Post-Pesach Tiyul

Welcome Back from Pesach vacation!

As a fantastic addition to the normal schedule, we partcipated in a two-day tiyul last week .

Additionally, Rabbi Yossela started a new class about "Tefilla" which is very interesting.

We partook in a meaningful tekes for Yom HaShoah and commemorated the day by a memorable activity.

Also, Rabbi Motty Berger from Aish Hatorah gave a special lecture that turned into a discussion about "Can the Jewish people disappear?"

All in all another great week!

Below are photos from the tiyul and some additional updates.

Enjoy!

The Shalem Staff.

Pre-Pesach Volunteering and learning

Some of us later contributed of ourselves by volunteering at the "Chazon Yishaaya" soup kitchen and helped pack around 10,000 packages for "Kimcha D'pischa" - making sure that Holocaust survivors and other poor people receive food for Pesach. WOW, that was amazing!

Additionally, Rav Yossela reviewed the halachot of Pesach with us, reminding us what to clean, how to clean, and what to do with the remainder of our chametz. He taught us the halachot of Mechirat Chametz, including how exactly to go about it, and talked to us about the timeframe of Bedikat Chametz and Biur Chametz.

We accomplished all this while continuing to learn our regular Judaic classes and volunteering. In short, what a great first two weeks in Jerusalem! Can't wait for more!!

Purim and Moving to Jerusalem (Mid-March)

This week was so much fun. It began with Purim and, as you know, in Israel, there are two Purim's - on the 14th of Adar and on the 15th of Adar (Shushan Purim). Some of us had a great seuda in our apartments in Arad and some of us went to Yerushalayim on Sunday and did not celebrate that day. On Monday we all came to Jerusalem in the morning and had an awesome Seudat Purim with Rav Yossela in Beit Ar-El. Afterwards we scattered to participate in the different exciting Purim events in Yerushalayim and had lots of fun.







We then went back to Arad and had a "Last night in Arad" celebration. We cleaned our apartments and then headed to our new home in Jerusalem on Wednesday.



WOW! It's so great to be in Jerusalem, just breathing in the spiritual air all around! The campus is beautiful and the neighborhood is so peaceful. It is exhilarating living in the heart of the city! Although a few things were missing from the apartments when we first moved in, they were replaced quickly by the really great staff. Some of us even went to the mikvah with Rav Yossela to toivel new keilim!



Last week we had an interesting sicha with Rav Yossela about the need to continuously and actively try to enhance our lives religiously and spiritually. He discussed with us the ability we have to take control of our lives and look to the future. We had some great learning, both Judaic and secular, and we are very excited to meet or new teachers in Jerusalem.



Our madricha Moran has been very helpful, warm, and cheerful. This Shabbat is our first in Jerusalem as a group and we look forward to a fun Shabbat B'Yachad! This is going to be a great change! These new surroundings will hopefully enable us to continue to grow spiritually and mature into the leaders and Jewish adults we want to be. We are going to make the most of the little time have left!