It was another eventful week at the Yeshiva as the boys settled back into their routine after their trip down south. We spoke of the Israeli election and welcomed back Rabbi Reichel and Rabbi Knapel from their trip tot the United States and Canada. They were sorely missed.

Sunday night was Tu B'Shvat. To celebrate the chag, we had a special whole grilled salmon dinner al fresco in front of the Yeshiva. This was followed by special shiurim by Reb Meskin and Rav shimon about the meaning of the chag and the importance of planting trees in Eretz Yisrael.

On Monday the Yeshiva went to Keeda, a small yishuv near Shilo, to fulfill the mitzvah of tree planting. Keeda is special because it sits in a straight-line from Tel Aviv to Ariel to Shilo to the Jordan River connecting the populated coastline with the eastern edge of the country. It's truly a beautiful place where on a clear day (which ours was not) you can see the Dead Sea and Mount Hermon. The Yishuv is very new and small yetit has hope of growing to about 400 families in the near future.

Tuesday was Election Day in Israel. The guys took the election very seriously and were very curious to see how the elections played out.

We continued our Bayit Cham dinners on Wednesday night with a dinner of spaghetti casserole for the five guys who came. They also participated in a discussion on "proper dress for prayer and what to do about it when you're near it".

The sicha this week was very special as we were privileged to hear from Rabbi Seth Mandel of the Koby Mandel foundation. Rabbi Seth spoke about the murder of his son Koby at the hands of Palestinian terrorists eight years ago, and what they've done to help those families who have experienced similar trauma.

Wednesday night also saw the first installment of a new chug from Rabbi Yisrael Cohen. The turnout was great, as was the food and the singing at the late night event at his house.

We look forward to an in-Shabbat this week with Rav Jacobson and family and special mussaf from Joe Cohen.

Shabbat Shalom,