Sunday Aug 10

Sha-Sha-Shavua Tov! (Ask your kids to sing/cheer that for you, if you can’t hear it in your head as you read it 🙂

We had our traditional Sunday morning “late kima” at 8:00 am this morning after a late night with each eidah’s post-havdalah activities last night. Today we learned about the Yom Kippur war of 1973. The counselors told their bunks to dress in white, so everyone really liked like it was Yom Kippur. Some of the tzevet even wore non-leather shoes, so it would really look like Yom Kippur around here. We heard some Yom Kippur-related music at breakfast (like Yishai Ribo’s Avodat Yom haKippurim song) which also helped to set a tone.

The shiur this morning focused on giving chanichim a basic understanding of the Yom Kippur war, and how Israel was thrown off and unprepared for the attack. How can we prevent this false confidence from rising again? The shiur explored how Yaakov prepared for war and then how B’nei Yisrael prepared for war (blowing trumpets), specifically highlighting the role of Tefila and the importance of recognizing Hashem’s assistance when we go to battle.

Today’s schedule was jam-packed with peulot, and we had the most beautiful weather!! We have really lucked out with the weather this Summer in Sugar Grove, b”h! The Agam, the pool, horse-back riding, the Village, ceramics, the climbing wall, the gaga pit, archery, all fields and courts – everything was open and running. FIDF had all the fun peulot here too and had a great day. Before lunch, Eidah Gimmel’s counselors played Human apples to apples with them which was so fun! We had chugim today before hachanot erev, and every eidah had its own activity for night tochnit.  For example, Gimmel and Daled had basketball games, and Bet had karaoke for the boys and a “bet mitzvah party” for the girls!

We have been honored to have Rabbi Doron Perez and his wife Shelley visiting our machane the past few days. Rav Doron is the executive chairman of the Mizrachi World Movement. He and his wife Shelly suffered the loss of their son Daniel on October 7th. He was a tank commander that tragic day, and his body is still being held hostage in Gaza. Rav Doron spoke to our tzevet and hadracha a few times over the course of these last few days. He shared – very openly and directly –  his own journey through the pain, and his deep emunah in the face of such a tragedy. He has inspired our tzevet with his remarks and has talked about the complex question regarding this war and how to proceed. It has been extremely inspiring and thought-provoking to be with them here in machane and to hear their thoughts. We daven for the return of all our hostages and for the safety and return of all our soldiers fighting for peace.

Machal left last night for a week of canoeing and camping in Virginia. They have been looking forward to this ALL year!!