Gabriel Barishansky of Teaneck and Ezra Teichman of Monsey Participated in Yom NCSY

GABRIEL BARISHANSKY OF TEANECK AND EZRA TEICHMAN OF MONSEY PARTICIPATED IN YOM NCSY, A GATHERING OF 1,000 TEENS WHO SPENT SUMMER
IN ISRAEL ON OU PROGRAMS

Ezra (left) and Gabriel at Yom NCSY

Gabriel Barishansky, 17, of Teaneck, and Ezra Teichman, 16 of Monsey, participated in Yom NCSY, held near Jerusalem, in which more than 1,000 teens who were in Israel on one of NCSY’s 11 different summer trips, gathered to celebrate the glorious times they have experienced.
NCSY is the international youth program of the Orthodox Union.
Gabriel and Ezra were both on the Kollel program. “The learning here is very different from school,” Gabriel says. “We’re learning for the sake of learning — not for tests. That makes it a lot more enjoyable. It’s really pressure free. NCSY Kollel always hires the best madrichim (advisors). They’re older guys. They’re cool. They’re great at basketball. And they love learning. This program helped me a lot religiously. You can be religious and you can be cool.”
Gabriel remembers hiking up Har Shlomo in the Red Canyon near Eilat. “We started hiking up the mountain at 4:00 a.m. It was dark out. When we got to the top it was time to daven. We could put on our tefillin. The sun was just coming up over the desert mountains. It was an overall enjoyable experience with beautiful davening.”
Ezra who remembers being at the Kotel on Tisha B’Av. “We have a kumsitz and sing in the open area near the Kotel. It’s very inspiring and it’s cool because the entire Kollel goes. There are also people who happen to be in Israel and have heard about our kumsitz. It was my favorite part of the summer,” he says.