Shalhevet celebrates a Seneca Shabbos

Midreshet Shalhevet’s event of the year took place over Shabbat Parshat Noach, at Camp Seneca Lake, when student body, along with alumni and faculty, came together for the annual Shabbaton.

The weekend began on Friday afternoon, when Coach Ilona Diamond led a human board game, with each grade going “head to head to head to head.”

Shabbat kicked off with a beautiful mincha, Kabbalat Shabbat, and maariv.

Right before dinner, Menahelet Mrs. Esther Eisenman welcomed everyone with a heartfelt, inspirational dvar Torah.

During dinner, divrei Torah were given by ninth-grader Elianna Hersh and eleventh-grader Natalie Mosseri, followed by learning and a tisch of Torah-based questions and answers with a panel of Mrs. Eisenman, Rabbi Matt Schneeweiss, Rabbi Ariel Rosensweig, Ms. Atara Blumenthal and Mrs. Hindy Feder. 

Shabbat morning began with davening and a dvar Torah from Rabbi Ariel Rosensweig on Parshat Noach.

Following kiddush, each grade participated in a learning session with a lemudai kodesh teacher and enjoyed lunch with divrei Torah from twelfth-graders Rikki Vatch and Becky Marks.

As Shabbat came to a close, everyone joined together for Seudat Shlishit with a dvar Torah from tenth-grader Hayley Tanzmanand and a kumzitz. The last dvar Torah featured a cool two-person “back and forth” by Noa Eliach and Tamar Yastrab. Abeautiful havdalah was the perfect ending to Shabbat.

The melaveh malka of the Midreshet Shalhevet Shabbaton is probably one of the most exciting events on the school calendar. The ruach carried over from Shabbat, as everyone then made their way to the gym for festivities that began with a very enthusiastic game of dodgeball. Everyone participated and had a blast.

After the games, the students changed into costumes corresponding to the theme of the Shabbaton — authors and books. Costumes included Harry Potter, Where’s Waldo, Cat in the Hat, Curious George, Dr. Seuss and more.

The weekend, filled with zmirot, ruach and achdut, merits a thank you to those instrumental in making it successful, including Coach Ilona Diamond; the G.O.’s Tamar Yastrab (president), Zahava Fertig, Natalie Mosseri and Nechama Schneider; alumni madrichot Dani Elman, Zahava Schwartz and Kayla Zeitz and Shalvah Goldschein, Malka Marmer and Chanie Schwerd, and especially to the Shabbaton’s generous sponsors.