But the hullabaloo confuses me, I must admit
It doesn’t make sense to me, this all doesn’t fit.
What’s the joy in joining fans of your favorite team
In watching the action as it plays out on the screen?
Why not turn off the set, and dust off your ball
And play your own game, experience true wins and falls?

If you’re a Jew, and it’s Super Bowl Sunday,
Remember that you don’t have to wait a year to play.
You’re put into this world to play your own game,
To fight your own struggles and earn your own fame.
After 120 years, they’ll remember your name,
Only if you were a “Giant” and played your own game.

~ Dalia Benscher

I inhale deeply, and the stench of acidic nail polish remover fills my nose. In the orange glow of my bedroom, I am transported back to my younger self, sitting on my old bedroom floor, leaning against my bed. On the floor, I am surrounding by brightly colored magazines, a pair of scissors, and push-pins in a variety of colors. With precision and an unexplainable glee, I cut out picture after picture of celebrities, “inspiring” quotes and eye catching photos. The radio is playing in the background, the latest and greatest chart topping hit of the hour.

For some reason, I am enthralled by the glitzy life of the people I read about. Their scandals make my heart race.

As a tween, it was easy to get caught up in the high society life of the famous “among” us. I remember obsessing over one celebrity. I had his picture all over my notebooks, my bulletin board, and my computer. I joined an online fan club. In my child’s mind, I was convinced I would marry him. I was so “in love” to the point of not being able to breathe when I saw his face. And I saw a lot of it. I was over the edge in a bubbly, yet dangerous, way.

Looking back, I am grateful for growing out of that phase of teeny bopper obsessions that consumed me. I wasted so much money on pathetic magazines, pretending I was in on the lives of the rich and famous. Disillusioned and misguided, I was alone in my late night cut and paste sessions. My friends didn’t get how much I needed those tiny cut outs to the point that when they came over, I would drape a piece of cloth over my bulletin board. Queen of subtlety, that was me. But I never expected them to understand, to relate to how I felt so entranced in the hypnotizing words of a bleach-blond singer or long-banged boy band that stole my heart. I was easy prey for the big magazine companies, the big label record companies.

Misguided, I was practically in another country.

The nail polish remover was a testimony to how far gone I was. The money I would spend, the hours I would put in to painting my nails a thick, dark black is almost nauseating. But for some strange reason, I was determined to act like them, dress like them, obsess over them and one day, maybe, become like them.

How foolish I was. Celebrities aren’t people as the magazines try to portray them. They are representations of all the dreams we wish we could fulfill, all the imaginative characters we can’t become ourselves. And while they grace the cover of magazines, they are manifestations of all the things we can never be. So we pine, desperate….

And the stench of alcohol they smell isn’t getting rid of a bad manicure. It’s draining their souls, if they have one to speak of….

So I think I’ll stick to my Rose Petal Pink nail polish, a safe color, for a safe world. I don’t want to go off the wrong end, as innocent as it may seem.

~ Adina Levitan

shadows lurking
creeping silently
darkens a corner
of my heart

vision fogging
paradigms blurred
there is the heightened fear
of confusion

heart blinded, constricted
this dark chaos
has killed something
inside me

with a wretched cry
and a mangled sob
there is the reality
of pain

~ Chava Leiba Sneiderman

When I started thinking about my summer plans last fall, I felt that I needed to do something that was atypical and rewarding. I spoke to my friends about the various summer programs available for sophomore girls to attend the summer after tenth grade. When I heard all the details about Camp Koby, I felt that this was what I needed to do. My parents, though a bit reluctant at first, were very supportive and encouraged my decision. Camp Koby is not the typical summer get-away program. It is a program geared to Israeli children in Israel who have suffered terrible losses in their families as a result of terror, illness, and other devastating circumstances.

Camp Koby, which is a program of the Koby Mandell Foundation, was founded in 2002. It was named after Koby Mandell, A”H, who was killed by terrorists on May 8, 2001, in a cave near his home in Tekoa. Koby was only thirteen years old at the time of his brutal death. Koby’s parents started the foundation to help others who have lost family members to terror cope with their losses. Camp Koby is a place where victims of terror can share their feelings with others who have suffered similar losses. Trained and professional counselors and therapists work with these kids in a fun environment. As a result, these children have an incredible time.

When I first greeted the campers, I observed a bunch of little kids arriving. Some appeared frightened, others excited, but everyone, no matter their age and each carrying their own grief, seemed ready to have a fun time. My job as a therapy intern was to observe the campers during therapy sessions. They had assorted therapies spread out throughout the day, such as animal therapy, wood-working, art, karate, clay-sculpting, and more. Animal therapy was particularly fascinating to me, as I witnessed the positive effects it had on the campers. The various animals involved in this therapy included snakes, turtles, frogs, parrots, and rabbits. The therapist would encourage each child to hold the animals. At first, many of the kids were afraid. With time, they felt more confident, and touching the animals gave way to actually holding them with confidence. Their faces glowed with visible happiness as a result of this achievement.

These kids and the program made such an incredible impact on me that. I felt motivated to do something more. Since I only observed the kids during therapy sessions, I started socializing and hanging out with them. I wanted to get to know them better. We shared and traded snacks, did each other’s hair, and enjoyed girl-talk, etc. Some of these kids spoke perfect English. Becoming their friend was an amazing and incredibly uplifting experience. The campers were treated to exciting trips throughout the program. On one of the trips to an amusement park, Superland, I became very close to one of the little girls in the group, who spoke fluent English.

After breakfast on a typical day at Camp Koby, each camper would go to his or her designated workshops. At different times during the day there would be spontaneous fun activities. For example, in one particular activity, all the kids sat in a circle holding small drums. The entertainer led the campers in song. At times, the songs were deliberately silly and we couldn’t stop laughing. The fun did not end at night: these kids had too much fun to go to sleep. The camp scheduled exciting night activities, and each night had a different theme.

Princess Night felt so majestic. The girls were supposed to dress up as princesses, so we improvised, like using orange garbage bags as makeshift poofy skirts. It was absolutely hilarious. The counselors artfully made up the girls, and they really felt like royalty for the night. On another theme night, we were treated to Pirate Night. The kids dressed up as pirates, in full gear – complete with black eye-shadow and bandannas – and they looked ready to seek their treasure. The treasure that they found was within themselves.

The highlight of Camp Koby, which everyone looks forward to, is Karaoke Night. The camp provided a karaoke machine and the kids each took turns singing songs. At the fast and happy melodies, people danced with a get-up-and-go energy. The sad-sounding songs created a feeling of togetherness where the kids would hook arms and sway back and forth. One particular incident will forever remain embedded in my memory. The song “Abba” came on, and everyone sang it together. In the middle of the song, a group of sisters were overcome with emotion and they burst into tears. While they left the group to grieve privately, I couldn’t get them out of my mind.

On the last day of camp, there was much hugging and tearful good-byes between the campers and staff. It turned out that the staff cried more than the campers. The campers had the enjoyable feeling of having had a great time. During the year many of these kids actually feel guilty about smiling or laughing. The staff felt the sadness of possibly not seeing these kids ever again. Of course, e-mail addresses were exchanged.

I am only sixteen years old, yet I know that few things in life could possibly provoke such profound emotions. These kids, who have suffered tremendous loss, have the opportunity each year to feel good about having fun. Camp Koby provides these kids with an opportunity to befriend someone else who had suffered from something similar, and gives these grieving kids the strength to cope. The campers return to their homes glowing with renewed freshness and energy. I am honored to have been a part of this program and grateful to the directors and staff for their tireless and selfless devotion.

~ Libby Sebrow

Traffic comes to a sudden halt
Parents, children, teachers, businesspeople
Wonder how long it will last

Some notice the construction workers,
Busy on the side of the road
Backs drenched with sweat from a hard day’s work
And complain about the way precious tax dollars are spent

There are then the kinds of citizens
Who make use of the silence and pause
Of busy, work filled lives

They notice their surroundings,
Environment, and nature
Appreciate God’s dedication
To His earth which we live on

Driving resumes
We all encounter the potholes
Ride over the speed bumps of life-
The ups, the downs

Ponder how to get past them
Detour your route or recalculate?
A need and desire for guidance, love
Direction, strength

Knowledge helps you choose the correct highway
The one that gets you where you need to go
It comes from the One Above
The One giving the directions

~Deda Kest

That’s when we have to catch ourselves and be conscious of our thoughts. What does being self-aware have to do with getting back on our feet, you ask? Just about everything.

Most of us aren’t really aware of our thoughts. If we would pay attention to the thoughts going through our heads, we would notice that more than half of them are negative: towards others and ourselves. We’re our own best critic. From when we wake up in the morning until we go to bed, we constantly put ourselves down and pick on ourselves.

The most common thing we do is victimize. Sounds like some therapeutic technical term? It is. There is a popular therapy called cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT for short. Suppose you failed a test. Along with this situation comes either a feeling, thought, physical reaction, behavior, or perhaps all four. You failed the test so you feel sad, maybe angry or frustrated. You’ll probably be thinking “I’m stupid” or “I could have done better.” Maybe you’ll cry, or scream. And then your behavior will be probably to give up and not try on the next test since you failed this one. That’s the gist of CBT. Situations trigger the four reactions and each of these four lead to each other until it’s a vicious cycle of thoughts and feelings and behaviors and a whole big jumble.

So you see, the way we think has a huge effect on pretty much everything. Like it says, “A person is where his or her thoughts are.”

Now, how can we change that entire situation?

You failed the test. You feel bad and upset and you start picking on yourself.
Wait – STOP.
Seriously, picture a stop sign and yell out to your racing thoughts to hold up and slow down. Now that your thoughts are frozen, think about what you were just doing.
You were victimizing.

Let’s talk about a victim versus a survivor.
Isn’t it interesting how they could both mean the same thing but totally different things at the same time? “She’s a victim of the war.” “She survived the war.” They both went through a war. They both got out of it. But one’s a victim, and one’s a survivor. Why is that? What makes one a victim and the other a survivor? It’s their thoughts, the way they think which changes the way they hold themselves and creates who they are.

The victim thinks “Why me?” She spends the war and post-war angry and sad – which is totally normal, but the victim lives in her anger and sadness. It becomes her, it’s who she is.

The survivor has a totally different way of thinking. Sure, she gets angry, sad, and depressed. But it’s different with the survivor. Instead of thinking, “Why me?” she thinks, “This happened to me, and it’s difficult and awful and it just plain sucks. But I can get through this; the war will be over soon.” She doesn’t live the war. The war hasn’t taken her over and controlled her. She hasn’t become a victim, she’s a survivor.

How do we become survivors? Let’s be more self aware. In every situation stop yourself, and be aware of your thoughts. Are you in victim mode or survival mode? Is this never going to end or is it long but over soon? Notice how different the positive thoughts are, and how different and happier we are because of them. It’s all about thinking positively, being a survivor, taking those victim thoughts and dumping them in the trash. Sounds cheesy? It is. But it works.

The only way to pick ourselves up again is to change our thoughts. We have to train ourselves to slow those thoughts down so we can interrupt them and turn them into positive thoughts.

Believe me, once you’re in survivor mode, your whole life changes. It’s almost exciting, like you’re a brave soldier battling through wars and winning. You’re a survivor, rather than a sad lonely victim who had to fight the war.

So think those survivor thoughts. Make a list of them. Write them down, memorize them, and live them. And then that’s who you’ll be: a survivor.

~ Tova Benjamin

Shelter you from this storm

Hold your hand and talk to you

Tell you who you are

Trust in me, have faith in me

Together we’ll be strong

And the brighter days will hear us in this song

Don’t shed a tear

It’s not yet morning

Know who you are

Know where you’re roaming

Hold on tight, don’t let go

I know it’s hard, I know you know

People love you

People care for you

Never forget

You are

Part of the light in our

World of destruction and war

If you forget it

I’ll tell you don’t let it go

You are so special to me

Please promise me you will be

Happy when you’re with me

I love you like- you’ll never know

~Hindy S.

How were the Maccabeats formed? (Was it really like how it’s depicted in your video
for “One Day”?)

Meir Shapiro: In the fall of 2007, Michael Greenberg came to Yeshiva University and wondered
why the flagship Jewish university did not have its own Jewish collegiate a cappella group like
most other universities. So, he decided to email the student body in hopes of finding others out
there who too wanted to join a club to sing a cappella. Those who responded to the email tried
out for the group, and were simply called YU A Cappella. Back then we rarely performed, but
the following fall, we decided to take things further and chose the name The Maccabeats as a
play on the YU mascot name, The Maccabees. After gradually learning a range of songs for our
repertoire, we began to perform at various YU functions, and by the following spring of 2010,
we released our debut album and our debut music video, which somewhat portrayed the story of
our formation as a group, albeit in a more comical fashion.

What inspired you guys to create “Candlelight”?

Ari Lewis: Our director Immanuel Shalev heard the song “Dynamite” by Taio Cruz on the radio.
Being that it was almost Chanukah time, the lyrics inspired him to put his own Chanukah twist to
the song. From there, he saw a great opportunity for us to spread the word of Chanukah in a new,
fun, and creative way.

Did you ever expect that the video of “Candlelight” would go viral among the Jewish
community, let alone among non-Jews?

Mordy Prus: We definitely had no clue how the video would be received – our target audience
was the Jewish community, but didn’t expect anything beyond that. The fact that now there are
non-Jews saying they wished they were Jewish after watching the video is a bit crazy, as well as
satisfying knowing that we are spreading a good name for the Jewish people.

What was it like performing at the White House for Jewish American Heritage Month?

Nachum Joel: A dream come true. It was such an honor to be invited to sing in the White House
and represent the Jewish people for Jewish American Heritage Month. We performed, met the
President, then we gathered in the East Room and davened Mincha right there in the house of
the President of the United States. For me it was unbelievable to think how far the Jewish people
have come in the past 60 years. I was very proud to have been given that privilege.

What’s the most moving experience you had at a concert?

Mordy Prus: This past summer we had the opportunity to perform at the Maccabi games
in Hebrew University for thousands of teens from all over the US and of all different
denominations of Judaism – it was extremely moving to hear almost everyone sing along to
Candlelight as we were singing on stage – really seeing the effects that the video has had on the
Jewish world at large.

I personally have no problems with secular music and listen to it on a daily basis, but I
know that a lot of people in the frum community have questioned the fact that you’ve
listened to non-Jewish music in order to make it kosher. Do you have a response to this?

Immanuel Shalev: We believe strongly in the philosophy of Torah uMaddah. It’s our mission
to find the spiritual and the meaning in everything – even in secular music. Although I think
things are either mutar (permitted) or assur (prohibited) – not religious or secular – it’s especially important for a Jew to show the world how to “see G-d in hidden places.” [This quotation is from the Maccabeats’ “Purim Song.”]

What do you think about the fact that you’ve got females from 5 to 95 who squeal with
delight whenever they watch one of your videos?

Nachum Joel: 95!? Wow…it’s really flattering to have such a wide age range of fans. It’s
unbelievable that our music/videos appealed to people all over the age spectrum. What’s even
more incredible are the values these videos are spreading worldwide. Families who have never
owned a menorah are now lighting and making latkes as a family on Chanukah. There is no
greater feeling then getting a thank you email from someone who was impacted by our music.

I gotta ask – what’s the private joke behind the NASA suit that makes an appearance in
every video?

Meir Shapiro: The NASA suit was originally worn by Noah Jacobson in our first music video
of Matisyahu’s “One Day” that came out in conjunction with the release of our debut album
Voices from the Heights. Ever since, we’ve included it in every one of our music videos just for
fun. We even got a free exclusive tour of NASA when we were on tour in Houston, because a
Jewish astronaut saw the “Candlelight” video posted on the NASA website’s home page and
subsequently invited us when we were in town.

And in “The Book of Good Life,” what’s up with the Justin Bieber poster?

Meir Shapiro: Noey [Noah Jacobson] really likes Justin Bieber.

So what’s next for the Maccabeats?

Mordy Prus: We are currently working on our second album and hope to continue to put smiles
on people’s faces and spread Judaism in a positive light for as long as we possibly can.

Her blue eyes stare at me
With confusion and fear
My heart breaks a little more
But I’m told to leave her alone.

Her blue eyes stare at me
With awe and joy
As I ignore the others,
And start to walk to her.

Their brown eyes glare at me
With hatred and distrust
But I don’t care what they think
For the decision is mine.

~ Kell B.