Shabbos Yerushalayim!

DMK:
A big "Wud Up" from Jerusalem!

We finished packing on Wednesday (6/14) at about 3:30pm. Perfect timing, considering our car to the airport was to arrive at 3:15. Luckily the driver got lost, and was 15 minutes late.

At JFK airport we waited for our Swiss Air flight with our friend Bruce Wernick who was taking an El Al flight directly to Israel. While we were on line to board to plane, we met a “Yeshivish” looking American guy, who introduced himself as Yehuda. He told us he lived in Israel and we told him that we were spending some time in Yeshiva during the summer. He guessed, correctly, that since we would be arriving so close to Shabbos it would be hard to get food or make plans, so he invited us to his in-law’s, who he said were out of town, but him and his wife were watching after his wife’s other brother’s and sisters (eighteen in all…. Yes you read correct, 18!).

Well to give a quick ending to a story that could only be written in Yerushalayim, we davened at the Kotel and had Shabbos dinner and lunch with Rabbi Yehuda Werblowski, his wife Rivke, approximately 10 of her 18 siblings, and about 8 of Rabbi Werblowski’s talmidim of Yesvhiat Toras Shraga, at the house of her parent’s, Rabbi and Rebbitzen Chanoch Teller. Chonoch Teller is a world famous storyteller and author of some 18 amazing books! Unfortunately Rabbi Teller was out of town speaking in Hong Kong, then England, and the U.S., but hopefully we will have the chance to meet him later in the summer. I went to shul on Shabbos morning at the Great Synagogue where Naftali Hertzik was the Chazzon, along with the Jerusalem Choir. It was amazing. Unfortunately I missed musaf, because of the 4 Bar Mitzvah’s and 1 Auf Ruf and we had to be back at the Teller’s for lunch at 11:00. Our walk to the Teller’s was through the Ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Meah Shaarim. I have to tell you, the Chasidim that live there really get a “bad rap”. First of all, the vast majority of the children were dressed so clean and cute I was amazed. Second, the people were very friendly. Truthfully, they were friendlier then I had remembered them from my past visits. The food at both meals was AMAZING, prepared almost entirely by one of the sisters. No small feat for meals of 18 – 20 people!

On Friday, before Shabbos, Melissa and I walked to where my old Yeshiva was located in Katamon (they have since moved). It was a great walk down King George, to Emek Refaim. Right before Shabbos we bumped into our sister-in-law Ariel’s brother Aaron Zupnick, who is a very interesting, spiritual and incredibly friendly Breslov Chassid who lives in Jerusalem. We’re hoping to meet up with him and his younger brother, who is also visiting Israel, in the coming weeks.

Motzei Shabbos I was buying a soda at the infamous Kent Stand, and ran into one of my closest friends from high school, Alan Richter. I hadn’t seen him since I was in Israel in 1993. It was great to see him and we’re going to try to have dinner one night this week.

Oh, I almost forgot! So far, I’ve had one amazing schwarma lafa from Melech HaFalafel, a Falafel lafa at my favorite Schwarma place in the entire world: Falafel Doron, on the corner of Emek Refaim and Rachel Imenu, and we had Sbarro’s tonight. I’m still looking forward to Burger King, Micky D’s, and LOTS more schwarma!

It has been an amazing 3 days so far!!! It already feels like our trip is going to be too short, but we’re looking forward to soaking in as much as possible and relishing every moment of it!

Day 1: Excitement, Exhaustion,

DMK:
I'm going to try to label my posts from now on. I have a feeling I will be the only one writing, but hopefully we'll have a guest appearance by my wife (aka MBCK) once in a while. Well it's finally here... June 14th... the date of our departure. We finally found an apartment yesterday! It's in Maalot Dafna, right by Ohr Somayach. I'm very happy with the location. Its close to Meah Shaarim, Town, walking distance to Rechavia/German Colony, and not too far away from Darche Noam and Midreshet Rachel.

I'm becoming more and more excited, although the truth is that although we leave in 5 hours, it still doesn't feel real. I spoke with Rabbi Wolinsky (of O.Z.) this morning about tearing kriyah at the Kotel. Basically, the first time you see the Kotel (the Western Wall) for the first time in a while, you are supposed to tear a piece of clothing, much in the way you would do upon hearing about the death of a close relative (G-d forbid). I have never really torn anything before, always relying on loopholes such as switching shirts with other members of my trip, so the clothing isn't really yours, therefore you don't have the authority to tear it. Rabbi Wolinsky said that it was find to take an old shirt, even one that is already torn, to use for the occasion. I have one or two shirts that fit the bill!

We are almost done packing. As someone said to me last week, we're about to "live the dream." I have grown so much in the 6+ years that I have lived in New York and its now time to take everything I've learned and use it to make this Israel trip one of tremendous personal and spiritual growth for both Melissa and I.

Support Israel in a Unique Way

Check out the following link to the "Has Advantage" credit card. [click here]

What do you think? It sounds like a great idea, but certainly a new concept. Does this count towards your yearly charity sum? and you still get reward points?

What do you think?

JYC / Hatikvah

JYC Students: Click here for a link to the words, transliteration, and translation of Hatikva - Israel's National Anthem. To listen or download an mp3 of Hatikvah click here.

Try to listen to it a few times! Click here for more facts about Israel.

Today was graduation day at JYC. Mazel Tov to my two former students Robert and Max!! I hope to see you guys back next year for the new teen program!

Columbia Business School

I had pretty much made up my mind to attend NYU's Stern School of Business in the fall when I received an invitation to interview with my first choice school: Columbia Business School. I have spent the past 6 months or so obsessing over the Value Investing Program at Columbia and was very excited.

I had applied to seven MBA programs and until Sunday had been admitted to five and rejected from one. During the process of applying I stumbled upon the Value Investing Program at Columbia. At the same time, my passion for the discipline of Value Investing began to grow. Throughout the application process I became more and more focused on getting into my #1 choice. As interview invites arrived, acceptance calls were received and scholarship awards were made, the only school I heard nothing from was Columbia.

I spoke with current students as well as alumni. I visited campus for the day (and talked a CBS student into sneaking me into Professor Greenwald’s Value Investing class), I attended the Columbia Investment Management Association conference and I sent an e-mail to admissions re-confirming the Columbia was my first choice. In the middle of April I had still heard nothing and began to realize Columbia was a long shot at that point. With their rolling admissions process, most of the seats were probably filled. I had been accepted into 4 top 20 schools, so I certainly couldn’t be upset. I began to feel comfortable with the fact that with a little extra work on my own, I would be able to have as good an experience whichever MBA program I chose as I would have had at Columbia.

Then the invite to interview arrived. I had been to 6 other interviews over the past 2 ½ months. In hindsight it was a blessing that Columbia was my last. I was very comfortable with my story, I knew exactly why I wanted to pursue an MBA and more importantly, I could articulate it. In addition, I had spent so long obsessing about Columbia and I had that story down cold as well. When I attended the welcome weekends of other schools I found myself convincing other students that Columbia had the best program if you wanted to learn valuation… and I hadn’t even been invited to interview yet! I arrived at my interview on Friday morning (4/28/06) and clearly explained why Columbia was my #1 choice. I knew that the options I already had were amazing, but for my specific career goals, no other school in the world compared to Columbia Business School. My interviewer told me that I had a very compelling story and that I should hear from admissions shortly.

Well “shortly” it was! The following Monday (5/1) I received a call from Linda Meehan, Dean of Admissions. She called my office just after lunch time. As soon as she said her name my hand started shaking. She started with small talk and I wanted to shout “AM I IN OR NOT?!” When she gave me the good news, I said “YESSSsssss”. She must have been in a room with other committee members because she relayed my response to the others.

So that is my story. If you have questions about applying to B-school, GMATs, Essays, Recommendations, strategies, please feel free to e-mail me. I’ve been through it all and I finally relax for the next few months as I prepare for the fall. I cannot wait to be a first year MBA student at the only Ivy League Business School in New York City and the school with the best Investment Management program in the world.

Darche Noam / Midreshet Rachel

I'M IN! :-)

Today I was officially accepted to Yeshivat Darche Noam (aka Shapells). Melissa has previously attended Midreshet Rachel, so she didn't have to be officially accepted. (I guess they liked her!) I'm extremely excited to spend six weeks immersed in a Yeshiva atmosphere for the summer zman, where I will have the opportunity to develop my learning skills. Melissa and I had hoped to go to Israel for our first year of marriage, but that unfortunately didn't work out. Luckily, we were still able to find the time between when I end my job at Rochdale and begin school.

(Not to skip around like the ADD kid that I am, but I officially accepted the offer of admission to New York University's Stern School of Business! I'm very excited about this new opportunity as well. I'm really looking forward to going back to school, but this time with serious focus. My goal is to pursue a career in money management. After the 2 year MBA program I hope to work as a buy-side equity analyst for several years. My long-term goal is to become a portfolio manager or to open my own fund/firm.)

Anyway, Melissa will be learning at Midreshet Rachel v'Chaya for at least the mornings. She would like to find a part time job in Israel if possible. Our plan, and we'll tell you more about as the time draws near, is to leave for Israel the second week of June. We will spend about a week touring Israel (as I have not been there in 10 years and Melissa has not been there in over 5). Then we will take a very belated honeymoon in Greece. We still haven't finalized Greece, but that is our most likely destination.

Then, on June 26, the Yeshiva program starts. As a married couple, we will not be attending night seder, but will have the time to spend with each other exploring Yerushalayim. How incredible does that sound!?! My day will begin with Shacharis (morning prayers) at 7:00 and end at 6:15. (click here to see a sample daily schedule).

To say I'm excited is the understatement of the year! I have been in Israel 3 times. The first was during my freshman year at the University of Maryland. I was accepted (even though I was probably too religious at the time) to Ohr Somayach's Jewish Learning Exchange. It was an incredible experience where I learned and toured for three weeks over winter break. I spent the following year at Yeshivat Ner Yaakov. I was very excited about the year and received a very large scholarship from NCSY. Unfortunately, there were large philosophical differences between me and the Rebbeim at Ner Yaakov, and I left right before Pescach without fulfilling my goal if increasing my learning skills. I was fortunate to go back to Israel in 1996 when I lead a group of the USY Poland/Israel Pilgrimage. I spent 6 weeks leading a group of 40 children ages 15 to 17 on a one week tour of Poland, followed by five weeks in Israel. This trip was absolutely amazing. The kids and other staff of "Group 8" helped to make this my most inspiring trip.

I have wanted to return to Israel for some time, specifically to make up for the year I spent in 1993 - 1994. If there is one student that the Rebbeim at Ner Yaakov (or Ner Jake as it's affectionately called) thought would return to learn, it certainly was not me! Melissa and I spoke about my dream to spend time in Israel learning on our very first date, and she spoke of how she had similar dreams. My passion to find a way to spend some time there intensified after reading an article in the 2/25/2005 issue of The Jewish Week. There was an AMAZING article titled "On The Same Page" (click here for the original link).

What made this story unique was the fact that the children in the family, who were also participating in the Siyyum Hashas, were only 17 and 19! I don’t have to tell you this means they started when they were only 10 and 12 years old! The story went on to explain how the family learned each night in their family room as they made their way through Shas. While his kids were still at home, this father was able to take time each day to learn with his kids. Imagine the impression this leaves on two children about to go off on their own to encounter the challenges of college, careers, and starting their own families.

The story brought a tear to my eye. The tear was one of happiness as well as one of sorrow. The story was inspiring, uplifting, and a true-life example of what a parent and teacher can accomplish if they set their minds to it. However, the story also reminded me of the painful reality that as things are now, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to recreate this experience with my own children. I don’t have the skills to open a Gemorrah and learn. Artscroll has made learning much easier, but I still know that even with “Rabbi Artscroll”, it is hard truly appreciate a sugya without proper learning skills. This article has become my dream. Just like I learned to do as a broker at Morgan Stanley, I cut out the article and carry a copy of it in my wallet for inspiration and to remind me to redouble my efforts when I feel that Israel might not be in the cards.

Thank G-d it looks like things are going to work out. We are hoping to book our flight this week and have been searching high and low for an apartment. If you read this, and know of anything in Beit HaKerem, Kiryat Moshe, or Har Nof, please let us know!

-Kess

Welcome To Our Blog!
I had once thought about starting a blog for the Kessler Family, but then realized that we were actually pretty boring, and there really wasn't all that much to write about.

Well that now seems to be changing! Changes that we plan to blog about:

1. We're going to Israel!! This will probably be the most blogged about change. It has been our dream to spend an extended period of time in Eretz Yisroel. As recent events have unfolded (see #2), we have been given the opportunity to realize this dream spending approximately 8 weeks in Israel learning at Darche Noam (David) and Midreshet Rachel (Melissa) for their summer zman. We also hope to sneak away for a 3 - 5 day vacation (aka honeymoon) somewhere we can totally veg. Right now Greece is looking like the place, but if you have any suggestions, please leave a comment or e-mail.

2. David is going back to college! After six years as an associate with Rochdale Investment Management, I am going back to get an MBA. I have been accepted to University of Maryland, Emory University, University of Michigan and New York University. I'm also still waiting to hear from Columbia Business School. As of now, I'm deciding between NYU - Michigan and Emory, but am leaning towards NYU for many reasons. I'll keep the blog updated with any news.

3. We'll probably be moving! Depending upon where I go to school, we'll see where we end up, but even if we stay in New York, chances are we are going to look for another apartment.

Hopefully with these changes there will be a lot to write about. I especially hope to document our time in Israel.

-Kess and Cuch