Young Magen David (YMD) and Leaders In Training (LIT) organized an amazing leadership retreat for young adults of the community, recently. Even though the participants came from Deal and Brooklyn, were of different age groups, and had varied interests, we quickly forged strong bonds and enjoyed an exciting and meaningful weekend together. By the end of the trip it was clear that although the Deal and Brooklyn youth may be separated by a short distance, we are all part of one community.

After a long bus ride, we finally arrived at the Inn at Pocono Manor and went straight to bed, anticipating a fun and action-packed day on Friday. While some participants built friendships while skiing on the beautiful slopes of the Pocono Mountains, others learned teamwork and responsibility through an intense paintball experience. The day passed by too quickly, and before we knew it, it was time to get ready for Shabbat.

As Shabbat began, we developed a more serious attitude as we knew that we had a big job ahead of us. The retreat organizers carefully administered personality tests in order to divide us into smaller session groups that were composed of people with different leadership qualities. The sessions focused on the definition of community, and the different areas of our community that we particularly valued or felt needed the most improvement. At the end of each session, a representative from each group was chosen to present what they had discussed to all of the participants, in order to encourage dialogue between the groups. Everyone agreed that the keys to our community's continued success lies in education, tolerance and familial bonds. The sessions proved to be a great success, as many groups decided to meet after the retreat and create programs to empower our community's youth. Although many serious issues were addressed, we still were able to enjoy each other's company through various games, delicious food and amusing discussions.

Saturday night was a blast, as we engaged in snow tubing, Pictionary and various YMD traditions. Everyone enjoyed such a remarkable weekend that no one was too upset on Sunday morning when we departed seven hours later than expected. In fact, this extra time together served as a great way to reinforce the strong bonds that were already made.

We would like to thank the YMD and LIT committees for the time and effort they dedicated to creating this inspirational program. The retreat would not have been possible without the devoted session leaders including Charles Antebi, Michael Mishaan, Morris Tabush, Joey Mizrahi and Morris Mizrahi, as well as the caterers, David and Susan Abady, for their delicious food and wonderful driving. We will never forget the amazing memories shared throughout the weekend: From fun activities, to meaningful discussions, to maple syrup, great times were had by all!
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Simone Grazi and Estee Shamah are both graduates of the Yeshivah of Flatbush. Simone is now a freshman at Barnard, majoring in psychology, and Estee is a freshman at NYU, majoring in early childhood special education.