Thursday June 20

The chanichim (campers) here look so happy to be back! The weather was beautiful today, everyone unpacked ,and it is starting to feel like home. Kima (wake up) this morning was at 7:30. Every eidah (division, by age) meets before davening for a few stretches and a “boker tov” message from their Roshei Eidah (division heads) with a pump-up speech to take on the new day! Tefillah is by age group in Machane Stone, with each group making their tefilah age-appropriate for them. We all meet at breakfast, which is followed by shiur and nikayon (clean up)

Today’s shiur was about the prayer book and how our siddur came to be! Rav Amram Gaon (right before our month’s history unit starts in the year 1000) compiled our tefillot for the people of Spain who asked for some sort of formal book of prayer.  Our chanichim were asked to think about tefillah and what makes it hard or easier for them when they are davening. In masechet ta’anit,  the gemara taught about “service of the heart”  referring to our tefillot. We discussed the pros and cons behind having a more formalized prayer and just being spontaneous.

The first day’s schedule was packed with all the peulot (activities) the chanichim love: sports, music, swimming, the agam (lake activities), ceramics, slip n’ slide and a peulah for unpacking. The Village opens next week! For night tochnit (night activity) each eidah had its own game and hang out time, and eidah aleph had a “layla tov” so they could go to sleep after a busy tiring first day.  Tomorrow is Hike day!

Kaytana learned about Avraham and the commandment “Lech-Lecha.” In shiur, they had a conversation about leaving home and going to new places. It was so relevant of course, and the youngst chanichim spoke about the inner strength one needs to do hard things.

Machal went on their first hike, Minister;s Creek, and camped out for dinner and sleeping tonight. They learned how to build and secure tents and how to cook dinner for each other. Their shiur time consisted of Chapter 1 in Yehoshua where the leadership is passed from Moshe to Yehoshua. They discussed what makes a good leader and how different needs in a community call upon different people.