Sun & Snow Over Winter Break

Students head out to the slopes and warmer climes over winter break

February 10, 2014

Sun first. Sholom Levitin, the points guy guru, snagged a cheap ticket to South Africa and went to hang out with the elephants and hyenas in Kruger National Park (among other places). Some interesting things he saw/learned? A one-and-a-half year-old baby elephant trying to use it’s trunk and didn’t know how. Lions go on a honeymoon for three to four days when they find a mate, separating from the pack and hunkering down in one location to mate every 15 minutes.  In this case, the lions’ honeymoon destination was the middle of the road (don’t they look like a happy couple?). The park is larger than Israel. Biggest surprise? The number of (inexpensive) kosher restaurants in Cape Town and Johannesburg. He ate well.

And speaking of Israel and eating well. Menachem Rimler returned to the Holy Land to speak to guys currently learning there about all that Lander has to offer. It's always good to be back. On his way home, he had a whirlwind 24 hours with Sammy Kahn and Ariel Steinberger in Paris, which he says is enough time to see everything. 

As for snow, eight Lander guys (including two alumni) headed out to the slopes to carve out some powder.  Shai Kopitnikoff, Binyamin Weiss, Avishai Alge, Chaim Moskowitz, Gabe Mandel, Bradley Cohen, Yaakov Gimler and Ariel Hochster headed for the hills of Park City, Utah, and by the last day they’d all set a new personal best, with most skiing double blacks. Impressive as that is, the local Jewish community, and chabad rabbi, was most impressed with how they got up between mincha and ma’ariv to give a short shiur and share a thought on the parsha.