News from Yeshivat Netiv Aryeh

In This Issue Best of Beshalach, Yitro, Mishpatim, Tetzaveh, Ki Tisa 5768 Spotlight on Yeshiva: Alumni return for college break Spotlight on Yeshiva: Alumni return for college break Spotlight on Yeshiva: Alumni Shabbat by Daniel Bukingolts (5765-66), Currently studying in YU, Spotlight on Yeshiva: Majoring in Finance Emunah Seminar Watching the sun rise over the Kotel is a very revitalizing Sports Update experience for someone who just went though a week of Spotlight on Alumni: YNA finals. To be able to come home to the place where I spent Alumni Family are there two years learning and growing has helped me for each other tremendously while back in America. Someone asked how Spotlight on Yeshiva: Lipa it feels to be back in Israel and I told them that to me, Schmeltzer Makes Suprise being in America is always exciting; I go to YU, I am in a Visit torah atmosphere in which I have the perfect balance of being able to learn and study and also have a tremendous amount of fun. However, in Israel, regardless of whether or not you're in yeshiva, there is a feeling of truth to life which one cannot experience anywhere else.

The alumni visiting the Yeshiva for winter break had two very thrilling and moving experiences this past week. On Sunday, we had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Tzfat, Meiron, Nahariya, Amuka, and Bnei Brak. First we went to Nahariya to hear Rav David Abuchatzeira shlit'a speak and then had a few minutes to receive personal blessings and ask him questions. Next we went to Meiron where we davened at the grave of Rav Shimon Bar Yochai and then in Tzfat we went into the mikvah of the Ari z"l. From there we traveled to Amuka and prayed at the grave of the tanna Rav Yonatan ben Uziel. In Beni Brak we had the privilege to see and hear Rav Chaim Kanievski shlit'a. On Tuesday night Rav Nebenzahl shlit'a hosted us in his home in the Old City for singing and divrei torah. Over 40 alumni sang along with and listened to Rav Nebenzahl and afterwards he answered our questions which ranged from whether or not we could say tehillim for a test we have the next day to intricacies having to do with the shmitta year. Rav Bina will also be taking all the alumni out for dinner this week, and judging by last year's dinner, this one should also be quite amazing.

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It is nice to be able to escape the reality of work and college to come back and visit Netiv Aryeh. As Rav Bina says, we visit to "re-charge" our batteries in order to come back more equipped to tackle the challenges in America. Visiting anywhere in Israel leaves an impact on your life, but nothing continues to change my life more than returning and learning on the porch of Netiv Aryeh over looking the Kotel and breathing in the holy air of the Old City.

Spotlight on Yeshiva: Alumni Shabbat

by Yossi Davis (5767), Currently studying in YU

If They Only Understood When I walked into Rav Bina's office after davening last Thursday morning, all I really wanted to do was say hello. I knew that he would be very busy, especially because he had just gotten back from America, but a quick hello would do just fine. So, I knocked on the door, and stepped into the office. I got my hello, but as I walked out of Rav Bina's office, one foot already out the door, I got something I did not expect. Rav Bina asked me to speak at the Friday night oneg of Alumni Shabbat.

At first I was flattered. When alumni Shabbat came around last year, my Shana Alef year, I remembered admiring the alumni, looking up to them. They were insightful, charismatic, funny, and exactly whom I would have pictured as role models. To think that Rav Bina had asked me to speak as one of these alumni was great, but was I really one of those alumni? I was no role model. As I walked out of Rav Bina's office surprised that I had agreed to speak, I immediately panicked. I had no idea what I could say to all of my friends and the Shana Alef students. So, I asked them.

Some of my friends told me that they needed to hear about how hard life is in college. Others said they wanted to hear some stories and jokes. Still, others said they felt a discussion of priorities was important. While each of those ideas sounded good, I had a couple of friends who told me to just speak about what was most important to me, something that I could really speak about passionately. After thinking for quite a while about what I really cared about, what really mattered to me, I decided that every idea I had, ended at the same destination.

Before I knew it, Friday night had arrived and I was sitting in the back of an extremely crowded, dark beit midrash. The singing had already started and all of the alumni had finished speaking. As I listened to all the voices singing loudly in unison, I thought about what each alumnus had said. One talked about desire, another about appearance, and yet another about pressure. I spoke about being self-motivated. Each speech was unique and yet they all seemed to have the same underlying idea: each of us attributed our successes, whatever it might have been, to Netiv Aryeh, and the dedicated rabbeim.

We each had our own messages, but in the end it all came down to our mutual love of the place that we had each come back to for our vacation. As alumni, we came back to Yeshiva because coming back was all we could think about since the last time we had left. I realized that this was what Alumni Shabbat was all about. It wasn't necessarily about the advice that we would be giving, or the stories that we would be telling. Rather it was about the example we would be setting.

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By coming to speak to current students, I wasn't giving them advice. I was giving them a living example of how much I would have liked to be in their positions. Regardless of what I said, by just being there I was letting them know how fortunate they were. That must have been why I was asked to speak. I am no great orator. I am not exceptionally humorous, or fiercely witty. I am, however, in love with my Yeshiva, a place that prepared me for the life I now lead. It was this love that I was meant to convey when I spoke.

After the Alumni Shabbat oneg was over and the students all ran downstairs to gobble up some of the nosh, I couldn't help but feel a bit nostalgic. I had run down those very same stairs in pursuit of the post-oneg pastries. I had chatted with my friends about how funny some of the speeches were. I had been a student at Netiv Aryeh just the past year, and now I was one of the alumni, still waiting in the dark and empty beit midrash.

If they only knew how much it meant to us alumni. If they only knew how much the dirty dormitories, the crowded beit midrash, the spirited singing, and the crazy schedules meant to us. Sooner or later they would be standing in my position. Sooner or later they would understand.

Spotlight on Yeshiva: Emunah Seminar

Last weekend, all of the shana alef students in the Yeshiva went to the homes of their shiur Rebbeim to spend Shabbat. This offered them a unique opportunity to spend time with their Rebbe and his family in a more personal atmosphere. The beautiful singing, achdut, and Dvrei Torah only added to the casual table talk that resulted in their getting to know their Rebbe's other family. It was definitely a Shabbat that they will remember for a long time to come.

Sports Update

59 teams started the tag football season. When the dust settled for the playoffs last weekend, all four Netiv teams were there in the final 16, and three of them moved on to the elite eight.

This Friday morning, the two shana alef teams will be playing each other for the chance to move on (Kickoff 10:05 AM at Kraft Stadium). The remaining shana bet team,Orli Print, will be vying for the chance to face the winner of that game (Motzei Shabbat 8:40 PM Kraft Stadium) when they play the legendary perennial contenders Big Blue. We will B"ezrat Hashem post an update next week.

Scores: (YNA teams in bold)

Armitron45 - Madscan 18 Park Family Patriots27 - Derech Etz Chaim 19 Bonkers Bagels6 - Travaglini 45 Orli Print39 - Jerry's Kids 35

Spotlight on Alumni: YNA Alumni Family are there for each other

by Daniel Lowenstein

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I am often told that one of the biggest problems when people choose a career is that they don't really know what they are getting themselves into. This is especially true when it comes to the medical profession. So many people go into medicine with the wrong idea of what it is really like.

This past week, the Netiv Aryeh community in YU hosted an event where three medical students came to speak to us undergrads about what being in medical school is really like. We had 3rd year and 4th year Einstein students, as well as a second year Downstate student speak to us. We got to hear what each of them wished they had known in our position and then got to ask them all of our questions. It was extremely informative and I got a lot of my questions answered. They also gave us their number and said that we can call them for advice any time. Danny Waltuch said "it gave us all rare insight into the lives of the guys who go the distance. We all felt a stronger sense of direction and guidance from our Netiv brothers." I think we are all better prepared as a result.

Spotlight on Yeshiva: Lipa Schmeltzer Makes Suprise Visit

One of the benefits of being located in the Kotel Plaza is that you never know who might drop by after visiting the Kotel.

Last Shabbat, Lipa Schmeltzer made a suprise visit to the Yeshiva at the Shabbat morning kiddush. He even sang a rendition of his famous "Diet Song."

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Sincerely,

HaRav Aharon Bina, Netiv Aryeh Yeshivat Netiv Aryeh

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