Muffins Galore and Shabbat Reflection

***From Friday, July 28

Shabbat at Galil is a time to think back on our week and to continue long-held traditions. On Fridays, we take a moment to remember our high points, our low points, the people who helped us, our mistakes, and our hopes for the future. Camp slows down and lets campers spend time with friends, relax, and be in the presence of the madrichim who love them.

Our Friday started off with MUFFINS! Our mitbach (kitchen) workers stay up late on Thursdays, baking homemade breakfast pastries. My personal favorites are the chocolate-chip muffins, but we also have lemon poppyseed muffins, blueberry muffins, corn muffins, and cinnamon swirl muffins. At my table, the Bogrot and I also munched on cantaloupe and cereal.

Ready for Shira!

Later in the day, the kids had their first Madatz pish of second session. Our Madatz (CITs) have almost all grown up in Habonim Dror, and now they get to be seen as leaders of machaneh. Each age group has around 5 Madatz who plan an activity for them each Friday.

After Madatz pish is Shira! The kids compete by singing with ruach (spirit) and the age group with the most enthusiasm gets to go first to get incredible homemade pizza. Pizza toppings included olives, onions, peppers, and spinach.

Yummy Pizza for Lunch! 

During Hyde Park, the Galil chanichim got the opportunity to voice their opinions about things at camp that they would like to change. A member of mazkirut, who are the leaders of camp, sits next to “The Rock”, the place where kids speak, and writes down all suggestions for serious consideration. After speaking, they grabbed some water ice and ran off to either swim, play our sport of the week, or check their weekly tzrif (cabin) cleanliness score.

Eventually, we reconvened and split up into mishpachot (families). Every chanichol (camper) at Galil is adopted into a “family”, where they discuss the Torah portion of the week and also share their feelings about their week. The classic mishpacha activity is “Roses and Thorns”, where we share a “rose” (great part of our week) and a “thorn” (challenging part of our week). Mishpachot are a great place for chanichim to bond with kids from other schavot (age groups) and to spend time with different madrichim (counselors).

The mishpachot (families) then head to lower the flags and watch Kabbalat, where the Cochavim (formerly the Am-Cho, aka the 9-11 year olds) performed an English song, a Hebrew song, and an Israeli dance. We all joined in song, and then headed to the chader ochel (dining hall) where we feasted upon baked chicken, potatoes, cauliflower, challah, and matzah ball soup.

Leading Kabbalat Shabbat

Following dinner was the weekly oneg, a skit that pokes fun at the madrichim (counselors). It’s a big honor to be featured in the oneg and madrichim joke about bribing their kids to write them in. We create signs and nametags so that everyone can tell which counselors the kids are playing. The Melafafonimot performed their satirical play tonight and were very successful in their Spongebob-themed show.

Kids streamed out of the refet (barn) where the oneg is performed, and went straight to rikkud (Isareli dancing).  We danced to songs like “Mayim”, “Od Lo Ahavti Dai”, and “Hafinali”. At the end of rikkud, the winners of the covereted Golden Broom were announced: The Cochavimot! The madatz took their respective kids back to the tzrifim (cabins) and sang them bedtime songs until they fell asleep.

Tomorrow, we will start the day with Madatz Peula, where the CITs lead a big activity for all of camp. Then we have Chugim Ritzanim,  where counselors lead educational workshops. Kids can chooses between the likes of “Analyzing Hamilton Lyrics”, “Bar Mitzvah Prep is Fun”, “Learning the Card Game Euchre”, and “Feminism and Isareli Culture”. They will also have musicale (our traditional talent show) and will celebrate havdallah. The night ends with medurah, which is a huge bonfire and comedy show. We can’t wait for the ice cream sundaes that we get to eat tomorrow! See you soon, parents and friends of Galil.