NCSY GIVE WEST: Day 17 (Shabbos) Recap

[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!