Missy’s letter

Kislev, known to be the darkest month of the year with the least hours of daylight, sets the perfect background to show off the brightest and boldest lights of our candles on our Hanukkiah! It is the month of miracles. I can’t help but think how my involvement in NCSY, is symbolic to this month. In my short five years being involved in NCSY compared to my life, NCSY has allowed me to make important bold and bright Judaic decisions to help my family’s Judaic life shine as bright as the Hanukkiah in Kislev.

Upon my return of my first trip to Israel with NCSY/TJJ Moms, I realized that as a mother of three children, I wanted my family’s Judaic life to shine brighter than it did before. I began lighting Shabbat candles every Shabbat as well as making sure our family did the Kiddush, blessings over our children and the blessings over our homemade challah from Nechama (Director of TJJ for Moms) aka “Nechallah!”

It didn’t stop there. For the next five years, our family has shared numerous Shabbosim with our inspiring NCSY leaders and we learned first hand the beauty of the Shabbos table. It gave me the courage to start making our Shabbosim and inviting our extended family and friends in our own town to experience this magic. Shabbat became the “bright” day that we eagerly awaited week after week, illuminating our Jewish identity in a way we hadn’t realized we needed until we experienced it. I returned to Israel three more times with NCSY (2022, 2023, and 2024). As I always say, each time I return to Israel, “I fall deeper in love with our Homeland.” I realize now that I also fall deeper in love with Judaism. With each trip, I would return wanting to express my spirituality even more.

I started experiencing the Jewish calendar in ways I never had before. In 2020, I received a Sukkah from NCSY, and became the first house in my neighborhood with a Sukkah. I proudly invited my neighbors over to share in Sukkot in a way we never did before. The next year, NCSY doubled the size of my Sukkah and I doubled the Sukkah celebrations hosting almost 100 people each year.

I began to realize just how important each holiday is and how the specific traditions went back thousands of years… and I wanted to be a part of it. I wanted my family to know how precious being a link in the Jewish chain is and how we must pass our traditions down to the next generation. From learning to bake my own Hamantashen and making Shalach Manot baskets, to making memorable Seders to fasting for Tisha B’Av, I made sure each holiday would be celebrated in a deeper and more spiritual way. I was going to highlight my Judaism the way a candle brightens up the darkness.

In addition to my daily davening, I started studying Torah weekly with a Torah partner and I am forever grateful for this incredible opportunity. Not only was my Jewish life shining brighter, but my family’s was as well. My husband looks forward to doing the Kiddush, blessing the challah and helping make our Shabbos table look beautiful each week by bringing home Shabbos flowers. If my older children were away at school, we would all send our “Shabbat Shalom” texts to our family chat. My youngest son became active in his high school JSU club and even went to Israel with the TJJ teens in the summer of 2023. There was no bigger thrill than making Challah in Jerusalem with him and then having a surprise run in with him on top of Masada! These memories are priceless. He is currently the President of the Syosset High School JSU, and we are so proud of his impact on other Jewish teens.

When I think about how much NCSY has impacted my family, it gives me the fuel to keep lighting up my Jewish world. Just like each night our Hanukkiah gets brighter, so will my love for being Jewish. Finding NCSY is a beautiful “miracle” in my life and I am forever grateful for the opportunities it has given me and my family. Am Yisrael Chai!

Happy Hanukkah,

Missy (Michal) Edelman