weekend revolved around the theme "Is There Free Will?"

Of course, plenty of fun was had as well and during menucha NCSYers had plenty of time for intense games of Banagrams, “Hugby,” and socializing with friends and advisors.


  
 Fun at Bowling

Ebbing and Havdala were highlights of the weekend, giving the NCSYers a chance to think about the themes they learned over the past 24 hours. A rousing and excalating rendention of “Am Yisrael Chai” lifted our Shabbaton to new heights and set the stage for NCSYers to consider how they would take everything they learned on the shabbaton and integrate into their lives and communities. Thank you to Marc Fein for speaking during ebbing and to Regional Director Shalom Schlagman for speaking during Havdala.

Each of the three Shabbat meals was complete with excellent food, divrei Torah from the NCSYers, songs, and skits. Thank you to Sarina Shrier of Rochester, Molly Sonenberg of Albany, Rebecca Sternberg of Buffalo, and Sarah Alt of Buffalo for sharing insightful thoughts on the parsha, the Torah portion of the week, and on free will. Thank you to advisors Dov Pianko and Reuven Lebovitz for an entertaining song parody about prayer, and to Ari Neuman for leading the Shabbat songs.

And each of the prayers were led by NCSYers too. Thank you to Ayal Admait of Binghamton, Chaim Berlove of the Catksills, Jake Rosenbaum of Rochester, Benny Sternberg of Buffalo, Ilan Hirschfield of Rochester, for leading davening and reading from the Torah. Josh Strosberg, in addition to being the band for the shabbaton with Shmuel Zeigler, led a prayer workshop which explored the motivations behind why we pray. Thank you to advisor Sam Ash for keeping everyone on track during davening.

Saturday night provided a chance to kick back and have fun with friends while cosmic bowling. The lights and music made the bowling all the more fun and a fantastic time was had by all. Thank you to the Rochester chapter board for arranging this activity. After bowling everyone returned to shul for Melava Malka dinner and more dancing. This was followed by a kumzitz, a time to sing slow songs and talk about experiences had over the weekend and insights gained from these experiences.

The Regional Board this year has chosen to dedicate Sunday mornings to learning about our homeland, Israel. This Sunday we learned about the Israeli government and how the parliamentary system works in Israel.

This Shabbat we were joined by a guest who works for NCSY summer programs. Miriam Borenstein, head advisors at Camp SEG, came to speak about the different summer opportunities that NCSY has to offer for boys and girls in America, Europe, and Israel. Miriam gave a general presentation on summer programs and then was available to talk to anyone who was interested in learning more about these opportunities. To learn more please visit the NCSY summer programs website at www.ncsysummer.com.
WHAT WE LEARNED

After a spirited pre-shabbat ruach, a dance filled kabbalat Shabbat, and a delicious Friday night meal, we commenced our exploration of “Free Will,” the theme of the Shabbaton. The NCSYers divided into groups by grade and rotated in a round robin fashion between three stations each of which focused on a different aspect of free well. In station 1 we explored the relationship between free will and personal history and how each person, no matter their life path, retains the ability to repent and return to God. We always have the power to choose and shape our future and the relationship we share with God and the people in our lives. Station 2 focused on how every individual is faced with different levels of choices in their lives and that the situations we place ourselves in shape the decisions that we make.


Pre–Shabbat Ruach

Finally in station 3 NCSYers discussed the complex tensions between free will and Divine will: how do we exercise our free will in light of an all knowing God? One conclusion was that the choices we make contribute to the constantly perfecting nature of God’s creation. The over arching theme of the learning inspired NCSYers to seek self-improvement and by exercise the power of their free will to continually pursue self-improvement and self-change. Thank you to advisors Natan Brownstein, Danny Alweis, Dov Pianko, Alexis Baron, Sarah Medved, and Yisrael Katz for facilitating the three stations and to Associate Regional Director Mordechai Harris for coordinating the entire program.

On Shabbat day we heard the powerful story of guest speakers Efraim and Ayelet Skinner who spoke about the journey they made over the course of their lives from Christianity to Orthodox Judaism. Efraim, a hockey skills coach, told the story of how their family become interested in Judaism and stressed some of the life changing moments they faced, times in life where they clearly saw the ability to make two choices and how they chose which path to take. Ayelet assisted him, adding in her comments as he went through their experiences. The NCSYers had many insightful questions for the Skinners and the Skinners remained after their presentation to talk to the NCSYers. Thank you to Associate Regional Director Miriam Merzel for arranging this program.

The third learning session of Shabbat was Beit Midrash time before Mincha when the NCSYers had the opportunity to learn Jewish texts in small groups with advisors. The theme was "Yes you can" and the learning focused on each person’s ability to change himself and the world around him. Thank you to Education Director Rabbi Moshe Crystal for putting together these sources.
We look forward to seeing all of you at upcoming Upstate NCSY events! Shaker Mill Retreat for 11th and 12 graders will be December 17-20, 2009 at Shaker Mill Inn in Caanan, NY. National Yarchei Kallah for 9-12 graders will be December 29th, 2009 to January 3, 2010. Winter Convention for 8-12 graders will be February 5-7, 2010 in Albany, NY. For more information, please visit our website at www.upstatencsy.org.
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