CYHSB WEEKLY

Cooper Yeshiva High School for Boys

Volume 17, Issue 13

Cooper Clicks

Page 3

Earthquakes: What We Can do to Prepare

Page 4

Guess the CYHSBer

Page 6

Vayekhel/Pekudei: Never Underestimate Yourself

Page 7

This Week’s Weekly is sponsored by Nathan Greenbaum in honor of all of the Weekly Staff’s hard work.

A Ski-less Ski Trip

Yaron Weiss (’24)

The Steak Dinner was over and it was now time to get excited for the ski trip and shabbaton. All returning students were getting the new students excited and were telling them of all of the activities that we did last year that we could look forward to this year. But this is life and everything doesn't always go as planned.

Around a week and a half before we are meant to leave for the shabbaton we get the news that due to the warm weather all of the snow at the ski resort has melted. This meant that by the time we got there there wouldn't be enough snow, or any at all, to ski. Hearing this many students doubted whether or not they wanted to go on the trip. Luckily, Rabbi Gersten figured it out. We met a couple of days before the trip and he announced the new plan for the trip. Everyone got excited and we started to prepare for the shabbaton part of the trip.

February 24. The day started off like any other day, we had a wonderful and meaningful

Continued on Next Page davening. After some short learning and breakfast, we began to pack the bus and after a couple of hours, and lots of yelling, the bus pulled out of the school. Our first destination was Natchez Trace Park. We unloaded the bus and Rabbi Gersten gave us instructions on what to do next: prepare for shabbos. Around three hours, and lots of hard work later, we gathered together to daven mincha and kabbalat shabbat. After davening we had the first of our multiple learning sessions. In this session we pretended like we were deciding whether a player should be kicked off a basketball team for speaking badly of the team captain and then apologizing. We each played certain roles that determined our position on this issue. It was a lot of fun. We then davened maariv and had dinner. All of the dinner was delicious from the soup, chicken and brisket made by the students to the kugels and other dishes by the rabbis' wives. After dinner we had a relaxed oneg and went to bed.

Shabbat morning started with davening followed by a delicious kiddush. We then had another session. This session took the form of a debate. A case was given and each student personally decided what the boy should do. When the session was over we ate lunch and then had menucha. Our third session was a Q and A with the Rabbis and then we had seudah shlishit filled with amazing zemirot. After davening maariv we had a bonfire, and played laser tag around the campgrounds, all-in-all an incredible shabbat.

Sunday morning everyone woke up, packed, and davened. After breakfast we packed lunches and the bus. Once the bus was all loaded around, golfing, eating lunch, and just having fun. Once we were all exhausted from the fun activities, we headed to our hotel in Murfreesboro. The hotel we stayed at was the wonderful Double Tree owned by the Cooper family. We settled down at the hotel and then headed off to SkyZone. We spent a couple of hours there doing a variety of activities that they had including, basketball, jumping, slides, dodgeball, and more. We then went back to the hotel, ate dinner, and relaxed for the rest of the night.

We started off the day with our normal morning routine before heading out of the hotel. Our first destination of the day was the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga. Despite the gloomy weather outside, inside the aquarium we had an amazing time. We got to touch stingrays and we saw loads of fish, penguins, jellyfish, sharks, and turtles. Then we watched a 3D movie about sea lions. After the movie we drove to Ruby Falls. Ruby Falls is a cave tour that leads you to a beautiful waterfall. On the tour we saw different rock formations and learned about the discovery of the cave and waterfall. We then headed back to the hotel to end off another amazing day.

Tuesday morning arrived and it was the final day of our trip. We started the day like every other, davening and breakfast. Lucky for us, CYHSB students had the opportunity to witness a Get being delivered by Rabbi Males. An amazing educational opportunity that stuck with many students. After, we packed the bus, cleaned up, and headed out for our last activity of the trip: a hike on the Fiery Gizzard Trail. For the next couple of hours we went on a breathtaking hike over mountains, through a valley, and along a stream. Around halfway through the hike we arrived at a small waterfall. Those who were brave enough got into the cold water and swam around for a while, even Rabbi Gerstien got in. We then continued on our hike and departed on the long drive home. We arrived at school at around 9:40, unpacked the bus, and then headed home for a good night's sleep.

Overall this year's shabbaton and trip was one to remember. While it might not have been what we wanted the trip to be, it was still fun. We had the chance to do many activities that everyone enjoyed. It gave students a chance to be leaders, volunteer, and get closer to each other. We are all grateful for an awesome trip and we are all looking forward to next year, and are hoping that maybe, just maybe there will be skiing on the ski trip.