NCSY GIVE WEST: Day 7 Recap

[Written by Tali Wolff, Paramus, NJ]
Today was another incredible day on GIVE WEST! We woke up early this morning energized and ready to depart Arizona. We headed to davening and breakfast and of course our Chabburas. Following that we cleaned up, said our goodbyes to the hot weather in Phoenix, and began to board the bus for a 7-hour adventure – off to Los Angeles for us! We started off the bus ride with a great Dvar Torah (shoutout to Leba Schleiffer!) There were tons of movies being played, snacks going around and many sefarim being learned. A large group of us learned Perkei Avot on the back of the bus (shout out to Amira Pechet!) After a much needed Walmart stop, and a long but very smooth bus ride (shoutout to Paul, our bus driver!) we finally arrived at our home for the next 10 nights, the American Jewish University. Waiting for us at AJU was Rabbi David Katz, the Rosh Yeshiva at MMY, who flew all the way from Israel to spend a few days with us. We also met Dr. & Mrs. Luchins (Touro/NCSY Summer), Mr. & Mrs. Novak (Ben Zakai Foundation), Mr. Statman (Ben Zakai Foundation), and Mr. & Mrs. Becker (LA NCSY). Dr. Luchins told us fascinating stories and we can’t wait to hear more from him tomorrow! Thank you to Touro College for sponsoring a delicious Texas BBQ and for giving us each a Sefer as a gift…we can’t wait to learn more from them! After dinner, we boarded the busses one more time and we headed to Santa Monica Pier! The crowds of people filled the Pier and the sights were incredible. A group of us decided to go on the Ferris wheel. The first time around it was pretty scary and it was hard to look out but the second time around, and third, and fourth, all I could think was מה רבו מעשיך ה׳ a constant theme on this trip. After exploring the pier and just seeing the sights we came back to AJU. Although many hours were spent getting on and off the bus, there was never a dull moment throughout the entire day (Shoutout to Leah and Gavriela!!) No matter where we are we always have a blast on GIVE WEST!