(Belated) Shabbat Shalom!

Fridays at machaneh (camp) Galil are always a favorite. What could be better than breakfast muffins, mishpachot (family) time, and Israeli dancing?

Today started as usual, with hitkansut (flag raising) and Ivrit Shimushit (Useful Hebrew). In todays episode, our two Jewish godparents had a day off, and flew to the Caribbean. The Hebrew word of the day was “sof” and the English translation was “done”.

For breakfast, we had muffins! Choices this week included sprinkle muffins, toffee muffins, lemon poppyseed muffins, and corn muffins. In addition to muffins, we had sweet bread and cereal. On the buffet, there was cantaloupe and blueberries. We’re still sitting by anaf (job group), and I get to sit with the kids who sweep with me after the meal.

After cleaning their cabin, the chanichim (campers) have Madatz Peula Shicvah. That’s an activity run for the kids by their Madatz (CITs). Today, I sat in on the peula for the Melafefon (12 and 13 year olds) about body positivity. They watched hand-picked commercials and discussed societal beauty standards for men and women, and how these ideals affect people in different cultures. Kids talked about their relationships to their bodies and how magazines and TV have influenced them.

The kids went back to their cabins from Madatz Pish, and put on costumes for Shabbat Shira (singing). They competed to have the most ruach (spirit), because the winners get to eat pizza first! The fanciest pizzas today were white pizza with garlic and spinach, and tomato pie with peppers and onions. Something called “Hyde Park” follows lunch on Fridays. During it, kids can strut up to a rock and speak up about things they want changed at camp. A member of mazkirut (a leader of camp) always sits next to the rock and writes down every request for real consideration.

The the kids had a huge chunk of free time. They could play Ultimate Frisbee with the madrichim, swim in the pool, or just chill. I was hanging out with the Bo-Bos, who were napping and listening to music in their beautifully-decorated tzrif. They hung tons of string lights up, and it’s a pretty place to stay.

In the evening, we have mishpachot (families) where we share our highs and lows of the week. We all meet back at the toren (flagpole) to sing, and then we go to Kabbalat Shabbat. That’s where one shicvah performs two songs and an Israeli dance for the whole macheneh. Today, the group doing Kabbalat was the Mellafefon. After their fantastic performance, we headed to dinner. 

Dinner was the classic meal that we eat on Friday nights: baked chicken, potatoes, rice, broccoli, soup, and challah. We sing again for an extended period of time and then we head to the refet (barn) for a finny skit that was performed by the Cochavimot this week. Then we did rikud (Israeli dancing) and announced the winner of the Golden Broom: the Mellafefonimot! We then headed off to bed, and the Madatz told bedtime stories. It was a spirited start to Shabbat and we can’t wait to relax tomorrow.