So there you have it folks! The first Aish Connections blog! It definitely was an exciting experience and I hope that everyone reading enjoyed my ravings! I’m not too sure who all of you are, whether you’re parents keeping in touch with your kids, my new family from the trip, rabbis across the Aish organization, or even kids who are thinking about coming on a future Aish Connections trip! Let me know what you thought of this blog!

Every single person on this trip was absolutely amazing and special in his or her own way. I’ll never forget you guys! We’ve all been Aish’d and I hope that everyone continues on their paths to finding themselves and making Judaism a part of your lives. Big shout out to the rabbis and leaders who spent the first few nights of Chanukah with us instead of their families. You guys were awesome! It’s been a pleasure!

On that note I bid you all adieu! Maybe I’ll see you on a future trip! Thank you all for letting me be a part of YOUR experience!

-Steve

Alright, so you KNOW there was no way that we wouldn’t end this trip with a bang! Like I mentioned in the last post, this trip helped make some friends for life and we were definitely going to celebrate! What first started as a little get together in room 206, became a dance party at Snowshed Lodge!!! You could hear us from blocks away! Good thing for us that the lodge (and Vermont) was completely desolate at that hour! The party lasted all night, with most of us retreating to the fireplace and game rooms at the hotel before we got the hour or two of sleep before we headed back to the city (or Canada for the peeps from Ontario!)

As we checked out of the hotel we realized one important thing… we didn’t have any ice cream from Vermont’s finest! We hit up the gift shop and loaded up on some Ben and Jerry’s that made our tummies extremely happy! Goodbyes were said in the lobby and before we knew it we were on our way. You would have thought that we would have slept all the way back home but that was far from the case.

All throughout the bus we reminisced about the past 5 days and simply could not believe it was over. We traded numbers, made the trip superlatives (check out the pics for that one!) friended each other on Facebook, and made plans to hang out in the near future… as well as down the line. I can’t say it enough but this was simply an unforgettable experience where true friends were made, one that I can assure will last a life time.

Ah, the last full day in Killington Vermont. It’s a bit bittersweet but we Aishers are going to make the best of it, and boy are there stories to tell.

The conditions outside weren’t as great as yesterday as we hit some new highs with about 40 degree weather. The snow was slushy, the wind gusts were scary, and the fog made the it seem like you couldn’t see three feet in front of you! Did that stop us from hitting up the runs on our last day??? No way!!!

People pushed themselves to new limits today, including Rabbi Bolsom, who gave an awesome speech around lunch time about getting out of your comfort zone and exploring one’s true potential in life. Sure we focused on going from the green slopes to the blue slopes, but it sure does relate to how you live!

The later part of the day, as people were returning equipment rentals and relaxing in the hotel, it became clear that this group was something special. During these past few days, people who came on this trip alone and with friends they knew, have been getting to know each other on a level that I bet most people weren’t expecting.

Rooming, skiing, snowboarding, and having class with folks from different countries, states, and boroughs, brought us together that honestly created a family that I don’t think anyone on this trip is ever going to forget.

During dinner that night, the fourth night of Chanukah, we had a special birthday to celebrate! One of our favorite Bacharians, Arthur, had the chance to celebrate his birthday with the group! How else but to celebrate but with good times and some cake to the face! Haha, check out the pics and videos and you’ll see how we celebrate! Happy Birthday bro!!!

So now for the highlight class of the trip! The Discovery Seminar led by Rabbi Bergstein. This was definitely the class everyone has been looking forward to without even knowing what it was about. Rabbi Bergstein showed a method of proving theories “beyond a reasonable doubt” I don’t want to give too much away but this lecture was MINDBLOWING!!!! There was one reason for this seminar and I bet everyone was saying and thinking the same word as they left the lecture… maybe. No matter how religious you are or how you viewed Judaism before you came on this trip, this lecture (and the trip as a whole) gave us all a new point of view coming out of it.

We then headed back to our rooms to pack so we could be good and ready for our trip back home tomorrow. Did our night end there??? You wish

What better way to start off the day than with some of the best kosher food that can be catered in from the Catskills! Chaim hooked us up last night with our meals and is going to continue to do so as for the rest of the time spent here. Where else can you get GREAT fresh kosher food every single day on a group outing to Vermont? Haha ok that was a bit specific but you get the point!

Today the group was pretty excited because we were finally going to be able to hit the slopes! However, before we could do anything we got a bit of insight into what this trip is really all about. Each and every person here is given the tools to help them explore their Jewish culture and heritage in ways that you never would expect from a bunch 40 year old rabbis, sorry if I overshot there! Today we had our first class with Rabbi Feldheim (who almost couldn’t make It due to the snowy conditions we had the other day!) and it sure set the mood for the trip.

Each Rabbi here has their own special way of telling their stories and Rabbi Feldham does it in a way that you are sure to never forget! He’ll get you startled and bring you into the conversation before you know what has hit you. Our first class touched upon one of the foundations of Judaism that has helped to allow it to change as society does. He emphasized that the culture thrives on the asking of questions and understanding what goes on around us. It was short and sweet yet gave us the first tool we need to expand on the Jewish learning that would be carried out over the next few days.

Woohoo! As soon as class was over, we picked up our lift tickets from Zahava and made our way to the slopes. Our leaders, Devorah and Yosef, volunteered their expert snowboarding and ski skills and gave an hour lessons to those that that needed it. Some headed straight up to the peak of Mt. Killington which tops out 4221’ feet above sea level! How sick is that?!

Pictures can’t even come close to justifying the scenery we saw. You all have to make it up to Vermont one of these days! The snow makes it look like a winter wonderland over here! Since I haven’t picked up a snowboard in oh… three years I told myself I would start easy with the bunny slopes but the other Aisher’s wouldn’t have it! We start right with a medium slope! Once I got my rented Burton board strapped on we made our way to the “Snowshed” ski lift where we headed to the first trail of the day “Bittersweet.” I have to say, I wasn’t too shabby this first time around! I couldn’t pull off any tricks but I did make it down in one piece with wiping out no more than 10 times! Pretty awesome right???

More runs were to come which included Easy Street, Idler, Yodeler, Snowshed Slope. Everyone had some interesting stories to tell including Rabbi Bolsom hanging out at the local Walmart all day, lame!!! But we still love him! Word on the street has it he’s also pretty sick so we’re just going to take the time to wish him a Happy Hanukah and a Rafauah Shlama (Get well in Hebrew!)

Rabbi Shalom Yona was the only rabbi that actually hit up the slopes today and did he fly! Next time we have to get the whole Aish Rabbinical crew come out for at least one day. There’s too many opportunities for a grand old Rabbi Wipe-out that could happen!

After a couple of hours in the snow, the whole group came back to our cafeteria. The room was reserved especially for us as our home base and classroom for the entire trip, and had some nice hot soup. It was SO cold out there! After warming up a bit and eating some lunch, we started our second class of the trip “Think Twice”, which generated some good friendly heated discussion as well!

The topic at hand… What is a Jew? We started off by watching a movie which posed this question to hundreds of people on the streets of London. You would have been shocked by some of the answers that were given! Turns out… there really is no solid definition as to what it means to be Jewish but what we tried to determine is what is the underlying message that is a part of every Jew’s life? We started off by making a list as a whole and then breaking out into some smaller groups where we argued which of the points brought up was in actuality the underlying theme for Jews that are spread all over the world. Take a stab at what you think we came up with in the comments! It has to do with the passing of learnings from generation to generation!

Fast forward a couple of hours, having completed a few runs here and there on our second time out, and were back at the hotel for some free time! Now for a story that will be sure to give you some shivers… literally! So word got out that the hotel we are staying at had a full blown outdoor hot tub! There was NO WAY we would pass this opportunity up! We brought out the bathing suits and went for a little 10 below zero swim! Sure there was some frozen hair here and there, but the experience was unforgettable! There is bound to be some pics of all this so be on the lookout!

That’s it for now, stay tuned for something tomorrow as our second night of Hanuka begins!

Time for the second night of Chanukah! It seems like as the nights of the holiday progress, so do the blessings and their tunes! This time around our new addition of a rabbi poured his heart out into one of the best performances of Chanukah blessings this blogger has ever seen! Check out the pics for one more night of an unforgettable candle lighting experience. Food time!!!

Following dinner we had our second class by Rabbi Feldheim. This class turned a few more heads than usual. We were supposed to have a talk by Rabbi Bolsom but as mentioned before, he’s sick in bed! Rabbi Felhdeim was listening in to our first class and had some things he wanted to say before he got on to his lesson. So back to “Tradition”! Rabbi Feldheim felt that the word tradition, along with Fiddler on The Roof, is probably the worst thing to happen to Judaism! What did he have to say??? Read on!

This was one of the best things I’ve heard in years and is an idea that I’m all about with respect to just about everything in life! Yup, it was that deep. So what exactly does it mean to follow tradition? Sure people may think it may be the backbone on what unites Jews (and other cultures) all around the world, but what is tradition without knowing WHY you do it in the first place? Following tradition can be seen as just “doing the cool thing” or just going with the flow. One has to understand the reason our traditions that we follow are what they are in the first place. How do you do this? Let’s go back to revisit lecture 1… we have to ask questions! Bam! Simple yet so valuable! Follow this mindset and you’ll be well on your way to finding out the answers of how to live YOUR life and how the things you believe in affect it directly. Onto the planned talk!

Rabbi Feldheim has very interesting theory with what the ultimate pleasure in life is. Sure someone can say they want to pursue happiness, but what exactly makes them happy? Could it be money? Family? All of the above? The Rabbi takes its one step farther and asks what is attained by happiness. Feldheim goes on to argue that reaching true pleasure is reaching “unity”. Guess where I’m going to go with that answer? What is unity??? Could’ve guessed that one right? An hour later and we traced unity to oneness and what is the ultimate form of oneness??? I would say the guy/gal on top would be a pretty good example. Didn’t agree with something we spoke about? No problem! After all was said and done some kids stayed up til one in the morning with him! What did the rest of us do all night??? That’s a whole other story.

See you in the morning!!!

Alright! So let’s pick up right where we left off last night! Once everyone was settled we set out on an adventure to… the building across the lake. Doesn’t sound too bad right? Wrong!!! Imagine trekking through 2 feet of snow on an unplowed path with 37 MPH winds blowing fresh powder right in your face in negative 10 degree weather! We fought through it though because there was one thing driving us that nothing could stop… our hunger!!! Not eating real food in 8 hours brought out the troopers in us! We were then rewarded with some scrumptious food and a candle light ceremony! That’s right, we got to celebrate the first night of Chanukah together!

Our trip took a little longer than we expected and we were joined by the Canadian half of our crew midway through dinner! There was no chance we would miss lighting candles together! We each got our own menorahs and candles and were entertained by the amazing Rabbi Yona as he lead the group during the first three blessings of the Holiday of Lights. Things were running late due to the storm so we headed straight out into the lobby for our group ice breaker which sure was fun. We got to know a little bit about everyone in the group and once we finished up with that, headed home for a good fun night at the hotel. Not too many people headed to bed but we we set our 8 AM wake up the next morning. See ya then!

Alright folks! Aish Connections’ Killington Ski Trip is officially underway! The New York crew got up bright and early to meet up at the Aish building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan where a bunch of the guys and gals of Winter Rush got their first glimpses of each other.

The first arrivals were our friends from the great state of Illinois, who had to battle through 6 hours of flight delays. The bonding then started and at 10 AM. 13 of the lucky ones who huddled for warmth together under the Aish awning got a great sense of satisfaction when the doors were unlocked (barely!) and we finally got to go inside!

Slowly but surely the rest of the New York group trickled in and before we knew it, we were all chatting it up and chomping down on the best bagels and cream cheese Passaic, NJ had to offer! Big shout out to Michael and Yosef for bringing them all the way across the Hudson!

Once our tummies were full and roll call was taken, we loaded up our luggage and made our way onto the coach bus to start our journey!

Right off the bat the rabbis took main stage and introduced the staff on the trip. Rabbi Galvin Bolsom, king of the bus microphone, started things off strong with be introducing himself and the rest of the trip staff, Rabbi Shalom Yona, our energetic Rabbi right out of Woodmere, our awesome team leaders (Madrichim) Michael, Yosef, Zahava, and Devorah-Leah. For those of you that don’t know, the Aish folks are probably some of the nicest and FUNNIEST people you will ever meet in your life! Don’t believe me??? Check out the vids!!! You’ll be seeing lots of them!

Time for the tale of the trek up to Vermont. Let me tell you folks, it was no ride through the park! The average person may have been holding on for dear life as we trod over icy roads in zero visibility conditions, but thanks to our driver, Lenny, we got there safe and sound… and in style too! Some napped, others watched the in bus movie “Superman”, and most got to know their fellow Aish peers on our 7 hour drive to the Killington Grand Resort. The highlight of the ride came when a dance party opened up in the back of bus the second we caught sight of the “Welcome to Vermont”! The back of the bus just couldn’t contain their excitement any longer!

To make our trip even more unforgettable, the tale of the Aish bus that could had a fun bout with a mountain as we were less than a mile away from our destination! Try after try, our bus pushed on but couldn’t make it up with their 7,500 pound passenger load! We got word that we needed to get off the bus and push! Just kidding! We did have to lighten the load though. Once we left the bus for about a minute, the extremely nice officers of the county helped us out and got our bus up and over! We then headed to the hotel and checked in with our new roommates for the next 4 nights.

What does the rest of the night hold for us? Stay tuned to find out! Also be sure to check out the photos and videos which will be posted soon!

Hey everybody! Welcome to the Aish 2008 Winter Rush Blog! My name is Steve and I‘m going to be keeping everybody up to date with what’s going with the Aish crew for the next week up in Killington, Vermont!

Since we’re going to be getting to know each other a little bit, I figured I’d tell you a little bit about who I am. For starters, I’m a New Yorker, born and raised, and am currently attending Baruch College in New York City. I work part time at Apple and strive to the best I can with my own business, Word of Steve.

The first time I ever went on a trip like this one was for my birthright to Israel two years ago and had an AMAZING time! I had the chance to go back to Israel with Aish on the Amsterdam/Brusells/Israel trip this past summer and once again was blown away by the experience I had. Never in my life did I ever think I could meet such an amazing group of college students and Rabbis and have some of the coolest adventures with them all around the world. Once I got word that Aish was putting together another trip that I could go on, I hit up the Aish Connections website and put my application through. A few months later and here I am!

Let’s get back to the trip we’re about to take! T-minus 48 hours until we head  to Vermont!!! We’ll be staying at the Killington Grand Resort Hotel for 5 nights and 4 days while we hit up the slopes, chow down on some delectable food, learn a bit with the rabbis, and to top it all off, celebrate Hanukkah with 50 of our peers from all over the United States! Where else but on an Aish trip can you get an experience like that for only $349 dollars???

The Facebook group has already been made and people are getting to know each other before we’ve even started to pack. How crazy is that? You gotta love technology these days! We just received out checklist of things to bring and for the past few days I’m sure everybody has been running around shopping for snow gear that’s gonna keep us all bundled up and warm while we tear it up! Whether it’s that new waterproof jacket or those top of the line butt pads (you know we’ll need em!), were slowly but surely getting our suitcases filled. Finals are over and excitement is in the air. Take it from me… I can’t wait to get up there!

So what’s in store for us this week? I guess you’ll just have to stay tuned to find out!