Lev v’Nefesh 2026
Lev v’Nefesh, the capstone of The Leffell School experience, provides seniors the opportunity to develop an even greater sense of Jewish identity while traveling and learning in Europe and Israel. More than simply a trip or tour, Lev v’Nefesh is a journey that impacts the hearts and souls of our students just before they take the next step in their lives.
Lev v’Nefesh is a ROOTONE-affiliated program. ROOTONE LLC is seeded through a generous grant by The Marcus Foundation and powered by The Jewish Education Project. Visit www.ROOTONE.org for more information.
When Israel Became More Than a Visit
All my life, Israel had been spoken of like a heartbeat I couldn’t hear, a story everyone else belonged to. I worried I would arrive and feel nothing, like this place wasn’t meant for me. We landed exhausted and drove straight to an overlook above the…
Mazal tov to the Kaye Family!
For the LVN students at Agron in Jerusalem, which at this point is all but a few of our seniors in Israel, this morning and this evening each had its own very different focus. This morning’s focus was, in a word, joy. For Marc and his…
Student Reflections on Mechina Options Week
Before arriving at the Mechina on Sunday, I felt a wave of apprehension. I questioned whether my Hebrew would be strong enough, how demanding the programming might be, and whether I would feel judged It didn’t take long for those fears to fade. After participating in…
Student Reflections on Yeshiva Options Week
Last week, “Options Week,” I opted to spend five days at the Pardes Institute, a yeshiva in Jerusalem. We learned from the second chapter of Masechet Megillah in the Babylonian Talmud, in preparation for Purim this week. Here’s a little bit of what I learned. The…
Options Week 2026: Agricultural Volunteering
Options Week: Agricultural Volunteering Photos
Moving from Options Week into Shabbat
Options Week wrapped up today with all of the kids back together at Agron for the evening. It was the first time many of them had seen each other since last Saturday night, and for the desert kids, the first time they’d seen a shower since…
Options Week Continues
Our seniors are living their best lives on Options Week around Israel. Our archaeology group has been digging out new caves, finding artifacts, and exploring previously excavated caves in the Beit Guvrin area. Our mechinah group has been spending the week living and learning with and…
Options Week Is Underway
After a relaxing Shabbat together as a full group, Options Week has gotten underway! The kids are now off to either hiking in the desert, agricultural volunteering, archaeological digging, learning in yeshiva, or spending a week in mechina. Shabbat was the group’s last day with Morah…
Student Reflections: The North
I am writing this on the bus as we head back to Jerusalem for Shabbat after an awesome week up North. Sunday was mainly a travel day, where we headed up North. We spent the first three nights of the week at a hotel in Nes…
Wrapping Up in the North
The students have had a great couple days up north, celebrating Rosh Chodesh with spirited Hallel, exploring Kabbalistic art and music in Tsfat, learning about Christianity in Kfar Nachum and Islam in Acco, hiking in Nahal Tabor, volunteering in the greenhouses of Moshav Yardena, and swimming…
Up North, Looking Ahead
It has been another multifaceted week on Lev v’Nefesh, as the students headed north after the first Host Shabbat. They have had the opportunity to explore the beauty of the Galil, the time periods of the Mishnah and Gemara, and to see how the city of…
Student Reflections: First Week in Israel
Our first week in Israel was full of amazing experiences. It is my first time visiting Israel, so I was particularly excited to see all the places that I had already learned about in person. Our first stop was Tel Gezer, which is a beautiful mountain…
Jerusalem – Har HaBayit – Kfar HaNokdim
Our students have enjoyed a bonfire and are now stargazing as they take advantage of their evening at the Bedouin Tent in Kfar HaNokdim. Tomorrow they will wake up while it’s still dark to hike up Masada in time for a sunrise Shacharit, before hiking in…
Our First Day Out And About In Israel
After a very restful Shabbat and a fun Saturday night out in Jerusalem, today the students began the Israel portion of Lev v’Nefesh in earnest. They met their Israel educators, visited Tel Gezer for a short hike and an introduction to their study of the land…
Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem
What a difference 24 hours can make. Yesterday at this time we were walking through the area of the Warsaw Ghetto, crunching on snow underfoot, contemplating Jewish loss and Jewish heroism, and feeling chilled to the bone despite all our layers. Today we spent time in…
Student Reflections on Poland
This week in Poland we have borne witness, reflected, and traveled back to the time of the Shoah, 80 years ago. Here are a few of my takeaways from this experience and moments that especially impacted me. In the Auschwitz I Yad Vashem exhibit, home movies…
Warsaw on Our Final Day in Poland
We have loaded our buses and are heading to the airport in anticipation of our flight to Israel. We had a good day in Warsaw, touring the prewar Jewish cemetery with its 250,000 interesting and different matzevot (headstones), and walking through the former Warsaw Ghetto area….
Umschlagplatz Monument & Mila 18 Memorial, Warsaw
Umschlagplatz Monument & Miła 18 Memorial, Warsaw
Lublin – Majdanek – Otwock – Warsaw
This evening we reached Warsaw and our last hotel in Poland, following a less intense but still impactful day. We started our morning with wakeup, breakfast, and making lunches at our hotel in Lublin before a short drive to Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin. At one point, this…
Warsaw – Tykocin – Lopuchowo – Treblinka – Warsaw
We had a very powerful day, and we will spend tomorrow in and around Warsaw taking in the last educational pieces of our week in Poland. This morning, we headed northeast out of Warsaw in the direction of Tykocin, known in Yiddish as Tiktin. Today, Tykocin…
Student Artwork
This is a piece about Jewish women fighting to protect their children during genocides. It harkens back to Miriam and the Nile as metaphors for the rivers in Europe and mothers in difficult situations. The woman in this art is trying not to cry after she…
Nieciecza Barn
After spending the night in Tarnow, we visited this barn in Nieciecza, where Anna Haber’s great-grandfather and great-great-grandmother were saved by a Polish family that was later recognized by Yad Vashem as righteous among the nations. We gathered outside the barn where they hid as Anna…
Shabbat in Krakow, Sunday in Oswiecim (Auschwitz)
It is Sunday night, darkness has set in, and our normally noisy and boisterous bus is silent, with the snowy Polish countryside passing by through the windows. We enjoyed a beautiful, restful Shabbat in Krakow, complete with Kabbalat Shabbat together as a group in Kraków’s Tempel…
Szydlow & Dzialoszyce
The Talmud refers to Rosh HaShanah not as two days but as one, 48 hour, very long day. That is what ‘today’ has felt like. Because of our flights and travels, it feels like we woke up in New York (and NJ, and CT) in the…
Friday Around Krakow
Today we walked in the footsteps of the Jews of Krakow. After waking up, davening, eating breakfast, and making lunches at our hotel, our two educator groups began walking tours of the Kazimierz neighborhood where our hotel is located. Once upon a time this neighborhood was…
On The Road In Poland
Boker Tov from snowy Poland, where our buses just pulled away from the airport to get on the road and begin our journey around the country. In what may be considered a small miracle, every one of our checked bags made it to Warsaw, both of…
Senior Sendoff 2026
On Wednesday, our entire high school community gathered along with family and friends to wish our 12th-grade students well as they embark on their two-month Lev v’Nefesh experience in Israel and Poland. Students and faculty shared prayers and words of Torah, and a second-grade student hand-delivered…