NESTO - Native English-Speaking Teen Olim
Sukkot Tiyulim at NESTO
The senior tiyul began at 9:15 in the Israel Center. Our first stop was a ranch in Hadera where we had a chance to ride the horses for over an hour under the watchful eye of Dani. By 1:00 everyone was famished and we made our way down the road to Kibbutz Sdot Yam where we were treated to a 3-course meal in the Sukka. We were lucky to have with us one of our previous madrichim Ari who told a beautiful story and related it to various ideas about the Chag. When everyone had eaten their fil,l we made our way onto a glass-bottom boat for a tour along the lake with a great view of the old city of Ceasaria. We then had time to play around in the water, look for shells and relax in the sun. After Mincha we boarded the buses and made our way to a glass factory and workshop we left from there for home where we arrived with that happy but exhausted post Tiyul high!!

The Following day, we began our Junior Tiyul at the Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem. 37 shouting bouncing NESTOers and about 10 nervous-looking Madrichim. We ate lunch as soon as we arrived and then the fun began. We split up into a number of smaller groups and armed with our Zoo quiz we made our way, joining the throngs of other Chol Hamoed Zoo-goers. As well as answering the 12 questions prepared by someone with a questionable sense of humor, we also had to fit in as many animal feeding sessions as we possibly could. We made friends with many of the zoo keepers trying to find out the answers to questions such as which is the smallest animal in the Zoo, how many teeth does a Hippo have. After two exhausting hours of walking around the Zoo, we gathered at the entrance made a quick trip to the gift store before getting on the bus to take us back to the Israel Center.

Upon our return and Mincha we had a chance to see the original and creative answers that each team had to contribute. We then had to write and produce a group song about the Zoo and the things we had seen that day. We made our way down to the Israel Center Sukkah for as much pizza as we could eat and a Dvar Torah from Chaim. We finished off the day just as it was beginning to get dark. Four of our Madrichim presented them- selves as four different types of Jews all stuck in an air-balloon, only one had the chance to survive. After each madrich had presented their case, everyone had a chance to ask them questions and debate their merit. We concluded the peula by comparing the different personalities to the different qualities found within the four species we use of Sukkot each with their own value but only complete as a whole.

The Israel Center's youth program for Anglo-Israelis, tel. 566-7787 ext. 250 • fax: 561-7432chaveabrahams@hotmail.com • Chaim Pelzner, Director; Chave Herschberg, Coordinator; Mimi Edel, Bat Sherut • NESTO is partially funded by the Jewish Agency for Israel

Israel Center Notes: -
Re: The Israel Center and Torah Tidbits
NOTICE: The OU Israel Center and Torah Tidbits do not necessarily endorse the political or halachic opinions of its advertisers, nor to we guarantee their quality of service.

The Israel Center's Beth Din to adjudicate and arbitrate monetary disputes, according to Jewish law There is a registration fee of 200nis per case No other charges for this service Please call 566-7787 ext. 204 for further information We have forms for two types of cases: Those where both parties agree to submit their dispute to the Beth Din, and those where a complainant wants the Beth Din to summon the second party. Yitzhak Fund, Esq. • Rabbi Emanuel Quint Chairpersons , Ita Rochel, Admistrator

Kashrut Questions
If you find a discrepancy between the Hebrew labeling and the original packaging... or if you have any other OU kashrut questions, call this toll-free number (from Israel to NY) 1-800-949-0123 From 4:00pm - midnight, you get a human; other times, leave a voice- message OU Kashrut in Israel office at the Center: 5667787

Israel Center Cafe
After nourishing the soul, come nourish the body serving coffee, sandwiches, toasts, pizza, french fries, salads, eggs, stuffed potatoes, lasagna, soups... and more Located on the lower level of the Israel Center Hours: Sun.-Thu. - 10:00am - 3:00pm Ask about our catering services on or off the Center premises

Thirsty? We now have a hot drinks machine with coffee, tea, & hot chocolate located on the ground floor, and a cold drinks (cans) machine on the first floor near the library.

Torah Tidbits and Israel Center This 'n That
Let’s start with mega-apologies.
First to David HaMelech for calling him Avraham on the Ushpizin page. The picture was of a king with crown and harp, but the name of the seventh evening’s main invitee was inadvertently left as Avraham. And to make it worse, David’s name was correctly left out of the list of the “other” 6 invitees for Hoshana Rabba.

Apologies for the flip of three of the BackPages pages, which made it very difficult to follow the schedule of activities at the Center for Sukkot week and ISRU CHAG. The schedule straightened out for the week of Shabbat B’reishit.

And (we shouldn’t mention this problem because not every copy of TT had the problem, but we’re into the apology mode, so we might as well come clean) apologies for those copies that were missing a sheet completely.
And finally, and most seriously, we are sorry for the error in the havdala time for Motza’ei Shabbat & Simchat Torah. At least our time was later rather than earlier than it should have been. (The Motza’ei Yom Kippur time was listed by mistake.)

We hope that despite these errors, you found the Sukkot - Simchat Torah issue helpful and informative. And even a little fun. The feedback we received about the issue, especially the Pull-Out section, was quite positive. Several shuls reported missing pages from the Pull-Out. This was NOT due to our mess-up, but rather to Hebrew-speaking people who pulled out the Hoshanot, Hakafot, and other parts of the Pull-Out section. Speaking of feedback - we can use a little more on the Sukkot Pull-Out pages to determine which are the more popular ones and which are not that helpful to large numbers of people. If we decide to cut out some of them, we’d like to make an informed decision as to what stays and what can go. If you would be kind enough to give us feedback, you can email to tt@ou.org or call 566-7787 ext. 207 and leave a message if you don’t get a human being answering. Thanks in advance.

For those readers who were not around the Center during Sukkot, we just wanted to tell you about the Center’s two Sukkot. We had one on the mirpeset off the third floor (most people don’t get to the third floor altogether). Two years ago, we were so new in the building that we didn’t have a Sukka up there. Last year we did, and it was made of a wooden frame and “sukka cloth” walls. This year, thanks to the generosity of the Levmores, we had permanent metal and glass sliding window walls installed. They gave the Sukka a very cozy feel. We have plans to roof the Sukka with removeable panels so that we will be able to use the Sukka-porch as a large room for various purposes during the year. In addition, we built a fairly large Sukka in the part of the Center’s “back yard” that is not under the trees. This allowed us to have two activities at one time, both of which required a Sukka. And they were both well used over the Chag. See the big report on the Center’s activities over Sukkot in the Israel Center Scene, elsewhere in this issue of Torah Tidbits.

ISRAEL CENTER SCENE • A Review of recent Israel Center Activities • OU Israel Center Director, Menachem Persoff reporting:
The recent period of Sukkot saw - once again - a full and rich series of events being run by (and in most cases being held at) the Seymour J. Abrams Orthodox Union Jerusalem World Center.

Arba Minim Sale
This year the Center put on its annual Arba Minim sale in the garden, which was a huge success. The dozens of satisfied customers were especially impressed by the overall quality of the “s’chora” (merchandise). Moreover they commented on the high level of service and the patience of the young salespeople who took time to explain the meaning of everything - and even to provide "ringelech" for the lulavim!

NCSY Training Seminar
In the spirit in which the original Israel Center was established, some 35 young men from N. America studying in Israel (all graduates of NCSY) attended a residential seminar at the Center filled with Torah, Tefilla, and lectures on Jewish leadership during first days of Chag Sukkot. They were the first to use the newly furbished Sukka on the Roof, recently donated by Bernard and Lori Levmore, longtime honorary officers of the OU.

During the last days of the Chag, another group of 40 girls participated in a similar experience at the Israel Center.

A "Zula" special
In time- honored fashion, yet another 150 young men and women spent Motzei Chag (first day) listening to the throngs of "tarbukot" (drums) and guitars of several local bands who played music a la Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach z”l. The guest players incorporated words of wisdom and solace, chassidic stories, and other "maiselach" during the all-night performance which attracted newcomers and old-timers alike to the Israel Center's Drop-in Center for Youth.

"Mibreishit" for Teenagers
As a follow-up to the OU Israel Center's extremely successful summer camp activities for the youth of Yesha (held in conjunction with Rabbi Moti Elon's new community organization "Mibreishit"), some 350 teenagers (grades 9-11) spent a day touring Ir David, celebrating Simhat Bet Hasho'eva, learning, and hearing inspirational words from Rav Elon, during the first day of Chol HaMo'ed Sukkot. Director of the project Rafi Danan added: "These activities for older teenagers will hopefully mark the beginning of an ongoing program that will supplement already existing frameworks and provide spiritual programming and emotional support to thousands of kids in this age group."

Tiyulim Overbooked!
In a surprising development, all the Israel Center's tours this Sukkot were booked solid with disappointed visitors having to be turned away. "Who said there is no tourism?" remarked OU Travel Desk operator, Sara Kern. Tours ranged from bee farms and Tnuva dairies to the sites of the Mishkan, Shilo, Ras al Amud (Har Hazeitim) and Kever Rachel. The OU Israel Center Travel Desk also arranged for tens of travelers to find accommodations at hotels during Sukkot.

NESTO - Native English-Speaking Teen Olim
...does it again. The Israel Center's program for English speaking kids is on a roll. The Sukkot programs were jammed solid as full buses took the seniors on tour to Caesaria and the juniors to the Biblical Zoo for their Sukkot outings. "All the kids on these programs are accompanied by madrichim (including volunteers) who build personal relationships with the youngsters and ensure that their programs include strong Jewish content," notes program co-ordinator Chavi Herschberg.

A Whole Day of Spitituality
The Israel Center's Institute for Jewish Value Education, under the direction of Rabbi David Derovan, hosted a 12- hour Colloquium to examine the meaning of spirituality in our day. Lectures, attended by over 100 participants, included such intriguing topics as the relationship between Kabbala, Creation and Science (Prof. Nathan Aviezer) and the spiritual system of the Aish Hakodesh, the Piaseczna Rebbe (Rabbi Zvi Blobstein). A special Anthology to mark the occasion was published by the Institute.

Beit Kharkov on the Run
It's hard to keep up with the activities of the OU Kharkov graduates in Israel. Following on the footsteps of family hostings on Rosh Hashana and a special Shabbaton for senior girls on Shabbat Shuva, two busloads of these young olim traversed the Land during Chol Hamo'ed, joining with hundreds of other Israel Center kids in a Simchat Bet Hasho'eva program on Erev Hoshana Rabba, staying overnight in Kefar Haroeh for a programme of learning, and then spending Shmini Atzeret/Simchat Torah in the settlement of Kedumim. In these days, the Beit Kharkov team in Israel, under the direction of Chaim Pelzner, is also busy finding suitable religious educational frameworks for the youngsters who have just arrived in the country.

NCSY in Israel -Makom BaLev
Chapters on the Move. Following fast on the establishment of our twelfth chapter of Makom Balev in Kiryat Gat, the 400 young people in the OU Israel Center's youth club program picnicked and rode bikes in (safe) forests in the center of the country during Chol Hamo'ed. The climax of this program was the extravaganza Simchat Bet Hasho'eva (together with Bet Kharkov participants) in the develop- ment town of Ramle. Says project director Yisrael Goren, "The goal is not only to give the kids an extremely enlightening religious experience but also to ensure that the Makom Balevers contribute towards a meaningful Sukkot in one of Israel's more down- trodden neighborhoods." Indeed, yet another 100 local youngsters at this event joined the Israel center kids.

...and at the Center Itself
Phil Chernofsky, Educational Director of the OU Israel Center, noted: "We never stop our regular program." And in that spirit, there were shiurim each morning of Chol HaMoed (thank you Joel L.), in addition to special programs. Just to ensure that the Center was not forgotten during Chol Hamo'ed Phil produced a super-size edition of Torah Tidbits, the OU Israel Center's popular Parsha magazine, replete with guides for davening, kiddush, Hoshanot, and various other useful items to enable everyone to get through Sukkot successfuly.

Women and girls of (almost) all ages got into the ZMAN SIMCHATEINU mood on Sunday night of Chol HaMoed with Tofa’ah’s Simchat Beit HaSho’eiva - by women, for women.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe turns to Freud (to treat lowness of spirit). The Israel Center had standing room only for this ever-so-successful panel on a most unusual liaison between the fifth Rebbe and the famous psychiatrist, Sigmund Freud. Dr. Joseph Burke and Professor Stanley Schneider kept the audience enthralled as they tapped into the inner motivations that underpinned the meetings of two minds from two contrasting worlds.

Hoshana Rabba Eve
The Center's Chol HaMo’ed activities were appropriately topped off on Erev Hoshana Rabba with a reception in our Sukka on the Roof (well, it’s actually on the mirpeset off the third floor, but with most of the Center’s action taking place on lower floors, it can rightly be referred to as our Sukkah on the Roof), followed by a series of excellent shiurim by Rabbi Reuven Aberman, who spoke about the last 8 (or 12) p’sukim of the Torah, Rabbi Sholom Gold, who brilliantly continued his inadvertent series on What the Ushpizin would say in our Sukkot this year, Rabbi Nachum Amsel who explored the Torah view on Capital Punishment, Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo, who presented an interesting side of Judaism and Feminism, and Rabbi Efraim Sprecher who explained why the United Nations will celebrate Sukkot in the time of Mashiach. There were refreshments served in the Sukka throughout the program, and Hoshanaot were for sale during the evening, as well. Close to 200 people participated in the Leil Hoshana Rabba programs.

Wishing all Torah Tidbits readers a “Good Vinter” as the saying goes.

For the year 5763, we wish you
1 year of Happiness; 13 months of Health; 55 weeks of Prosperity; 385 days of Peace; 9240 hours of Safety ; 554,400 minutes of Mazal; 33,264,000 seconds of Sweetness