Valley NCSY is the place to be!

This past weekend was another happening weekend in the Valley! It began with their 4^th Friday Night Lights (FNL) program, an inspirational Shabbat event for Jewish teens, at a local Valley synagogue. With over 70 teens from all over the Valley, the attendees had a meaningful Friday night prayer, enjoyed a delicious meal, heard wonderful words of Torah from Danielle Finder, Valley NCSY board president, and Dr. Eliezer Jones, West Coast NCSY assistant regional director. Then the teens had a fun time at the Oneg with great treats, fun games and good friends.

The next day over 40 teens went to the home of the Valley NCSY director, Devora Lunger, and had a nice Shalosh Seudos with their friends and local advisors. If that was not enough, that night Valley NCSY had a Lag Baomer Celebration with over 80 Jewish teens. There was a fire pit, pizza, band and words of Torah about the great day. The highlight was when a local Jewish teen band, "10 seconds later", played in the open air and NCSYers got to hang out with each other, local advisors, thier chapter director, the assistant regional director and Rabbi FE Goldberg, West Coast NCSY's regional Director.

What a weekend! However, for Valley NCSY this is not an out of the ordinary weekend. Shabbat is always happening for Jewish teens in the Valley as well as the week days and nights that include learning programs, recreational events and social events! Valley NCSY has become the place to be for Jewish teens.

City NCSY FNL

We kicked off our YICC FNL with a blast joining together in an upbeat carlebach
style kabbalat shabbat! The excitement continued as close to 40 teens from all over
the Los Angeles area and even some from la Jolla sat down for a traditional Friday
night Mexican dinner. After some lively singing challah and beef fajitas we enjoyed
informal discussion about the existence of G-d. Finally it was time for desert at
rabbi Fe's house where we hung out till midnight! It was awesome and we can't wait
for the next one!  

West Coast NCSY Pre-Peasach Carnival a Success!

Today West Coast NCSY had its first pre-Pesach carnival to give families a break from Pesach cleaning and enjoy a great Sunday afternoon together. We had a petting zoo, pony rides, music, moon bounces, slides, face painting, a live concert with Rabbi Dubin, pizza, popcorn, cotton candy and more. It was great to see so many families from the community bring their children and have such a great time! It was also great to see all the NCSYers who came to help with the carnival and make sure everything went smoothly. We were so happy to provide such a great community event and happy to see it be successful.

The Hunt for "Emotions."

West Coast NCSY’s East Bay chapter in Northern California had a very creative event last week that had all their NCSYers cycling through a wide range of emotions. West Coast NCSY runs great social events that occur almost every week somewhere in the region. The East Bay event was a scavenger hunt at San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf. However, this was not your grandfather’s scavenger hunt. It was a digital photo hunt with the mission of capturing different “emotions.” The NCSYers had a great time running all around the Wharf with their friends. Check out www.WestCoastNCSY.com/photos.html to see the pictures.

NCSY Friday Night Lights in Northern California!

West Coast NCSY has implemented successfully the Friday Night Lights (FNL) program which brings the excitement of Shabbat to local Jewish teens! Our most recent FNL was a double header in Northern California with one in San Francisco and Oakland. The teens had an inspiring Davening with explanation and a Shabbos meal with singing, D'Vrei Torah, stories, and great food! Then the teens got to hang out with their friends, play games, enjoyed junk food and have a "Oneg Shabbos." It was a wonderful experience for all and the true brilliance of Shabbos was shared by all.

West Coast NCSY Super Bowl Parties: Huge Success

West Coast NCSY Super Bowl Parties Were A Huge Success! The City and Valley NCSY had two wonderful Super Bowl parties this past Sunday. City NCSY had over 50 Jewish teens watching the Colts beat the Bears on one big screen and one plasma. They also enjoyed pool, ping pong, friends, and good food, which included a Jeff’s hot wing competition.

The Valley had close to 80 kids with some serious fans of football and basketball. Basketball? While the game was on the big screen there was also a hard core full court basketball game going on in the backyard. Everyone enjoyed junk food and pizza, and all their buddies from around the valley.

It was great to have all these Jewish teens together enjoying being with other Jewish teens, eating kosher food and hanging out with West Coast NCSY advisors. It was a good game and an even better event!

City NCSY Upcoming Events!

Last week city NCSY had an amazing movie night at Avi Elhiani’s house complete with pizza a big screen make your own slurpees and prize giveaways.

If you missed all the fun at E=MC2 at Ouriel’s house this past week, don't worry cause it’s going to be great this week. E=MC2 is back with a vengeance!

Don't miss our annual Super Bowl party at David Korda’s house, 2107 Duxbury Circle. Whether you've been following the season or you've never seen a football game ever the Super Bowl is always amazing. The commercials are almost as entertaining as the games! Football, food, friends and a flat screen, what more could you want? Party starts at 1:00PM!

Mark your calendar for the NCSY snow day! Busses leave the office at 10:00am on February 11th headed for a monster hill and an afternoon of snow tubing and a snowman building competition. Don't miss this awesome event! For more info call Ouriel at 310-819-0165 or check out our website at www.westcoastncsy.com!

Shabbt at Eliezers!

This Shabbat, Eliezer, assistant regional director, had an exciting Shabbat lunch at his home. Eliezer had 21 guests that included his parents, two advisors, and 16 Jewish teenagers. The day started with breakfast at Eliezers house for a handful of the Teens who met there on their way to Shabbat services. Then the group met for a Teen Minyan at Em Habanim Synagogue in Valley Village where Yaackov Malka led beautiful services and Benny Statman read the Torah with ease. Following a short Kiddush, the group headed to Eliezers for lunch.

The Shabbos table was a wonderful mix of Jewish teens from different schools, cultural backgrounds and religious observance. Eating together were Ashkenaz and Sephardic teens, ranging from 8^th-12^th graders, and representing Emek Elementary, Miliken elementary, Y.U.L.A. Boys & Girls, Shalhevet, Valley Torah High School, Grant High, High Tech High, Champs, & Home schools. They ate Moroccan fish daringly made by Eliezer, had a delicious cholent, sang songs, heard D’Vrei Torah and enjoyed delicious chocolate chip cookies made by Zac Morrow. It was a wonderful lunch, a wonderful group, and a wonderful Shabbat.

Super Bowl XLI in the Valley and City!

Valley and City NCSY will be having their annual Super Bowl Party Febuary 2nd. Enjoy 100 yards of great excitement on big screen TV's, with awesome food, a wonderful Mincha, and those sweet commercials!

Valley NCSY Super Bowl Party:

Sunday Feb 2nd @ 2:30 pm @ the home of Jason Pietruszka, 5086 Avienda Hacienda, Tarzana. See you all there!

City NCSY Super Bowl Party: 2:30 pm @ the home of David Korda, 2107 Duxbury Circle, Beverlywood. TOUCHDOWN!

This week at South Bay NCSY:

Jan. 27 Friday Night Oneg at Emek Beracha in Palo Alto - Food, Friends, Games and More! It is going to be awesome!

Next week, Feb. 2 - FNL in Sunnyvale - r.s.v.p. FNL stands for Friday Night Lights. Did you see the movie? Have you seen the show? HAVE YOU BEEN TO THE NCSY PROGRAM? It is going to be amazing! Check it out!

For more information call Shmuel Braun at 408-368-8834 or e-mail him at SBraun@westcoastncsy.com
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Movie nights to kick off school vacations!

The City chapter had a wonderful movie night last Saturday night. They enjoyed a great Ben Stiller movie, pizza, friends and fun. The NCSYers had a fun evening to relieve some of the stress of the past weeks finals. At the end of the evening they were visited by a Jewish music artist, Reb Shmuel, who gave every NCSYer there a copy of his new CD.

On the same night, the East Bay Chapter in Oakland also had a great Movie night. They enjoyed a funny Will Ferrell movie, pizza, friends and fun as well. Among the attendees were two Jewish young ladies who attend a private Christian school and were excited to spend a Saturday night with Jewish kids their age. Good times were had by all!