Dear Parents,

On Friday, we had a powerful day visiting and praying at the tomb of our patriarchs and matriarch in Hebron.  All the teens were engaged as we learned about the community and it’s importance to the Jewish people.

From there we continued to Gush Etzion to learn about the various battles and difficulties to hold onto that land over the last century.  On the way there, we stopped at a the junction where the three boys were kidnapped last summer. We stayed there for a few minutes as the teens tried to comprehend and realize that two of those boys were almost or exactly their age when they were taken.

After we finished in the Gush, we went to buy some treats and watch the Friday afternoon craze in the Machane Yehuda market.

It was very exciting getting dressed for shabbat this week as we prayed at the Western Wall with hundreds of others from NCSY summer programs. It was moving and inspiring. We then had the opportunity to hear from Rabbi Glenn Black, CEO of Canada NCSY as we ate our meal on a balcony overlooking the Western Wall and the Temple Mount, also very inspiring. Mr. Alan Fagin, CEO of the Orthodox Union, and Rabbi Micha Greenland, International Director of NCSY, also joined us for our meal.

The rest of Shabbat was very beautiful and we quickly transitioned into our Tisha Bav Program.

The program was very moving helping each and every teen connect to different tragedies and difficulties of the Jewish people in current times.  We then finished the night taking our bus to a place overlooking the Temple Mount and Jerusalem. The sight enabled the teens to then connect those current tragedies to the tragedies in our history including the destruction of the Temples.

Have a meaningful day!

R David Zahtz

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