Operation Solomon!

Good afternoon!

The sun was shining bright as everyone made their way over to the toren (flagpole) for hitkansut boker (morning flag raising). Everyone, that is, except for the Madatz who had a sleep-in after working so hard on yesterday’s Revolution, and the Sayarimot (campers entering 7th grade). That’s because the Sayarimot enjoyed Yom Sayarimot today! This means they spent the whole day together having fun and working together in team-building activities. For example, the Sayarimot went on the low ropes course, spent some time in the Shire (a small campsite on Galil property) with a mid-day bonfire, headed to the creek, played some “broom ball,” and had a party! They also ate their meals separately from the rest of machaneh (camp).

A chanichol (camper) jumps into the pool

Anyways, this morning the Ivrit Shimushit (Useful Hebrew skit) word of the day was cholah (sick).Then, everyone went to a delicious breakfast of eggs, fruit, oatmeal, and cereal. After a block of avodah (work groups) and nikayon tzrif (cabin-cleaning time), the age groups split up for pish alef (peula shichva, age group activity). The Amelimot went to instructional swim before heading down to the creek. Before heading to instructional swim, the Chotrimot played some interactive games by their gazebo to learn about Kibbutzim (communal living communities in Israel, like the type that Galil is modeled after!). The Bonimot learned about the Ethiopian aliyah (move to Israel) and prepared for tonight’s special surprise. The Bogrimot also prepped for tonight’s fun evening surprise!

The Chotrimot during a peula (activity)

After a fun block of sports, machaneh (camp) was treated to mac and cheese for lunch! Needless to say, everyone was very excited, especially Abby.

During Pish Bet (second age-group activity), the Amelimot played games in their shetach (cabin-area) and the Chotrimot made a time capsule, and Tzophimot had an activity about the book The Giving Tree. The Bonimot continued working on their surprise for tonight, and the Bogrimot learned about Israel’s city of Jerusalem. Afterwards, everyone headed to Zman Meyuchad (specialist’s time) before free swim and kibbud (snack time). Then, machaneh (camp) enjoyed the last day of their chugim (clubs), where Snow Day made cookie dough! Some other chugim teamed up to watch a movie together in the Moadon (clubhouse) before everyone went to shira (singing time) and hitkansut erev (evening flag lowering). For dinner, we had beef stew before the evening activity by shichva (age group).

The Sayarimot on the low ropes course

Here’s a paragraph from Gabby in Bonimot, here to tell you all about tonight’s special surprise:

Hi everyone, I’m Gabby, and tonight the Bonimot are running a special activity that we’ve been planning for the past week! For this activity, we’re taking the chanichimot (campers) through the Borokov Trail to reenact making aliyah to Israel. In past years, this has been called Aliyah Bet and focused on Eastern Europeans, but this year we decided to try a new idea. We’re calling it Operation Solomon, which is the aliyah that the Ethiopian Jews made instead. We wanted to educate the younger campers about all the aliyot that have happened. That’s why we as a kvutza (group) have decided to change the storyline a bit, while the activities themselves are going to remain the same. Here’s the plan: We’re going to wake up all the campers during the night by shichva (age group) and they are going to go to the basketball court for a training session and a quick skit to let them know what’s going on. We then are going to take them in small groups run by the Bonimot and madrichimot through the Borokov Trail, making a pit stop at the pool. There they’ll have to sail across on a raft to reenact crossing the border to Sudan. At the end there will be warm brownies for everyone once they reach Israel! Operation Solomon only happens once a summer and it’s both educational and fun for everyone!