Last Shabbat of 2012

This summer flew by and it’s already the last Shabbat. We hoped for a sunny day, but we woke up to a lovely rain storm. Although we couldn’t spend our Friday pizza lunch outside, we still had a great day. Rainy days at camp (machaneh) are definitely different but are equally as fun. During rainy days, we utilize all of the indoor spaces we have at machaneh which is nice for a change in scenery. Typically, when it comes time for sports we all will go to the Moadon for a sports related movie since we can’t play outside. However, because today was Friday and the start to Shabbat, we didn’t have sports. Instead, on Friday's we have the CIT activity (Madatz peula). In the morning during Madatz peula today, the Chotrim hung out in the Mini-Mo. Together they made warm and fuzzy books which is very common for the last few days of camp. They each were given construction paper and different decorations to create their own warm and fuzzy and pass to their friends. Warm and fuzzies are little booklets that the chanichim make on the last day of camp and pass to their friends to write nice notes about their friendships. 

The Sayarim played their favorite trigger games in the Moadon for Madatz peula. Trigger games are short fun games that we play before any age group activity (peula) that we do. One of the games they played today was Music Memory. Before the game begins, two people leave the room so they can’t see who has been partnered up. During this game everyone has a partner and chooses two lines from a song. Each partner will have one line and the object of the game is for the two people who left the room to come back and guess the partners based on the lines of the song that they sing. 

Although it was still raining, we continued our normal Friday schedule (seder yom). We had Shabbat singing (Shira) inside of the Moadon today. Because today was the last Shabbat shira all of the chanichim got really dressed up to impress the judges today. Every Friday before lunch the age group (shickvah) that sings the loudest, has the most energy, dresses the craziest and even compliments the judges gets called to pizza first. During Shabbat shira we learned two songs that we sing every weekend. One of the songs that we learned today, we sing on Friday night during Kabalat Shabbat and the other we sing during our campfire (medurah) on Saturday nights. It’s helpful for the chanichim to learn these songs so they can sing along throughout Shabbat.

Friday’s pizza lunch was inside of the dining hall (chadar ochel) today but it was still set up just as Hyde Park is set up outside. We created a circle of benches, put tape where the tire would be in Hyde Park, and turned one of the benches into the rock we stand on. Many chanichim thanked everyone for a wonderful summer and said they can’t wait to come back next year. 

Shabbat shalom and see everyone on Sunday from 1-3 PM for pick-up!