| From the desk of NCSY Alumni Director - Rabbi Dave Felsenthal |
 Dear Reader:
Every year before Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur I get THE PHONE CALL. It is the call that makes a whole year of hard work with over 250,000 NCSY alumni (8500 personal) all worth it. An old friend and student calls just to say I was thinking of you. That’s it. Not I’m keeping the whole Torah, not I invented the cure to cancer, not I am now a gazillionaire and am donating 100 million to NCSY, not even I’m married and am living happily with my wife and kids in a beautiful Jewish community. No, what makes it all so sweet is the call just to say you are important to me, I think about you, lets get together, lets stay friends! Why is this call so meaningful?
To read the rest of Rabbi Dave's letter http://burgncsy.org/index.php/alumni
Have an awesome week,
Rabbi Dave Felsenthal
Director NCSY Alumni
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| D’VAR TORAH |
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D’var Torah For Bereishit
"The Gold Card Membership" |
 By: Rabbi Phil Chernofsky
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The first and most famous Rashi of the Torah asks why the Torah begins with B'reishit, rather than with the first mitzvah commanded to B'nei Yisrael, the mitzva of Kiddush HaChodesh. Rabbi Yitzchak gives the answer that by starting with B'reishit, G-d makes it clear that he is the Boss, he is the Creator. He gives the land to whom he chooses and takes it away from whom he chooses.
However, there is perhaps another important reason why the Torah begins as it does rather than with a specific mitzvah or with the events of the Exodus from Egypt, the splitting of the sea, or the revelation at Sinai.
Why did G-d choose to identify Himself in the Aseret HaDibrot as the one who took us out of Egypt, rather than as the one who created the world?
http://www.ou.org/torah/ti/5761/bereshit61.htm |
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| Alumni Events |
| 2nd Annual NCSY Alumni Reunion Shabbaton |
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“The Torah Chizuk Retreat Sponsored by NCSY Alumni” NCSY is looking to build on our first fantastic retreat by bringing in guest speakers who are leaders in the Torah world and have a special message for Alumni in addition to your favorite former Regional Directors and fascinating alumni. No one has been confirmed yet, but invitations are being strongly considered from the likes of Rabbi Pesach Krohn, Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser and Rabbi Abraham Twerski. The location has been upgraded to the Classic Luxurious Castle that is the Parsippany Sheraton in NJ and the date is once again Feb. 16th -18th, President’s week end.
Committees are being formed for Marketing, Alumni Recruiting and NCSY’s Young Leadership so please email me at to join a committee right away!
Prices and details will be forthcoming soon and we are looking for a couple of sponsors to dedicate the weekend and enable more alumni to attend!
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| NCSY Updates: Alumni in the News |
WHEN THE BRAIN SAYS “RUN”
Lt. Eli Kahn is the Heroic son of NCSY Alumni Howie and Mimi.
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Howie Kahn Will Be One Of The NCSY All Stars at the Alumni reunion in Jerusalem Motzei Shabbat Nov. 25th
“At that point I didn’t think too much. I had no choice. I was taught to run from a grenade and that’s what my brain said to do. However there was nowhere to run. So when the grenade landed next to us, I didn’t want to get hurt and I just threw it back- the most logical thing to do. Right?” That is how in simple words with touching modesty, Lt. Eli Kahn commander of a paratrooper commando unit tells his heroic story
click below to read the whole story: http://ncsyalum.org/docs/eliKahn_Yediot.pdf
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Picture This:
INSPIRING NCSY ALUMNI |
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Adam Campbell readily admits: “I’m not your average Jewish guy.”
At twenty-two, Campbell served in the United States Army’s Special Operations Unit in Afghanistan as a force multiplier, a squad leader, a sniperand a demolition expert. Subsequently,he was sent to Iraq, where while on a mission, he was hit by two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in less than three minutes and suffered traumatic spinal injuries that left him a paraplegic for six and a half months. Twenty-seven spinal taps, seventeen brain drainages and thirty-six medals (including two Purple Hearts) later, Campbell is grateful to be alive, and he lets God know it—three times a day.
http://www.ou.org/pdf/ja/5767/fall67/50-55.pdf
ce birthright israel is – NCSY style!! |
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NCSY on the Move... |
| A Letter from a Toronto teen |
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Dear Chevra,
As you can see from this email that Rabbi Glenn Black, Regional Director or Canada NCSY, received: JSU and Torah High have become the premier outreach vehicles that Jewish Teens turn to when they want help in building strong Jewish identities. We count on our Alumni to be our ambassadors whenever possible. Thank you for helping us be available to them!
Shana Tova.
Rabbi Steve Burg
NCSY National Director
My name is Dennis XXXXXX, I am 16 in grade 11 at Lawrence Park CI. A day before school started I found myself discussing the notion of how to
keep some affiliation with the Jewish community while attending a public school with a friend. He, also attending my school, was looking for a way
to get involved with the school. Inevitably after a couple minutes of throwing around ideas we came across the idea of starting a club; a Jewish club to be more precise. Luckily my brother, sitting nearby, overhead us and immediately informed that such an idea could actually be turned into a reality. His name is Sam XXXXXX, you may remember from his going to Torah High, or being a member of the Jewish club at Mackenzie. He excitedly informed us about the success of the club at Mackenzie, and how it was very possible to start a club at our school as well. He gave me your e-mail address and told me that you could be of great assistance to us. Personally, I don't even have a clue where to start. I picked up the form needed to start a club at my school but that’s about it so far. Their is interest and quite a few Jews (even though the school is predominantly Christian, I know many, many Jews hidden among the masses), and if you could offer any assistance (although if you'd like to offer a lot that would be spectacular) it would be much greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading this and you if
you could reply as quickly as possible (the due date for club submissions is September 22; sorry for the lack of time, I was busy and lazy when I wasn't
when it came to writing this) that would also be appreciated.
Thanks a lot,
Dennis
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| Alumni Announcements |
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| Engagements: |
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Marisa Parker (West Coast) and Josh Mahler |
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Mikey Harary (Central East, Long Island FNL) and Aliza Feigenbaum |
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Amitai Blickstein (Central East) to Adena Kozak |
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Bobby Faigen (Central East) and Ariella Fessel |
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Sara Greenberg (Central East) and Danny Wolfe |
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Rhonda Spector (Central East) and Nachman Bergman |
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Shoshi Gelula (Northwest) & Alan Stein (Long Island) |
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Ari Mayefsky (Northwest) & Yael Grunseid |
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Lindsay Sohacheski (Long Island, JOLT 1) and Eli Lowenstein |
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Elliot Deutsch (Long Island FNL) and Ilana Rubinstein |
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Yitz Kashnow (New England) and Rivka Jacobowitz |
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Elie Farkas & Yael Wollman (NJ) |
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| Weddings: |
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Deena Benedict (New York) and Shmuly Ganz |
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Josh Aboody (Central East) and Hila Aloof |
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Seth Weinberg (Central East) and Yaffa Ganin |
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Meir Dashevsky (New England) and Melanie Mund |
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| Births: |
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Rabbi Avraham and Ahuva Walkin (New York) on a baby boy |
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Michal (Schonfeld) and Pinchas Mikhli (Central East) on a baby boy |
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Rebecca and Avi Hochman (NJ) on a baby girl |
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| Looking for Sponsors! |
| Do you have an occasion to celebrate or commemorate? Contact us... |
Contact Info:
Email: rabbidave@ou.org
Phone: 212-613-8153
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