Shabbat Shalom!

Shabbat is just around the corner and the week is coming to an end, but that doesn’t mean the energy has died! The chanichim woke up this morning to the smell of our traditional Friday morning breakfast: muffins! On Friday after breakfast we still have work (avoda) but it is slightly longer so we can bring in Shabbat with an extra clean camp (machaneh). 

During avoda on Friday’s we mop the dining hall (chadar ochel) floor before Shabbat dinner to give it that extra sparkle. Mopping the floor is always fun because the CITs (Madatz) make fun games with the chanichim while they mop and squeegee the floor together. 

The Madatz also braid the challah during avoda that we eat on Friday nights. This is something that every camper (chanich) looks forward to and the Madatz have so much fun braiding the challah together. 

Something special about Friday afternoon is our picnic pizza lunch!  In order to be called up for pizza first, each age group (shichva) must sing the loudest and have the most spirit (ruach) when we teach songs (shira). At Shabbat shira we teach special songs that we typically sing on Friday nights or Saturday nights. 

We have many Shabbat songs that are unique to Galil as well as Shabbat songs that many chanichim grew up singing with their families. Shabbat shira is a great opportunity for the new chanichim to learn these songs so they can sing along later that night. The shichva that sings the loudest is able to go to the pizza buffet first, so everyone seems to have slightly more energy during shabbat shira. The newest trend is for the chanichim to dress up in crazy costumes to grab the attention of the madrichim choosing who will go to lunch first. 

Shabbat at Galil has an entirely different schedule from a normal day. Saturdays are very relaxing and we take the time to reflect on the past week as well as think about anything we would like to do in the upcoming week. On Shabbat, counselors (madrichim) and madatzim run special interest groups (chugim) which focus on discussions, reflections, and nature. Each chanich is able to choose which interest group (chug) they would like to go to based on what interests to them! 

We are looking forward to the first Shabbat! And just a friendly reminder that because tomorrow is Shabbat there will be no blog post or pictures uploaded, so check back again on Sunday! 

Shabbat shalom!