Garinim had a wonderful beginning to camp! Our first peulat erev was a scavenger hunt around camp with a get-to-know-you icebreaker at each station. We spent Shabbat talking about our individual qualities and what makes each person in our Eidah special, and had an exciting Havdalah concert from one of our madrichim to send Shabbat out with a bang! -Avidan Halivni, Rosh Garinim
Eidat ha’Sollelim had a great and busy start to our kayitz! We kicked off the kayitz with an interactive “get to know your tzevet” puelat erev. We spent the Shabbat reflecting back on the school year, looking at major events in the world, as well as thinking about aspects of our own lives that were significant this year. We ended Shabbat with a scavenger hunt around camp, highlighting different components of the summer to look forward to, and ended Havdalah with examples of exciting events they will be experiencing this coming week. -Shira Forester, Rosh Solelim
Shoafim has had an incredible few days at camp. We started off the summer with fun kikar games capped off with an exciting game of Battle Ball (a mixture of dodgeball and battleship). During Shabbat, we discussed what it means to have a lev chacham, “wise heart,” and what it means to grow and follow your heart. Finally, we played an intense game of “Avatar” where the campers worked together to defeat the counselors in a variety of goofy activities. -Alex Harris, Rosh Shoafim
What a first week for Bogrim 2019! After all the chanichim (campers) arrived on Thursday, they spent the afternoon unpacking and reuniting with friends (and meeting new ones) on the Kikar, basketball courts and in the tzrifim (cabins). On Friday, we rotated around the many different anafim (branches/departments) around camp, including Ivrit (Hebrew), sports and omanut/nagarut (art/woodworking). Later in the day, we welcomed our first Shabbat at camp together by learning about the first part of our Bogrim summer-long theme dealing with wisdom and building community. We performed Havdalla on the beach by our lake as an eidah (grade) and kicked off our first full week together. I can’t wait for the countless memories Bogrim will create this summer! – Jonathan Schrag, Rosh Bogrim
These past couple of days have been a ton of fun for Machon. We started our summer together with a relay race to the Point – a special place at camp for Machon campers – and then learned our eidah song. We also had an amazing Shabbat where we discussed our summer theme – עיניים חדשות (new eyes) – and talked about how we wanted to challenge ourselves and create a new community at camp together. Camp’s been off to a great start, and we’re so excited for the rest of our programming! – Liza Bernstein, Rosh Machon
Our first week of camp in Tikvah began with an exciting few days of programming, both as an eidah and combined with Machon. Eidah highlights have included a shoe golf tournament and a Shabbat tour of important places to know around camp. We also played icebreaker games with Machon and learned our eidah song together with the Machon campers. The campers are excited to meet their chaverim (Machon buddies) later this week. – Jared Skoff, Rosh Tikvah
Nivonim have had such a lovely first weekend! We started off with a Yom Meyuchad on Friday and played games that reminded us about previous summers at camp. We then spoke about the ways in which the Nivonim summer is unique. Our Shabbat sichot pushed us to think about the meaning of the word “Purity” and about our summer-long theme- “וטהר ליבנו ולעבדך באמת”. We even got to play out first ligot game with Machon on Saturday night! -Daniella Elyashar, Rosh Nivonim
It’s been a great first week at camp! We spent Shabbat together discussing our summer-long theme, “All Atzmayim participants are responsible for one another,” before everyone started work at their job sites on Sunday. We have participants at a few new job sites this year and everyone is enjoying their work! Last night we had cooking club during which we made our very own pizza dinner with help from mitbachon (teaching kitchen) staff. It was a tasty night and we’re excited to do it again next week! – Sam Weiner, Rosh Atzmayim
