YK Tzeirei HaShluchim 5774: Bullets, Pizza, and Good Bye (The Last Day!!)

The last day of yeshivas kayitz began with a late wake up (7:30 am, you take what you can get), followed by choko, davening and breakfast (in that order). From there we continued on to merkas haeretz (basically means places nearish to Tel Aviv) for The Last Day....

Group photo of the Mivtza Torah participants

The first stop of the day was the bullet museum. It is basically an old bullet factory used in the late forties by the Jews to make bullets. Because we were still under the British tyranny all bullet making had to be done in secret. That's why the whole factory is underground. We accessed the factory through a secret (not anymore) entrance by the bakery. It was actually very interesting to hear all of the mesiras nefesh that the bullet makers had in order to make bullets. They showed us the bullet making process, and even let us look at real life bullets. After the tour we got time to buy boss bullet necklaces (definitely the best souvenir), and then it was time for lunch. Lunch consisted of half a family sized pie of pizza per person (if there is pizza by the banquet I'm gonna hurt someone), and unlimited refills of soda and seltzer. After lunch we went to Kfar Chabad to finish the day.

My personal highlight of kfar chabad (other than 770) was the tour of Roeber's Leather Binding factory. We were personally greeted by the interim CEO Benzi Roeber who took time out of his fruitful and busy day to show us around. He showed us every inch of the binding process, and explained how everything is hand made and beautifully crafted and formed to perfection. That man is an artist if I ever saw one. We got time to buy beautiful souvenirs (now I know why they cost so much), and then it was time to head over to Masadat 770 for the Banquet.

The Banquet was a full-on 3 course feast with all sorts of salads, chicken, and shnitzel. The set up was first class, it looked like a Razag bar mitzvah. In addition to all of the amazing food we even had a booth constantly make freshly squeezed orange juice for us, talk about good service. 30 minutes into the banquet they awarded the staff with their well deserved gift: Leather bound Rambam and Bose in-ear noise cancelling headphones (first free canteen now this, these guys are spoiled). Once the staff got their gifts it was time for us to get ours. They awarded everything from mivtza torah, to mivtza Rambam, to the championship winners. The prizes consisted of leather Chayenu covers, leather bound mincha-maarivs (no wonder Benzi Roeber was in such a good mood), and seforim certificates. After the awards ceremony they showed us the best camp (sorry I forgot, yeshivas kayitz) video ever made. It was 10 minutes of pure fun filled, chassidishkite infused, barbadedum (inside joke), goodness compiled into a video. It was a great way to finish off the banquet.

After dessert and bentching we had time to consolidate our luggage to fit on the planes, and prepare for our long journey home. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone, I made so many new friends here. In between the heartfelt goodbyes and the mandatory selfies, I somehow managed to pack a delicious cold cut sandwich for my long flight back home. We boarded the buses and headed to Ben Gurion airport. They say its only a 15 minute ride from kfar chabad to the airport, but it felt like an eternity. What a great summer.

So I'm home now, and just starting to adjust to real life. BH when I walk down the streets of CH it is sounding more and more like Eretz Yisroel, but it's not the same. The memories from this summer will stay with me forever, and if not that's what the blog is for. So enjoy the pics and have a K'siva V'Chasima Tova.