Shabbat Preparation

Shabbat is definitely a favorite time for most of us here at camp. We get to eat home-made matzoh ball soup, we get to sleep in until 10:30, and a new schedule makes the whole experience feel special and different. It would not be a Galil Shabbat without some heavy avodah (work) and other cleaning. At the beginning of the summer, everyone split into work groups so that we all can take responsibility over an aspect of machaneh (camp), keeping it clean and it keeping it ours. Some sweep public spaces, clean the pool, work in the garden, and the some of the older campers get to prepare the Saturday night bonfire. After avodah, everyone goes back to their tzfirim (cabins) and has to clean their personal areas. We make our beds, fold our laundry, sweep inside and out, so that the entire tzrif stays cleans for Shabbat. On Friday, the cleanest bunk wins the coveted "Golden Broom" (both a title as well as physical broom, spray-painted gold). This week the Bogrot (post-9th grade girls) won the broom, along with the bragging rights that come with it.

The Tzophim being silly on Shabbat

Most important part of Shabbat: relaxing!

After we have a special Shabbat Shira (time to learn camp songs) in costumes and full of energy, we stop over to get lice checked and then have plenty of pizza: the first sign that Shabbat has arrived at Galil. All afternoon we play soccer (counselors vs. campers), go swimming (more popular on days a bit sunnier than today) and have time to get ourselves ready for shabbat. After everyone has showered and put on their nicest camp clothes, we split into our camp families. We discuss our week and then watch the Kabbalat (Friday night performance), this week by the Sayarim (post-6th graders). They sang Im Telech by Idan Raichel and danced to the rikud (Israeli folk dance) Shalom Al Yisrael. For a special treat, their counselor arranged a mash-up of the songs "We are Family" and "R-E-S-P-E-C-T". After our home-cooked Shabbat dinner we enjoyed the oneg (Friday night performance) by the Bonim (post-8th graders), poking fun at various aspects of camp culture. We ended the night with some Israeli dancing and tasty watermelon. We looking forward to seeing you all on Sunday!