By Yocheved T.
Throughout our summer break after a most incredible overnight Camp Gan Yisroel experience, most of the girls went to Sydney and some to Surfers Paradise. During that time we all got to tour Sydney and see beautiful beaches, go on hikes, and toured the opera house, harbour bridge and much more. Girls also did a camp at Chabad of NSW, Sydney as well as camp in Queensland and had a wonderful time, thank you Rabbi Elimelech Levy and Rabbi Nir Gurevitch!
During that time we had many amazing Shiurim given to us! One of the shiurim which was given by Rabbi Aaron Moss was about how you can learn something through the simplest things, - like a ferris wheel which when is on the bottom it seems as if you'll never be elevate until you do, but when you reach the top be mindful that you can descend back to the bottom. Another one was given by Rabbi Feldman who spoke about different people in Torah who took their own life situations and how they made the best of it, showing us how we too can do the same even in the most negative of times. The others were given by Rabbi Daddon, Rabbi Gurevitch and Rabbi Levy where we heard inspirational stories and lessons that really resonated with us, and that we can carry out through out life. We also had a real inspirational farbrengen on Hey Teves. Thank you to everyone who gave us all the inspirational shiurim, as they were really enjoyed!
After everyone got back to Melbourne, the girls from South Africa, Sydney, and Melbourne moved in. B"H everyone is settled and really making great connections!
For the past two weeks we had an amazing focused class program where we had many shiurim, and trips- like the ropes course, boating, and the outlook of the mornington peninsula! -The trips were incredible and great memories were made. Some of the shiurim that we had throughout the two weeks were about Shidduchim- given by Mrs. Lider. We also had classes on interpersonal relationships, effective communication, development of halacha, a JLI series on many practical issues, Practical Kashrus in stores around us, a Basi L'Gani series, and many more. Thank you to all the teachers who came to give us such amazing, pertinent, and important classes; we really enjoyed them!
Lastly this past Tuesday night Chof Daled Teves, we had an inspirational Farbrengen given by Rabbi Tenenbaum, where we spoke about why we're in seminary, and how we should utilize every single moment, because the transition from high school to seminary and onward is one that can affect the course of one's life. We also heard many mashalim, and stories that taught us to focus on what we can do now in the present, and to not focus on the past- focus on what you can do now to make an impact.
The following week we had an amazing break out for the next hachana program 5780! The Hachana is in honor of Yud shevat 70 years and have many wonderful learning opportunities, and much more installed into it. The program is for about two weeks and the grand prize is two tickets to New York for Chof Beis Shevat! Thank you to everyone who is making this amazing Hachana program happen.
In addition to the new Hachana program we have also had programs nightly in which we got inspiration and bonding time with one another. -From mug decorating, to the games our dorm counsellors organized, Rebbe time discussions, and finally to the Paanim we wrote this week. B"h everything is really kicking off great this semester and everyone is really making connections.
All in all, these last few weeks were full of gain, growth, and friendship! Looking forward to a great Shabbos and a great month and semester ahead!!
