Working Up An Appetite

At Derech Etz Chaim, our students develop a strong hunger for Gemara and a thirst for Torah knowledge. Naturally, this spiritual appetite of the soul manifests itself in the physical appetite of their digestive systems.

Here we have shana bet students (left to right) Yeruchum Pliner, Adam Siebzener, Sam Ash and Meir Gersten loading up on refreshments before sitting down to review the first perek of mesechet Gittin in R' Moshe Eliyahu's shiur

Tiyul to Ein Gedi and the Dead Sea

Our first full-day tiyul started off in Ein Gedi. Our fearless tour guide and DEC alumni Danny Sokol took us through lots of water on a very hot day in Ein Gedi. The views were stunning, but more importantly, the guys got to see first hand where all of their Ein Gedi water bottles come from.
We all got back in the bus and headed a little further south to the Dead Sea. We round a pretty deserted spot on the beach and we all went in for a float. Below we have Adam Siebzener, Avraham Trieger and Joshua Gersten showing off the Dead Sea's buoyancy powers.


We finished off the evening with a barbeque on the beach. The guys had an awesome time. Yeruchum Pliner, a shana bet student said that the tiyul was probably the best tiyul he had ever been on since coming to Derech Etz Chaim, then he paused, thought for a minute and said, "Well, maybe tied with the Golan tiyul at the end of last year."

On the Derech - Off to a Great Start

The students trickled in on Monday and got settled in. By Tuesday we had our first morning seder. Below is R' Mendel holding court in his newly renovated shiur room, with from (left to right) Rafi Abraham, Sean Littman, Jeffrey Small, Jeffrey Mally, Jack Goldberg
Next we have R' Gittleman learning with Adam Siebzener the first blatt of mesechet Gitten, waiting for the other shana betters to arrive. Look at R' Gittleman's face shine with joy over another zman of learning at DEC

What do Michael Deutch, Akiva Keningsberg and Meir Gersten all have in common? They all have had R' Sheftel as a morning seder chavrusa in DEC over the past three years - a very prestigious honor. Here is Meir in full gesticulation causing R' Sheftel to ponder his explanation.

The New Home of DEC

We are excited to start our 11th year of DEC in a new home. We (mostly Shmulik) have been renovating over the summer and we hope the new group of shana alef boys enjoy and appreciate the new building (we know the shana bet students will). Alumni will appreciate the larger beis midrash and cheder ochel when they come visit. Much thanks to Rabbi Katz, Zack Eisner, Raimy Rubin, R' Sheftel, Betzalel, Yaakov Rose, B.J. and everyone else who helped with the move.

Most of our address is the same. 12 Ibn Danan instead of 4. Part of the Ma'alin B'Kodesh approach we profess. We appreciate the shana alef guys "roughing it" a little bit while we complete all the final little details over the next week or so.