I was never one to go to sleep away camp or sleepovers so thinking about moving to a different country without my family always brought much anxiety. Looking back now that I’m almost halfway done with the year I can’t believe how far I’ve grown. Over the months I’ve learned to embrace challenges, instead of looking at them as an inconvenience I look at them as a way to learn and grow. 

My core values at home were family and chessed and MTC has given me the opportunity to accomplish both while learning new educational and helpful Torah studies for life. I get to build a family here with friends and staff, whilst simultaneously spending the second half of my day being surrounded by the most pure and adorable children. The opportunity we have with the kids has been one of the most uplifting and meaningful experiences I have ever done. Every place I travel to in Israel I bring my kids with me in my mind. Every store I walk into I think of my kids and a cute present to buy them to make their days a little better. I have learned how to put another before myself and will take this skill with me my whole life. 

With the tyulim we go on I get to learn, explore, experience, and enjoy Israel. This is an opportunity I am thankful for and will always remember. 

The growth I have seen for myself and friends over the past few months is a different kind of growth than being at home. We are all growing simultaneously alongside each other yet individually. We are not around our home friends and family but being surrounded by welcoming staff and loving friends gives us all the backbone we need to grow spiritually, emotionally, and in the long run grow to the young adults we want to be when leaving seminary. I am grateful for the opportunity to be at MTC and I look forward to using all my skills I have been developing for the years to come.