Neve Wrap Up - Final Musings

The last few days of Neve Michael were filled with emotions. Tuesday, the older Kevutzot went to Luna Park. The kids and volunteers had a blast going on the exciting rides and spending time together around the park. The smiles on all the kids faces that day will forever be sketched in my mind and seeing how much fun the volunteers and kids were having together really made my summer. The highlight for me was being at the top of the Ferris wheel with two volunteers and one of my kids and looking out at the rest of the park and realizing that this summer we had truly made a difference. We gave these kids hope. We gave these kids the confidence to believe in themselves and push towards their dreams. And that is what I really wanted to accomplish this summer. To inspire dreams. Because so many of us in life have things we want to accomplish or goals we want to reach but we don’t have enough confidence in ourselves to chase them. Now all the kids at Neve Michael know that they have plenty of people ready to support them at every stop in life. No matter how difficult the circumstances, we will be there for them. Wednesday was our final day at Neve and everyone knew the time was ticking before we left back home to America. So, everyone spent the day with their kids and preparing for the final event taking place at night. Everyone worked so hard to make a great final event. The dinner was delicious and everyone had a blast. The ceremony that concluded the night was truly memorable. Ofri Ben-David and Shira Ben-David presented a comedic video depicting the differences between the Americans and the Israeli’s, Jordan Fields and his new friend Gavi spoke to the entire home, and Yael Simon displayed an amazing final montage of the entire summer at Neve Michael. Afterwards the Kevutzot gave presents to all the Volunteers and Khordinators. That’s when the tears started to flow and the emotions ran high. The kids spent the whole night hanging out with the volunteers until 5 A.M. when it was finally time to leave. While we were all sad to be leaving the home and all our kids, a new stage of our life officially began. Now we all realize what responsibility and friendship truly means. Now we know how important it is to look out for others and help those in need. Chesed is so important to our religion and daily life and this summer only proved that we are all capable of fulfilling it at a high level. Thank you to all the staff at Neve Michael for making us feel so welcome and we are so privileged to be apart of the Neve family. Thank you to Michael Reidler and Ezra Gontownik for all their hard work in organizing and making sure everything ran smoothly this summer. Without them, lives would not have been changed this summer. And lastly thank you to our amazing Khordinators: Josh Mayer, Shira Ben-David, Naomi Bouaziz, Yael Simon, and Aaron Hakkakian. Our khordinators are such tzaddikim and are true leaders of Am Yisrael. We owe so much of this summer’s success to them. We are all happy to be back with our families but we truly miss our new family in Pardes Chana so much.