All Hands ON DEC

Derech Etz Chaim took their annual Superbowl Sunday trip to Eilat. Pictured above is Rav Mendel and his son Alter taking on Dovy Zwebner in a friendly game of shesh-besh (or backgammon for you English speakers) with Mordechai Birnbaum "waiting on deck" for winners.

Aside from some beautiful hikes in and around Eilat the group watched the New York Giants upset the heavily favored New England Patriots. Naturally, at Derech Etz Chaim, we always root for the underdog -- and as usual we came out on top.

You too can join our students next year ON DEC. Limited seating available. Check out our website and download your application today.

Sefer Yehoshua Trip

Braving the cold January weather, with Tanach in hand, the students of Derech Etz Chaim headed up North to visit many of the cities found in Sefer Yehoshua. Here is a nice shot from Shilo with shana Alef, Reuben Morrow and Rabbi Binyamin Wolff with a beautiful backdrop.

Mazel Tov to Mr. Eli and Shira Mirlis

For the past two and a half years Eli Mirlis has been an integral part of Derech Etz Chaim. After two years as a student, he came back this Elul to DEC for a third year taking on many of the day-to-day organizational responsibilities for the yeshiva. The wedding turned into a mini DEC reunion as many Alumni from all over the country came in for the wedding, as well as a few rebbanim from Eretz Yisrael, including the Rosh Yeshiva and R' Sheftel.

We wish Eli and Shira all of the joy and happiness in the world. We look forward to having them back in Har Nof and celebrating with them all over again upon their return.

Haircuts

Derech Etz Chaim would like to wish a Mazel Tov to the entire Horowitz family on the occassion of Shmuel Chaim's upshearin. Above you can see the Rosh Yeshiva 'get his snipets' while Rav Mendel looks on in amusement.

On a more humorous note we would also like to extend a Mazel Tov to our shana alef student, Meir "Memphis" Gersten, on his haircut as well. You can see the before and after pictures below