Terrific Thursday

Good evening everyone!

Today was another gorgeous day at machaneh (camp)! The sun was out, and we had a delicious breakfast of waffles, oatmeal, and fruit. After breakfast, the chanichimot (campers) headed to their avodah (work group) and helped out around machaneh. Once avodah was finished, it was time for the chanichimot to clean their tzrifim (cabins).

During Pish Alef (the first age group activity of the day), the Amelimot played some water games before heading to instructional swim. The Chotrimot had a mock revolution against the mazkirut (camp directors), which resulted in a water balloon fight before heading to instructional swim, and the Sayarimot played in the creek. The Tzophimot also went down to the creek to do some kvutza (group) bonding activities such as boat racing, while the Bonimot stayed in their shetach (area) and had a conversation about gender. The Bogrimot settled back into machaneh (camp) after returning from their tiyul (hiking trip) before starting to prepare their songs and dance for Kabbalat Shabbat (Friday evening Shabbat service).

Some Bonimot at the Hyde Park treehouse. 

Today was great for sports (we had kickball, volleyball, basketball, ultimate frisbee), not too hot and absolutely beautiful! Chanichimot made sure to stay hydrated throughout the fun. Lunch was a delicious barbecue in Hyde Park, the first outdoor meal of the year! There were hamburgers and hotdogs, vegetarian versions of each for those who don’t eat meat, along with the usual salad bar.

After lunch, chanichimot had some well-earned rest time before Pish Bet (second age group activity). Pish Bet was full of conversations on youth empowerment, as both the Chotrimot and the Bonimot had peulot (activities) on the topic. The Amelimot ran an impromptu wedding for their counselors, the Sayarimot enjoyed some time in the pool during instructional swim, and the Tzophimot played games on the kikar (field). The Bogrimot continued to plan their Kabbalat Shabbat, which I'll explain more about later. During Zman Meyuchad (specialist time), the Judaism group discussed this week’s Torah portion about Biblical spies and their motivations. The weather was absolutely perfect for Schiya Chofshit (free swim) and chanichimot (campers) headed on over to the pool to splash around and play water games with their friends. During Chugim (clubs/interest groups), Chug Nashim (gender inclusive women’s club) played basketball and football while Chug EngiNERDing experimented with an egg drop.

Some Tzophimot enjoying the creek with their counselor.

I’m not sure what’s going to be for dinner tonight, but I’m sure it will be fantastic! Afterwards, tonight’s tochnit erev (evening activity) is going to be a relaxing movie night so that everyone can unwind after a long week.

Tomorrow is our first Shabbat of machaneh (camp) and the Bogrimot are in charge of this week’s Kabbalat Shabbat (the Friday evening service, which includes singing an English song, a Hebrew song, and performing an Israeli dance). Later that night, the Madatz (CITs) will perform this week’s oneg (a funny skit about the week’s happenings) and lead the machaneh (camp) into rikud (Israeli dancing).

Some Amelimot have fun in the pool.

Have a good night, and see you tomorrow for the first Shabbat of the summer!

-Abby