![\"NCSY_art1\"](\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/NCSY_art1-300x194.jpg\")
Shoshana and Dr. Yitzchok Schechter heard about Hamas\u2019s rampant rocket attacks while driving their daughter to the airport. Ayelet, 15, was flying to Israel for NCSY\u2019s Michlelet program. Their son, Yoni, 17, had left the day before to learn in the NCSY Kollel. NCSY promised their children the \u201cbest summer ever.\u201d The Schechters expected nothing less.<\/p>\n
Neither one of us had the notion not to let them go,\u201d says Shoshana, assistant professor of Bible at Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women and director of the Basic Jewish Studies Program.<\/p>\n
Rocket fire is not a foreign concept to the Schechters. At the height of the Gulf War, Yitzchok decided to stay for the full year of learning at Yeshivat Kerem B\u2019Yavneh, unperturbed by the daily barrage of scud missiles. Shoshana, a Stern College student at the time, organized a plane full of classmates. They flew to Israel \u2013 solely to show their support.<\/p>\n
Their son\u2019s induction into current life in Israel came fast and personal. As Yoni and his Kollel group stood before the Kotel during their first night there, the scream of the missile-warning siren sounded. \u201cI asked him, \u2018What did you do,\u2019\u201d tells his mom. \u201c\u2019We ran for cover,\u2019 he told me. \u2018But you\u2019re at the Kotel; where do you run?\u2019 He said they found an arch and put their hands over their head.\u2019\u201d She asked her son if he was afraid. \u201cHe told me, \u2018for the first couple of seconds it was scary, but then I looked around and saw all types of Jews; we were all in this together. I felt this is where I wanted to be.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
A lesson their children are living by. Yoni, along with the other Kollel boys, have dedicated their learning to individual chayalim<\/em>, and each chabura<\/em> is learning for specific army units. Ayelet and her Michlelet friends put together care packages for an army base, consisting of requested items such as soap, shampoo, socks, candy, chocolates, as well as personal letters of encouragement and gratitude.<\/p>\n With the participants\u2019 safety in mind, NCSY transferred\u00a0the Kollel and Michlelet programs to the northern city of Chispin, in the heart of the Golan. Most of the programs\u2019 dedicated teachers travel three and a half hours to get to the students.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a tough situation; NCSY had to change their entire itinerary,\u201d says Shoshana. \u201cOn one level I feel badly they aren\u2019t having the experience that they would have had. But they are all thrilled to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n According to the Schechters, their children are acquiring firsthand knowledge of the kind of life-balance one has to maintain when surrounded by violent enemies. \u201cThey\u2019re banana boating on the Kineret and making camouflage tzistzis for the chayalim<\/em>, playing basketball and saying Tehillim, going to waterparks, and making shiva calls,\u201d says Shoshana. \u201cThey\u2019re also creating stronger bonds with each other because of the difficult situation.\u201d<\/p>\n The Schechters say they feel more personally connected to Israel knowing their children are there. One Erev Shabbat, Yoni called after having paid a shiva call to a family of a fallen IDF soldier. He told her repeatedly, \u201cMommy, he\u2019s a year older than I am.\u201d Ayelet shared how the chayalim couldn\u2019t get over the fact that American girls came to Israel during wartime when they could have easily stayed at home, and that they were so happy to be there. \u201cThey\u2019re sacrificing their lives for our land and our people,\u201d she said, \u201cand they\u2019re thanking us for coming to show we care.\u201d<\/p>\n The Schechters acknowledge that once the program ends, leaving Israel won\u2019t be easy for their children. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be very hard to watch the news [and be so far away]. [Nonetheless], it\u2019s a real zechus to be there now. It\u2019s an experience they will carry with them forever.\u201d<\/p>\n NCSY\u00a0Summer 2014 update<\/strong>: Both the Kollel and Michlelet programs have returned to the Jerusalem area.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Shoshana and Dr. Yitzchok Schechter heard about Hamas\u2019s rampant rocket attacks while driving their daughter to the airport. Ayelet, 15, was flying to Israel for NCSY\u2019s Michlelet program. Their son, Yoni, 17, had left the day before to learn in the NCSY Kollel. NCSY promised their children the \u201cbest summer ever.\u201d The Schechters expected nothing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":37178,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration","category-israel"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"NCSY_sum_slide\"](\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/NCSY_sum_slide-300x194.jpg\")
\u201cThey are connecting to Eretz Yisrael, Torat Yisrael, and Am Yisrael in a deeper way than they would have, had they gone on the program at another time,\u201d says Shoshana. Their father concurs. \u201cIsrael is not just a place where you go for fun and vacation,\u201d says Yitzchok, a clinical psychologist, director of the Center for Applied Psychology in Monsey, and one of the original participants of the NCSY Kollel. \u201cChazal <\/em>teach us that we have to also participate in the sorrow of the Jewish people.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"NCSY_art3\"](\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/NCSY_art3-300x220.jpg\")
Due to the current\u00a0turbulent situation,\u00a0of the 1,105 teens who signed up for Summer 2014, only 535 of them actually went to Israel; two of the ten\u00a0programs\u00a0brought NCSY’s summer\u00a0inspiration elsewhere. \u00a0The 206 participants who signed up for The Jerusalem Journey (TJJ),\u00a0relocated\u00a0to the West Coast and EURO ICE remained in Europe, cancelling its stop to the Holy Land.<\/p>\n