Yarchei Kallah Atmosphere
Last night, I enjoyed one of the most gratifying experiences of my life. I received a call from an advisor that one of her NCSYers was in a real jam. Her grandmother, in an effort to be supportive of the girl’s growth in Judaism, had gone to no small trouble and expense to purchase kosher chicken and meat. However, due to the grandmother’s own inexperience, the meat was inadvertently prepared in a way that might have rendered it impermissible. What a situation for a young girl, newly observant, to find herself in! Should she eat kosher meat that might or might not have been rendered non-kosher in cooking? Should she bite the hand that was literally feeding her and risk losing her grandmother’s support? Was there perhaps a third option?
The girl called her advisor, who called me. It was 10:30 at night and I put her in touch with Rav Sobolofsky, a Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva University. Suffice it to say that the situation was satisfactorily resolved; however that’s not what’s important here. Imagine the impact that it has on a teenage girl from the Midwest, struggling with her Judaism in an environment that is not conducive to it, to be given that kind of attention from a Rosh Yeshiva and Talmid Chacham.
That’s just one more of the many facets of the magic that is NCSY. Where else can teens connect with such personalities? Here at the NCSY National Yarchei Kallah (where I am writing this), teens are learning up close and personal with the likes of Rabbi Menachem Nissel, Or David’s Rabbi Yosef Granofsky, YU’s Rabbi Zev Reichman, and others, and to hear from such speakers as Rabbi Yitzchak Feigenbaum, Rabbi Yitzchok Breitowitz and Rebbitzen Esther Jungreis (And let us not forget the OU’s own Dr. David and Vivian Luchins!) Yes, few things in life are more gratifying than connecting teens with Torah as shared by impressive Torah personalities.
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