Written by Jeffrey Roessler

Last Thursday, Rabbi Segal’s Gemara Shiur departed to Venice Beach right after our Gemara period. Students split up into three different cars yet this didn’t prevent students from socializing as many entered deep conversations. Once we all arrived and gathered at the same place, we walked together to the basketball courts. We started shooting around to get warmed up. After twenty minutes or so, we split up into two teams of 5’s and those who didn’t get into the game waited for the next game by throwing around a football. Some kids decided to rent out bikes and ride along the beach and adore Hashem’s beautiful creations. When the basketball games were finished, we decided to gather up and figure out what we wanted to do. Some kids wanted to go watch the skate park and see people perform tough tricks, while others went to sit on the sand and play volleyball. Approximately 20 minutes later, hunger overtook us all. In response, we decided to go to the Mexican restaurant Lenny’s Casita in order to suppress our appetite. Once we arrived and ordered our food, we pushed many tables together so that we could sit next to each other and enjoy a great lunch together. After a great meal, we headed down the block to Shuva Yisrael to daven Mincha as a Minyan. After Mincha concluded, some headed back to VT while those who lived in the Pico district were dropped off there. This trip will turn out to be one of my favorite memories of Valley Torah!