Today was an amazing day on GIVE WEST! We woke up super early this morning to daven, eat breakfast, and head onto the buses to make it in time for our rafting trip! we traveled North to Maupin, Oregon, where we went white water rafting with the River Rafters! It was SO much fun!!! The water was gorgeous, the rafts were lively and fun, and we all had fun splashing around, singing, and paddling through crazy fun rapids. After rafting, we joined back together for a delicious deli lunch. We then drove back to Portland, for a tour of the US Adidas Headquarters. We were greeted by Ms. Jodi Baris, who is a new employee of Adidas. She told us all about her career in sports, and how she began working in Adidas. We then met with some other employees and had a tour of the Adidas Campus. Our tour ended with pictures by the massive Adidas Sneakers, and 50% off in the Adidas store! It was so cool. Our day ended back at the JCC at our GIVE WEST Banquet. We enjoyed a beautiful dinner, heard about Beauty from Mrs. Meira Spivak (Portland NCSY), and enjoyed beautiful words from our advisors about each and every NCSYer on the trip. After our advisors spoke about us, and our unique qualities, we got such cool BEST. SUMMER. EVER. shirts…thank you NCSY! We are so excited to wear them tomorrow!

[Written and sung by our 5 amazing advisors at tonight’s Talent Show: Hannah Atkin, Miriam Boim, Ayelet Izhak, Devorah Meisels, and Amira Pechet]

NCSY GIVE WEST 2017

(Please insert the necessary “na na’s” in between each line when you read!!!)

GIVE WEST has been the past 23 days,
We can honestly say it’s been a craze,
From chesed trips and so much more,
Go white team for winning color war!

We started in Phoenix, Arizona,
Nobody knowing what was in store,
The Salvation Army and water park,
GIVE WEST was off to a great start!

Who could forget the waffle machine,
Paul simply drove the bus as a dream.
From Ben Adam L’Atzmo,
Our relationship with HaShem started to grow!

Our trek to Sedona took quite a while,
We barely even walked just a mile.
There was sun heat and complaining too,
At least you got some pictures of the view!

From there we went on a stroll by a lake,
We jumped in the sewage in order not to bake,
Baruch Hashem no one got bit in the face,
But we did get to watch a birth take place!

Ice cream and popcorn we served to the poor,
Dog food and cat food packaging galore,
Chessed is our middle name,
That is GIVE WEST’s claim to fame!

Next, we hiked the Grand Canyon,
But don’t forget the 6-hour bus famine,
We survived just all right,
Watching the fireworks burn so bright!

Arriving at AJU was quite a shock,
No more room service at the knock,
We pulled our suitcase up three flights of stairs,
To only find there was no air!

Ferris wheel, roller coasters at the peer,
Coffee bean was now very near,
Skid row was quite a sight,
Crutches they do use to fight!

Co-ed water fight and dancing too,
Our Carnival with camp Etta was quite a zoo,
At the beach the waves were high,
What a miracle we didn’t die!

We became celebrities at Rodeo Drive,
Thanks to Jonah for making it live,
Color war break out was such a fail,
Our neighbors really wanted to send us to jail!

Friends, Ellen, Gilmore girls oh my,
The LA Tar Pits smelled bad, so we said bye,
Off to our host for Shabbos number three,
No one knew what it would be!

Our last stop in LA we hiked to the Hollywood Sign,
A hike lasting more than 10 minutes was really divine,
Pizza World for the third time,
Off to Fresno to sleep in grime!

Yosemite Falls was the best of the best,
Climbing on slippery rocks was quite a test,
To Vacaville, we drove and swam,
And we met a sketchy iPhone man!

A day in San Fran starting at Jelly Belly,
Paul keeps saying the bathroom is smelly,
Walking that bridge and trolleying around,
Dinner at Chabad with a romance the story we found!

Starting with roll call every day on the bus,
Thank you for “never” making a fuss,
Club West 17 is always a blast,
When Leah gets on the mic your screaming is in the past!

Humility, Anger, Simcha, relationships, and fear,
Five topics in chaburah you will now hold so dear,
Traveling along the West putting ice cream in our carts,
But we always have to eat it outside of Walmart!

R E S P E C T,
What do you think it means to be,
Being loud and disrespectful on GIVE WEST we ban,
Please throw out your trash in the garbage can!!!

Devorah says it’s “amazing” when Hannah makes braid,
If Ayelet’s caught on Snapchat, from Amira she’s afraid,
Without a smile, Miriam’s never seen,
We loved being your advisors on GIVE WEST 17!!!

Leah and Gavriella where do we begin,
You have led us through the program through thick and thin,
To Klal Yisroel you show dedication,
You truly are an inspiration!

We thank you all for your positive attitudes,
For your rooms, you showed tremendous gratitude,
The bus was always spick and span,
We are all your number one fans!

Empower, inspire, and connect,
Go home and show the world your best,
We are here for you don’t hesitate to call,
With the GIVE WEST family, we’ve had BALL!!!!

We packed up this morning, davened, ate breakfast, and loaded the bus for our long drive to Portland, Oregon! Paul, our amazing bus driver, drove for 10 HOURS, and safely got us to the JCC in Portland, just within his allotted time. We stopped every few hours along the highway for bathroom breaks, a lunch break, and to refuel our bus. We watched movies, learned with advisors, ate a lot of yummy snacks, and even had a birthday cake for Marsha Joseph’s 15th birthday…Happy Birthday, Marsha! Once we finally pulled into the JCC, we hopped off the bus for a delicious dinner and GIVE WEST Talent Show. Yasher Koach to all those who performed. We came back to the Portland State University, unpacked our things, and headed up to bed. We will be heading out at the crack of dawn tomorrow for a fun day white water rafting!!!

[Written by Gila Linzer, Bergenfield, NJ]
This morning on NCSY GIVE WEST we davened and ate a delicious breakfast at the hotel. Then we headed on the bus to our first stop in San Francisco, the Jelly Belly Factory. At the factory, we got to learn about how the famous jelly beans are made. Afterward, we sampled some of the flavors and bought more jelly beans from the gift shop. We then learned with our advisors in the parking lot and took a group photo by the Jelly Belly truck. Next, we headed back on the bus to our next stop, the Golden Gate Bridge! We were stunned by the beauty of this famous landmark. Even though it was windy, we took photos by the bridge and then walked on the side of the bridge while taking in the gorgeous views. We then went to Union Square, in downtown San Francisco where we were given free time to shop and explore the town. Then we went on an exhilarating trolley ride up the hills of San Francisco. It was so much fun waving at all the passer-by-ers while we got to see the beautiful city. We then went to Ghirardelli Square where we bought yummy chocolate and shopped for souvenirs. We ended our tour at Fisherman’s Wharf! For dinner, we went to the Chabad Jewish Student Center at Berkeley University and we ate a delicious taco dinner hosted by Rabbi and Rebbetzin Leeds. Rebbetzin Leeds spoke to us describing her journey of becoming Orthodox and meeting her husband. It was a really interesting and inspiring story. We are heading back now to Vacaville to rest up for our long trip to Portland tomorrow morning!

[Written by Tamar Pasternak, East Brunswick, NJ]
This morning on GIVE WEST, I boarded the bus and watched a movie as we traveled to Yosemite. We got to Yosemite and we saw the beautiful waterfall in the distance! We took a group picture with the waterfall in the background. We went back on the bus, 20 more minutes until we reached our hiking spot. We ate lunch at the lodge and we learned with our advisors. I had the privilege of learning with Gavriela, my assistant director, the first 4 mishnayot of Pirkei Avot. Then we Hiked the lower falls hike at Yosemite….it was AMAZING! We hiked for about 15 minutes and then we saw a bridge. I ran over the bridge and we saw a ton of people walking toward the waterfall. I hiked over the logs toward the huge rocks leading under the waterfall. I hiked with Gavriela and Sarah Hanian all the way to the top!!! It was slippery at the top because of the mist coming from the waterfall. I went under a huge boulder and touched the water. It was rushing down and strong. I was the highest one today! It was very windy and we were soaked within minutes. We hiked down and swam a little bit. Then we finished the hike with the rest of the group. We filled up our water bottles and boarded the bus for the next long drive to Vacaville, CA. We made a stop at Denny’s for snacks and restrooms. After three long hours on the bus, we finally made it to Vacaville. We ate dinner at our hotel, cleaned the bus, settled into our rooms, and then ran into the pool for night swim! I am looking forward to a great day in San Francisco tomorrow!

[Written by Ariella Abenhaim, Montreal, Canada]
This morning we said goodbye to our very gracious Shabbat hosts and made our way to NCSY headquarters. We went on the bus to Griffith Park where we hiked to the Hollywood sign and the views were spectacular. It reminded me of how Hashem has really given us a beautiful world to live in and that we must continue to try to make
Him proud by doing good things – a goal that has been a focus of this NCSY summer trip. Once we finished the hike, we ate some delicious pizza at Pizza World. We then all hopped aboard the bus and made our way to Fresno. After one stop at Walmart, we continued our travels to the hotel in Fresno. We had a yummy dinner and learned with our advisors in Chabboura. But the day was not over as we had the opportunity to go night swimming which was so much fun after a long bus ride. Every day is another eye- opening experience and I feel very blessed to have met such incredible people on this journey. Can’t wait to go to Yosemite National Park tomorrow!

[Written by Atara Black, Toronto, Canada]
This Shabbos we enjoyed being in the Pico community of LA. We stayed in different people’s homes with our friends from GIVE WEST. I stayed with Emma Freiden at the Escovitz home. We ate Friday Night dinner with their family. Shabbos morning we all met at Anshe Emes, a shul in LA where we davened, ate kiddush with the shul, and heard a tehillim shiur by a member of the shul. We then ate a yummy lunch and went into a program called would you rather (NCSY style). The session asked personal or funny questions that got us thinking about the way we think about things, we discussed it in groups and read the Torah perspectives which were on the back of each card. Then we had a fun game of Fe Fi Fo Fum, where four girls went up at a time and a statement was said, and everyone called out to which person the statement best applied, using those names, Fe Fi Fo and Fum. Then we had free time and I went to a friends house and we hung out there. We walked together to Beth Jacob to end shabbos with the community there. We davened Mincha, ate a nice Shaloshudes with them, and heard from Rabbi Pose, the Rabbi of the Shul. We sang together, ebbing Shabbos away, and heard Havdalah by Rabbi Pose. Right after Shabbos we went to the NCSY office and played the “tapping game” — everyone sat in a circle and closed their eyes. A few girls went inside the circle, where a statement was called out, for example, “tap a person who is a reliable friend” and the people in the middle of the circle would tap girls who they felt the statement applied. We did a few rounds, switching up the girls and the statements. It made everyone feel good and helped everyone feel appreciated and a part of our GIVE WEST community. We enjoyed a melava malka of ice cream and doughnuts and went back to our hosts. We met Sunday morning back at the NCSY Office for davening, breakfast, and to head out for our last day in LA!

[Written by Yona Leibowitz, Toronto, Canada]
Today we woke up super early at 6:15am so we could bring all of our luggage to the bus since it was our last day at AJU. We then had breakfast and drove to Warner Brothers Studios!!! It was an awesome experience. I loved seeing all the different sets and locations of shows and movies. I especially loved seeing the set and stage for the Ellen Show! We got to sit in the seats and take pictures by the stage. There were a lot of TV sets there like Friends, The Big Bang Theory, Gilmore Girls, and Pretty Little Liars. We even got to act out a scene in Friends. It was so cool to see how so many of the same locations were used in a bunch of different shows/movies. It was especially cool to see how they made a winter scene in the middle of the summer. I loved seeing all the props and costumes that were used in the shows. Another thing that was cool was that a lot of the buildings were double sided and served as two houses/buildings in one. In Pretty Little Liars the school and the City Hall were one building as a set. It was so awesome to see in person how they make all these TV shows and all the sets that they use! After the tour, we went to the LA Tar Pits. We ate lunch there and had chabburas with our advisors. We then had some free time to walk around. We also were able to buy shabbat -o- grams for our friends! It was a fun filled day and I can’t wait for an awesome Shabbos in Pico!

[Written by Daniella Mintz, Monsey, NY]
Last night we stayed up late preparing for an exciting day of Color War! We were divided into 3 teams — Red (Torah), White (Avodah), and Blue (Chesed). I was on the White Team. Today we had late wake-up, followed by davening, then we went to breakfast & Divrei Torah presentations from each team. The first competition was Chidon Hatanach. Questions were asked on Tanach to one person from every team, while there was a cup of water on their head, and when they wanted to answer a question, they stood and the cup would fall as they would answer the question! I then went to cheer my team on at the basketball game…we won the first game! Team time was followed by lunch and cheer presentations, then we had a really fun game of Cupcake Wars. Each team was given supplies to decorate cupcakes in their color and theme. We competed in an Apache Race, where every girl on the team participated in a section of the competition, which ended in a pyramid on the basketball course…which we also won! During the next team time, we learned our song and practiced the dance before the presentations. All the teams presented their songs and dances…and then we found out we won! GO WHITE! After Color War, we headed out to Universal Citywalk, for a fun night out in town. We came back to AJU, enjoyed a camper vs. advisor basketball game, and packed up our things for Shabbos. Looking forward to another great day on GIVE WEST.