The NCSYers played a night activity that we like to call “Scavengar Stunt,” which is basically a scavenger hunt… only with a few twists!

The players had to find items, solve riddles, and complete challenges, BUT, there was more –

Some players had their hands cuffed to each other, some players could only “moo” or “cluck” the entire game, some became the “Earl of Manchester,” and could only speak in a British accent the entire game, and at any point in time, an unsuspecting NCSYer could be given an “impromptu challenge” for bonus points, which included things like demonstrating what it means to be a water fountain through interpretive dance and humming their favorite tune with a mouth full of lollypops!

The winning team would get an ice cream party one night after curfew… who will win?  You’ll have to log back in and see!

Wishing a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Aryeh and Rebecca Steinfeld! We had a little birthday party tonight to celebrate and are looking forward to a great four weeks together! You guys and everyone else are AMAZING and have been making this totally the BEST.SUMMER.EVER!!!

What a first day for that 2014 icicles!  After a restful and relaxing (yeah right!) plane ride, we battled jet lag and set on our journey!

Our first stop was a BEAUTIFUL look out point over the Kinneret, where we made a LeChaim to our journey on some of Israel’s finest grape juice.  We then took in the beautiful view and headed riverside for barbecue where we found aravot – the kind that we use in our lulav growing naturally.  After a great first day, we now settle into our hotel for a little (but not too much) well deserved R&R to refresh for tomorrow!

Hey Everyone!

The 2014 Icicles have landed at Ben Gurion Airport and are PUMPED for an amazing day!!!

More updates coming soon – keep following the blog for more!

Hey Everyone!

Congrats!  

To Calil from Cali on winning our final “Getting to know you” contest on the facebook group… he is the raffle winner of a very precious “Get out of curfew free” card, which our amazing director Hal Levy totally agreed to before I made it the prize… hehe… 😉

We are lookin’ forward to meeting everyone tomorrow!!!

Hi Everyone!

Hey There ICE Israel!

Trip day is almost upon us… WOOO!!!

We have one last ICE breaker contest on the ICE 2014 fbook group, so go check for details, get to know your new friends, and a chance to win a “get out of curfew free” card!

Well, Hello There Everyone!

My name is Josh Munk, which I’m assuming you already know because it’s in bold in the title of this post.

A bit about me… hmm… well, I live in Miami Beach, FL, one of the most beautiful cities in the world, where we are on vacation all day!  Ok… maybe not all day, but it’s nice to have warm weather and palm trees :-)… Here in Miami Beach (if you’re from South Florida, you know there’s a BIG difference between Miami Beach and Miami…), I’m in an amazing yeshiva, studying to be a Rabbi, and I also teach middle and high school.  I love jet skiing and Torah, but I don’t bring my Gemarrah with me when I jet ski, because technically, that’s “texting” while driving 😉 … fun fact – the water has speed limits, too, and you can get a speeding ticket on a jet ski or boat!  I also love horseback riding (even though I’ve only been twice), boating, eating coconuts that fall off the trees here (yes, that actually happens), and – oh yeah, Torah!

This coming year will be my 5th year with NCSY, and I’ve been with the New England region (Go Stamford Chapter!), where I’m originally from, and now the West Coast region!  So, GO WEST COAST GO WEST COAST GO!!

I’m SUPER excited for ICE Israel 2014, which should be obvious to you, because I bolded the word “super” and put it in all caps.  I must admit, I’m a bit nervous, because I’ve never been on ICE Israel 2014 before, but then again, neither have you guys, so we’re all in the same boat 😉  (for those of you who didn’t get that joke, wait for it… no?  ok, if necessary, reread the sentence carefully a few times…)

Given that this is NCSY, I believe a large “woo” is necessary, perhaps with preceding words along the lines of “are you ready,” or some variation of the like, so here we go:

ARE. YOU. READY?????  WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, in all serious guys, I’m really, absolutely, totally, and (look in the dictionary and find another big word that means “really” and add it here) EXCITED to meet you all and work with this AWESOME staff that Hal and Yael put together to help make this summer your… wait for it…

BEST. SUMMER. EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CONGRATS!!!

To Max E. from California on winning our second “Getting to Know You” contest!  You will be the proud owner of a pair of NCSY earbuds to use on your BEST. SUMMER. EVER!!!

STAY TUNED everyone – one last contest will be posted on the ICE Israel 2014 facebook group tomorrow!!