Special Day - Dneirf

Planes over macheneh? Madrichim (counselors) infected by space creatures? Workshops on “Talking Like A Human”? All of these happened today at camp! Today was Zman Myeuchad, or “Special Day”. It’s a themed day planned by a va'ad (committee) of specialist counselors. This session’s theme was “Dneirf Invasion”. Can you guess what “dneirf” means? Read on to find out…

The morning started off normally, but things got crazy at noon. All the kids were sent to the kekar (sports field) where three decorated planes flew over us and dropped off this year’s camp T-shirt. Suddenly, a group of madrichim (counselors) wearing the Galil shirt appeared, all painted purple. They were crawling on the ground and jumping up and down while yelling, “DNEIRF!” Our Rosh (head of camp) made an announcement that the shirts had infected the counselors and turned them into purple creatures. We headed down the hill for a pool party, so that we could “wash off the alien germs”. After drying off, we headed to the basketball court and dunked the Dneirfs (aliens) in a dunk tank!

 

The Dneirfs!

Lunch today was a pasta bar, which included lemon cream noodles, stuffed shells, pasta with tomato sauce, pesto fettuccini and mac and cheese. The Dneirfs sat in a special section and ate with straws instead of normal utensils. They then lead us in shira (singing) but they replaced every word with “dneirf”. The kids had fun poking them and asking them questions about their origins. The Dneirfs, of course, answered only with “Dneirf dneirf dneirf!”

One madatz (CIT) stood up and declared that he didn’t trust the new visitors. He then led us into a carnival at the pavilion where we learned to “Dance like a Dneirf”, “Eat Like a Dneirf”, and “Talk like a Dneirf”. We played Gaga and had a dance party at the end. Then we decided that we should welcome the extraterrestrials by teaching them our customs. In the Moadon (rec hall), the Dneirfs pacticed “Walking like a Human”, “Gaming like a Human”, and “Singing like a Human”. The dneirfs pretended not to understand how to do any normal activities, and the kids loved seeing their favorite counselors being silly.

At dinner, we have a mock Veida. In Habonim Dror, we have a conference every two years where we write and vote on proposals to make decisions about the movement. WE had a mini-Veida with the kids where we voted on whether we should accept the Dneirfs or throw them out. As we noshed on bourekas, latkes, edamame, salad, and egg rolls, the kids voted to keep our new Dneirfs!

To celebrate the decision, there was a party in the Moadon, which only lasted for 20 minutes until the Dneirfs decided that they wanted to show us something. Seven madrichim were wearing shirts that spelled out “D-N-E-I-R-F-S”. They switched around until they spelled out “F-R-I-E-N-D-S”!

The Dneirfs led us to the refet (barn) where there was an incredible glow-in-the-dark party! We had flashlights embedded in the rafters, streamers everywhere, a popcorn machine, and tons of glow-in-the-dark bracelets. After the party, madrichim led their kids to their tzrifim (cabins) and put them to bed.  Humans and dneirfs alike had an out-of-this world day.

PS - Videos of the Invasion are on our Facebook Page.