Monday: July 12

Over the summer months in Israel, thousands of teens find their way to Israel on one program or another. These programs span the entire range of the Jewish community, from the most committed religiously to the completely unaffiliated. These different programs rarely interact, and tend to operate in completely different orbits, even when visiting the same sites and enjoying similar experiences.

This backdrop make our three days of hosting the TJJ Ambassador’s program all the more meaningful.

For over a decade, TJJ (The Jerusalem Journey) has been NCSY’s premier summer program for teens from Public School backgrounds. This summer, a new program, TJJ Ambassadors, was created. TJJ Ambassadors offers a heavily subsidized elite leadership training experience. There are full days of Israel Advocacy Training, Immersion Chessed projects, involving multiple days of meaningful work with underprivileged Israeli youth, and a specially constructed tour itinerary designed to intensify the NCSYers connection to their heritage and train them to be future leaders. But perhaps the highlight of the TJJ Ambassadors tour are the three days they spend learning together with the NCSY Kollel.

This interaction is clearly mutually beneficial. For the TJJ group, it is vitally important that their exposure to Jewish life and sources include time spent studying Torah, in a welcoming and supportive environment. Particularly for the TJJ Ambassadors, it is the long held belief of NCSY that no outreach efforts or leadership training can be complete or even successful without Torah at the core and center. We proudly offered our Beit Medrash, madrichim, Rabbeim and Roshei Yeshiva, all in an effort to impress upon everyone that they too have a place and a role in the world of Torah. For the Kollel group, it was a too rare opportunity to share their learning with others. Many of our NCSYers commented on the inspiration they received from observing the sincerity and motivation of the TJJers.

The three days were designed to offer TJJ a genuine NCSY Kollel experience, with three full sessions of learning. We also tried to create the maximum number of opportunities for the NCSYers themselves to learn together and share their experiences and perspectives.

Monday was day 1 of this endeavor. Rav Sobolofsky delivered a rousing keynote address to an overflow crowd in the Beit Medrash. He stressed themes of Jewish unity, and how it affects our relationship with the past and future.

The TJJers then enjoyed their own morning shiur (with chavruta preparation) and later joined the NCSY Kollel afternoon Chaburas. During the sports break, we ran a mini-tiyul together with TJJ to “Al Derech Burma,” which provided mountain biking along the famed Burma Road. (More on that below.) TJJ also participated in our regular night shiurim, and after some pizza, Ben and Jerry’s and a get-to-know-you game, an incredible and one of a kind day was done.

SEE PICTURES FROM OUR ENTIRE SUMMER EXPERIENCE HERE!