Today was one of the toughest days of my life. As I sat in Navi class this afternoon, I heard the voice of my principal over the loudspeaker. “Off campus privileges are hereby suspended until further notice,” he said. “Multiple explosions have been reported at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.” We couldn’t believe our ears, the finish line was only three and a half miles from our school. But soon, we had no choice but to believe it. Emergency vehicle after emergency vehicle sped past our classroom. The words of Nechemiah were drowned out by sirens and grave thoughts. We knew this was serious. After the bell rang, everyone flooded into the hallways, terrified about what had happened and in much need of more information. We soon learned the true severity of the situation – two bombs had gone off in Copley Square. Multiple people were killed and about a hundred people were injured, including two dozen people who completely lost limbs. We were shocked. We never thought that something like this could happen so close to home.

I live an hour and a half from my school in Boston, so I don’t get home until around 7:00 PM on a nightly basis. Tonight was no different, except this time, I wasn’t my normal happy self. I was horrified and beyond upset. I spent two hours with that being my sole frame of mind, and then it was time for NCSY’s weekly Call of Inspiration. However, tonight, in place of the usual Call of Inspiration, Marc Fein and Ariella Freedman were going to be reciting two perakim of tehillim in the memory of the victims of today’s tragedy. Turns out, this is exactly what I needed. Hearing the voices of more than fifty NCSYers from across the country come together and recite these tehillim in unison taught me an invaluable lesson. The oneness and sense of community NCSYers possess is unmatched, and although today will forever remain a tragedy, I now understand that it is also an opportunity to be thankful for everything that God has given us, namely, the gift of life. In my tears I realized this was yet another beautiful lesson, brought to you by NCSY.

In ninth grade, a bunch of my friends were signing up for an NCSY Regional Shabbaton. I was so confused. My brother did NCSY for all of high school, and every time I’d ask him what he did on those retreats, his answer would be somewhere along the lines of, “There’s amazing dancing.” Why would all my friends be so excited to be going on a dance shabbaton?? I churn a mean butter, but by no means was I interested in going on a dance retreat. No thanks. They had an amazing time, and the confusion returned. I had to see what this was about. So when the next Regional rolled around, I decided to give it a try.

It turns out NCSY isn’t a dance group, but rather an amazing youth organization devoted to putting Jewish teens in the warmest and most welcoming environment possible to grow both socially and spiritually. I was hooked.

“Through conversations with Rebbeim, advisors, and NCSYers, I learned the most important lesson I have ever learned. Yarchei Kallah, and New England NCSY, taught me that in order to be in a position to give, you have to have what to give… Two weeks after Yarchei Kallah, right before applications were due, I officially decided to change my course of study. It is with absolute pleasure and complete, eternal gratitude that I say that I will be spending next year studying at Yeshivat Lev HaTorah.”

A year later, immediately prior to Winter Regional of my sophomore year, my life as I knew it changed forever. I received the news that my parents would no longer remain married. (Unfortunately, there’s much more to it than that, but for the sake of not embarrassing anyone inpublic, I won’t discuss it here. If you’d like to discuss it further, I’d love to in private). I was shocked and unprepared. I didn’t know what to do or how to handle myself. My initial reaction would have been to wallow in self-pity, spend days crying in my bedroom, but that wasn’t an option. I had to board the bus to Winter Regional, and then I’d figure out how to react upon my return. New England NCSY saved me. My family at NER (New England Region) taught me I always have a family. They taught me kindness, friendship, love, oneness, and community. They changed my life.

Upon my return, the thought to wallow in self-pity never crossed my mind. Instead, as I discussed at the SNew Coast (Seattle/New England/West Coast) oneg at Yarchei Kallah, NCSY helped me “build a sanctuary in my heart.” I reacted by doing my best to use my experience to help others. I reacted by gaining an amazing perspective. But I take no credit for any of that. Rather, I credit it to NCSY, and specifically to every single NER NCSYer and advisor. That winter, you changed me.

But my story doesn’t end there. Spring Regional I returned, and with my newfound perspective, I decided I wanted to give back. I ran for regional board, and by a miracle of G-d, I won. I served a year on regional board, but I wasn’t satisfied. I still didn’t feel like I had given back to NCSY nearly as much as it had given me. I decided to run for regional president at Spring Regional my junior year. By yet another grace of G-d, I won, and was presented with a brand new opportunity to give back. Months went on, and it came to that time in senior year when my classmates and I had to figure out our plans for next year. While almost my entire grade of 53 decided to spend the year studying in Israel, I was very much opposed to the idea. I had spent the last 14 years in formal Jewish education. Now, I wanted to see the world, and give to the world. I decided to spend the year volunteering in Tanzania, Africa.

Then came Yarchei Kallah. There, through conversations with Rebbeim, advisors, and NCSYers, I learned the most important lesson I have ever learned. Yarchei Kallah, and New England NCSY, taught me that in order to be in a position to give, you have to have what to give. That was the sole factor in my conclusion that dedicating a year to grow as a person, a Jew, and a creative thinker will, b’ezrat Hashem, with God’s help, put me in a position to dedicate many, many years of my life to giving back. Two weeks after Yarchei Kallah, right before applications were due, I officially decided to change my course of study. It is with absolute pleasure and complete, eternal gratitude that I say that I will be spending next year studying at Yeshivat Lev HaTorah.

NCSY has changed me more than anything else in the world. NCSY has taught me to see the G-d in every situation. Just as it saved me in coping with my parent’s divorce, it saved me tonight. The lessons I’ve learned, the experiences I’ve shared, will without a doubt be with me for my entire life. I attribute my decision to spend the year in Israel to NCSY, and I attribute the person I am today to NCSY. I am, more than anything else, forever in debt to NCSY. B’ezrat Hashem, next year will put me in the position to continue on my path to giving back. Although I know that I will never be possible to pay off that infinite debt, it’s my dream to as close as I possibly can. Thank you, and God bless.

Ethan Soloveychik was named the winner of the contest for his rendition of “Go the Distance,” a song from Disney’s “Hercules” movie. He received $25 gift card to the store of his choice.

“The event was a success,” said Rabbi Akiva Gutnicki, South Bend NCSY Director. “It brought a lot of attention to our NCSY Chapter and there was a great turn-out. People really felt the excitement of the competition and the sense of community that comes from being a part of an NCSY event.”

South Bend NCSY runs a variety of programs for teens in the area, including a weekly “Food & Shmuz,” and a monthly “Lounge Night.” A recent Shabbaton had 40 teenagers, the most the chapter has ever had in its 30 year history.

Irvin Rozenblit won second place with his rendition of the Periodic Table.

Other notable performances included Shlomo Sloman removing his glasses with his feet:

And Daniel Ebersol performing Hawaii 5-O’s theme song on trumpet.

Zach Widmoyer drumming blindfold

Stanley Rozenblit showing off his acrobatics.

And Nach Gold performing a great version of the Maccabeats “Candlelight.”

To see a full gallery of photos, click here.

“Torah High and NCSY Canada took Shabbat to the next level” an elated Rabbi Glenn Black, Chief Executive Officer of Torah High and NCSY Canada explained. “The Jewish values and traditions we teach in the classroom and through our programs are magnified a hundredfold by inspired and committed parents and families. These Jewish teens will be our community’s leaders in the future. We need to engage and support them and their families today.”

Last year, our inaugural event attracted 250 attendees to the BAYT. We are looking forward to expanding the program to more than five synagogues and over 1000 people next year. NCSY Canada and Torah High thank the Cherniak and Silverstein families for their generosity in sponsoring this event.

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Torah High offers over a dozen courses for credit to Jewish teens in public high schools, teaching in innovative and engaging ways, educating and inspiring our future Jewish leaders to make positive life choices guided by Jewish values. Torah High operates in seven locations across the GTA and in 11 cities across Canada and the United States. At Torah High we passionately believe that every Jewish teen should have an opportunity for a Jewish education.

NCSY connects with teens through innovative, cutting-edge social and recreational programs to develop a positive Jewish identity. NCSY inspires teens through informal Jewish education, retreats and summer programs. NCSY empowers teens through leadership development and guidance to become passionately committed leaders of the Jewish community and instruments for positive change and renewal.

When NorCal NCSYer Rebeccah Simon came back from NCSY’s TJJ (The Jerusalem Journey) summer program, she was inspired. But she still had so many questions.

To help herself and her fellow NCSYers, Rebeccah launched a Facebook group called NorCal Q & A, an open forum where NCSYers pose questions to be answered by advisors and other staff members of NCSY. Since the group started at the end of March more than 100 Facebook users from the region have joined.

“This is an opportunity for anybody who has questions to ask Rebbe Akiva [Naiman] and Rabbi Mike [Donovan] absolutely anything!” Rebeccah wrote in the first post. ” It can be a private message, public post, but it would be awesome if it would be public so other people can learn when you ask questions!”

The site is a lively conversation with teens asking whether they can work in a non-kosher bakery even if they can’t eat there or even whether someone can throw out a cheeseburger in a kosher kitchen. One advisor, Moshe Lehhman, explained a complicated prohibition of getting benefit from a dish made with milk and meat while another regional director chimed in with a question of his own. Other posts center on the prohibition of kol isha, hearing a woman sing.

Rabbi Akiva Naiman, director of East Bay NCSY attributed the success of the group to the culture of NCSY in California.

“We have a culture of learning here,” he explained. “We’ve run programming that stresses the importance of learning and it worked.”

He also cited the relationship many NCSYers have with their advisors, who actively participate in the forum.

“We fly out the same advisors every month,” Rabbi Naiman explained. “A lot of them are already in their second year. We wouldn’t be the same chapter without them.”

Some questions though can’t be answered over Facebook. When NCSYer Sam Orbach asked why good thing happened to bad people — especially in light of the tragedy in Boston — Rabbi Naiman advised him to attend a Latte & Learn to hear the answer.

The group has its steady followers.

“This is where I go when I have a question that’s Jewish and there’s nothing on Google,” wrote Molly Werthan. “So it’s basically Jewgle.”

Rabbi Naiman concluded with a welcome message for parents.

“I see people on the Facebook group that I never would have imagined would have joined,” he explained. “It surprises me. Last week, I walked into a pluralistic non-denominational high school and a bunch of girls were listening to Call of Inspiration. You never know what kids are doing in their free time. “

The winning team of this year’s 5-on-5 tournament proudly displays their trophies.

New York NCSY hosted its annual community-wide basketball tournament on Sunday, April 21 in the Five Towns. The winner of the 3-on-3 tournament was Approved Funding, with players Kenny Sicklick, David Jesselson and Jared Solomon. The winner of the 5-on-5 tournament was Lightwave Energy, composed of players Jared Stein, Shelby Rosenberg, Yisrael Feld, Yosef Rosenthal, Eitan Potash and Yehuda Guttman. Before the championship game, Leah Moskovitch of New Rochelle won the raffle for two round trip tickets to Israel.

The games began at 9am and were held in various gyms around the community, including Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns & Rockaway (HAFTR), Stella K. Abraham High School for Girls (SKA), Davis Renov Stahler Yeshiva High School for Boys (DRS), Life Fitness and Lawrence High School. After a long and exciting day of 3-on-3 and 5-on-5 games, all participants gathered at Lawrence High School for a lunch catered by Shula’s Pizza and the final rounds of the tournament.

The goal of the tournament was to build awareness and gain community support for NCSY programming. Money raised from the tournament went towards providing scholarships to study in Israel post-high school or attend an NCSY Summer Program.

NCSY is the international youth movement of the Orthodox Union.

Rabbi Aryeh Lightstone, Regional Director of NY NCSY explains, “Each year the level of competition improves, the enthusiasm is greater and the community support has become stronger. It has really been an honor working with our outstanding basketball committee and dedicated NCSY professional and lay staff in putting on the most popular Jewish basketball tournament.”

This year’s tournament attracted more than 200 basketball players from across New York and New Jersey.  Children were treated to entertainment including arts & crafts, a moon bounce and a baseball-slugging booth. Food was also available for purchase from David Kay of Prime Time Caterers. Carol Rhine, COO of NY NCSY, reflects, “The tournament was extremely successful, not only as an enjoyable Sunday event for the community, but, more importantly, it help raise much needed scholarship dollars for our precious Jewish teens.”

To view pictures from the tournament, visit newyork.ncsy.org. For information about New York NCSY programs, please call Carol Rhine at 516.569.6279

One thing you should know about teenagers in Chile: don’t serve them pizza at NCSY events. “A lot of them get offended by the pizza,” explained Michael Bengio, director of NCSY Chile. “They view it as bribery.”

At 25, Bengio is the youngest regional director at NCSY. Bengio, a native of Chile who attended Yeshiva University in Manhattan, grew up in a religious family and did not have much to do with NCSY. This changed at a random Friday night dinner, when a member of New England NCSY heard him give a dvar Torah and was so impressed, she invited him to be an advisor at a New England NCSY Shabbaton.

It was love at first Shabbaton. “It was more than I could have ever imagined,” Bengio said. “I didn’t miss a single Shabbaton or activity.” In his second year as an advisor, Bengio won the coveted “Advisor of the Year” award.

After he graduated from Yeshiva University and got married, Bengio was unsure of what career he wanted to pursue. Rabbi Shimon Vinger, the founder of NCSY Chile, offered him a position at NCSY Chile. Bengio and his new wife relocated. A few months later, when Rabbi Vinger left NCSY Chile, Bengio found himself in charge of the region. At that point, Bengio explained, the popularity of NCSY Chile had waned. Bengio knew he needed to do something different.

Members of NCSY Chile on a trip to FantasiaLand, a theme park.

“I’m a big fan of change,” he said. “You can’t improve if you leave things the way they are.” Bengio introduced NCSY’s havdalah services and the festive singing and dancing resonated with the NCSYers. Bengio also felt that NCSY faced a specific problem. The biggest draws for NCSY Chile were the weekly lectures given by the organization. However, as the lectures progressed and became more intensive, students would drop out.

“Here it’s very difficult to be religious; it’s social suicide,” Bengio explained. “By the end of the year, you would have two students who were religious. Next year NCSY would be uncool and no one would go.”

Bengio decided not to devote his energy to the twelfth and eleventh graders who were already dissuaded from attending NCSY. He centered his efforts on the tenth graders. He restructured the classes NCSY offers to focus on the larger questions in Judaism, such as what a person’s purpose was in the world.

“I dedicated time for them,” he said about the tenth graders. “We did fun activities; we went to Argentina and Fantasialand. I played it by ear, hoping they would spread the word that they were having a blast.”

The gambit paid off.  “Kids were happy,” he said. “Parents were happy because their kids were becoming more respectful and becoming closer to Judaism without doing much to change their lives.”

Michael Bengio with his wife Delilah and daughter Tamar.

Bengio’s warm and friendly personality helped as well.  “I’m young, my wife is young; we have a cute baby,” Bengio said. “We’re normal but Orthodox. Parents don’t get so frightened when they see us.”

NCSY Chile is different than other regions. Because of strong Saturday youth programming, it is almost impossible for Bengio to hold Shabbatons. Instead he invited teens and their families over for long Friday night meals.

By the end of the year, NCSY Chile had 100 teens. Lectures filled the local Starbucks and Bengio began hosting events in his living room. Bengio also reached out to the local Orthodox school and began giving a shiur there once a week.

However, the rapid growth came at a cost. The next year, due to community infighting, Bengio saw his numbers decrease until only 40 teenagers were attending NCSY programming. Bengio, not one to give up easily, attended NCSY’s annual staff conference. He met with the leading advisors and regional directors and refocused his approach.

“Rabbi Israel Lashak, director of Southwest NCSY, told me he had a JSU of three students and those were the students he was most close with,” Bengio said. “I liked the idea. If you have small groups, the teens know they’re important to the group. And once you have a small group, you can become close.”

Bengio opened up more classes, each for a small number of students.  He recruited four other advisors to launch their own classes; he dubbed the effort “NCSY Inspire.” Because of NCSY Chile’s prior success, Bengio was also able to pick advisors who had felt the effects of NCSY firsthand. “NCSY Chile allows you to learn more about your Judaism,” said Karen Sabah, one of NCSY Chile’s advisors and a former NCSYer. “Beyond that, it helps you grow as a person in order to improve yourself and help others.”

NCSY Chile quickly rebounded. At the start of this year, Bengio had 75 NCSYers.

NCSYers hanging out after a learning program.

Bengio also gets strong support from the international NCSY office, through weekly phone calls with Keevy Fried, NCSY’s associate international director. “Kiruv isn’t just for North America,” explained Fried. “Assimilation is an international concern for the Jewish people. What NCSY does works no matter where you are and Bengio’s success is a testament to that.”

Alan Herzberg, one of NCSY Chile’s local donors, explained why he supports the organization. “NCSY Chile is all about getting kids to make the decision of having Jewish grandchildren,” he said. “In a community as heavily assimilated as ours this cannot be taken for granted. NCSY proves that Judaism can not only be cool, but it also makes a lot of sense.”

Mitch Aeder, whose wife is South American, supports the region from his home in Queens, NY.

“The Chilean Jewish community is an anomaly,” he explained via email. “On one hand, there is a powerful Jewish social culture, and there is a large network of popular secular Jewish youth groups. On the other hand, the community is largely Jewishly illiterate, and intermarriage is rampant. With NCSY for the teens and Aish Hatorah for the collegiates, there now is a path for the future of the Jewish community in Chile.”

NCSY Chile also received its first permanent home. Bengio’s parents bought a complex in an apartment building and dedicated part of it to NCSY. NCSY Chile has already woven itself into the fabric of Jewish life in Chile.

“NCSY is a piece of the puzzle; when you take it out, it all crumbles down,” said Bengio.

Growing up in Fountainville, PA had its ups and down. Waking up to the rural landscape every morning and a wide open field is an up. Then, there is the down side:  there were not many kids my age – let alone Jewish kids.

Fast forward to the six grade. Living in Elkins Park, PA, I attended a private Jewish day school. It was all new to me – the shema, the Torah, Chumash and Talmud – it all sounded like fairy tale story books to me. I was a fish lost at sea. I did not have many friends, and that was mainly because I just did not fit in.

Ofir proudly displays a Yeshiva University t-shirt at NCSY’s National Yarchei Kallah, a winter break learning program for public school teens.

Then in walks NCSY Juniors. NCSY Juniors was definitely the best thing to happen to me since moving to Elkins Park. The way I saw it, school gave me the pieces of Judaism and NCSY put them together. I watched as Judaism LITERALLY came to life right before my eyes. I became closer with my school friends who were also involved in NCSY, and Rabbi Rocky (the NCSY Juniors rabbi at the time) was (and still is!) an amazing person to look up to. Everything about it was exactly what I needed at that time of my life.

Again, let’s fast forward to today. As President of the Philadelphia Chapter of NCSY, I am a leader in the NCSY community and I am loving every single day of it. My city director, Rabbi Yitz Levi, and the amazing staff I work with have become my family. Having those bonds give me inspiration to befriend every person I meet.

For the year to come, I, with G-d’s Help, will be attending Yeshiva Lev Hatorah in Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel. After, I will be attending Yeshiva University. My current plans for next year could not have happened with out the help of my closest advisor, Benjamin Klein (commonly known as BK). He helped me through the whole process and encouraged me to stay strong the whole way through. BK, thank you for everything!

NCSY will always be in my heart and in my soul. NCSY is a family that gives you a chance to meet new people, enrich your heritage and understand yourself a little more, everyday.

New England NCSY Advisor Alex Porcelain of Yeshiva University began a Tehillim list on Google Docs and urged participants to sign up to say chapters. He started off passing the list to advisors from the New England NCSY region, but the list quickly spread around to other advisors and NCSYers around the U.S.

“Everyone was shaken up and didn’t know what to do,” Porcelain explained. “Everyone wanted to do something that would make a difference.”

By the next day, the entire book of Tehillim had been recited.

“While the morning hours of this past Monday were filled with sights and sounds of unity as thousands of people were cheering on runners, the afternoon hours were filled with sights and sounds of unity in the form of thousands merging into a caring family giving all of themselves to help those injured,” said Rabbi Shmuel Miller, regional director of New England NCSY, whose office was a few miles from the site of the bombing.

NCSY’s weekly Call of Inspiration, which typically features 15 minutes of inspirational divrei Torah, instead became a chance for close to 50 NCSYers to say tehillim together (listen here). Marc Fein, Regional Director of Upstate New York NCSY, introduced the chapters.

“We felt that the most meaningful way to spend those 15 minutes would be to come together as a community for those wounded in the Boston attack,” said Ariella Freedman, NCSY’s International Teen President. “Although we had planned to learn about Yom Ha’atzmaut and celebrate the State of Israel, we felt the responsibility to recognize greater tragedy and to help those in need. Saying Tehillim responsively with NCSYers from throughout the country was a true call of inspiration.”

Rabbi Yaakov Glasser, director of education for NCSY and the rabbi of the Young Israel of Passaic-Clifton, explained that the response is indicative of NCSY’s goals.

“One of NCSY core values is cultivating a sense of responsibility to the larger world,” Rabbi Glasser said.  “It is a fundamental principle of Jewish belief and tradition to care and have compassion for all people in the world.”

Rabbi Glasser explained that Jews have always turned to reciting Tehillim in times of turmoil.

“From Biblical times when Jews felt emotionally and spiritually overwhelmed by life they turned to the poetry of Tehillim,” he said. “Tehillim is an extraordinary journey through the challenges and victories of life. Its gives expression to our deepest emotions.”

The Tikvot team (l-r): Yarden Harel, Nicole Feder and Ari Zwiren. Tikvot aids victims of terror in Israel through sports therapy.

West Coast NCSY recently completed the second year of its highly successful leadership program, the Teen Philanthropy Movement.

The Teen Philanthropy Movement takes teens and teaches them about the Jewish views on charity over a three-month period. Teens who participate in the program are required to learn about the Jewish sources on charity, then locate and volunteer at charities. Students are divided up into groups and charged with delivering a presentation about their chosen non-profit to a group of business and civic leaders.

On April 11, Shalhevet High School of California hosted the final round of the contest. Four judges heard presentations from the students and decided which two organizations would split the $10,000 prize.

West Coast Regional Director Solly Hess with the winning team for School on Wheels (l-r): Anne Schneider, David Malka, and School on Wheels regional coordinator Stefanie Aguilar. School on Wheels provides homeless children with tutors in California.

“We’re teaching kids to be more sympathetic and strategic in the way they care about others and how they approach the concept of charity,” explained Solly Hess, regional director of West Coast NCSY.

The winning groups represented School on Wheels, an organization devoted to providing educational opportunities to homeless children in California, and Tikvot, an Israeli program that aids victims of terror, including Israeli soldiers, through sports therapy.

“The Teen Philanthropy Movement is a great opportunity to find out about how people are giving back to the community and making a difference,” explained Sinead Chilton, team leader for School on Wheels. “The $5,000 goes directly to our programs to provide educational opportunities to homeless children — kindergarten through twelfth grade.”

Anne Schneider, a senior at Hamilton High School in Los Angeles, who represented School on Wheels said she felt the project made her grow as a person.

West Coast NCSY Regional Director Solly Hess, center, with the four judges (l-r): Joel Levine, Frank Lee, Leslie Kessler and Susan Baum.

“I feel like I have made a difference in the world and it is an amazing feeling,” she said. “I have learned the real meaning of tzedakah.”

To read about last year’s contest, click here.

The moment I stood in front of the Western Wall in Jerusalem in July of 2011 changed my life forever. I could feel the tremendous amount of spirituality glowing in every air molecule hovering around me. The souls of every human being flourished everywhere I went. My four-week stay in Israel on NCSY’s The Jerusalem Journey (TJJ) marked the beginning of my spiritual growth and religious journey.

My Jewish studies began when I enrolled in my synagogue’s Talmud Torah in kindergarten. Like many Hebrew schools that only meet twice a week, my Jewish education consisted of children’s bible stories and learning how to read enough Hebrew to become a bat mitzvah. Three months after graduating from Hebrew school, I moved from my populated Jewish community in Fairfield, Connecticut to Huntsville, Alabama (commonly known as the “Bible Belt”). During my sophomore year, a local Jewish family told me about NCSY’S TJJ. The next evening, I enrolled for the best summer of my life.

I stepped onto the plane for Israel as a typical American teenage girl. My thoughts circulated around friends and summer break. My life did not have a specific journey nor a strong spiritual connection with Hashem. Between our hikes, tours in holy sites and chaburas, my neshama yearned for learning Torah and connecting with Hashem. My Jewish connection was not simply wearing a Jewish necklace and eating matzah on Pesach anymore. Now, my Jewish connection includes everything my brothers and sisters have lived and died for in the past 5,773 years.

After spending a summer on NCSY’s TJJ, Jackie spent her winter break learning Torah on NCSY’s National Yarchei Kallah.

A year in a half since my life-changing trip, my lifestyle has shifted from a typical secular life to a life dedicated to serving Hashem. Now, I read Torah and daven daily, I keep Shabbat every week, and I observe the practices of shomer negiah and tzniut. I learn regularly with NCSY advisors about prayer and Jewish beliefs. Recently, I began learning conversational Hebrew with an advisor as well. I am excited to attend Machon Ma’ayan next year and attend Yeshiva University afterwards. Although I grew up in a town with a lot of Jews, it was not until I moved to Alabama and went on TJJ that I truly began my journey to becoming an observant Jew. I am forever grateful for NCSY, because without them, I do not know where I would be today.