Monday July 27
Today in shiur we moved on to the era of Sefer Shoftim. We discussed the concept of a vicious cycle – we all have had examples of that and the chanichim were able to think of some from their own life (mostly about not studying and then doing poorly on a test or about not cleaning their room and then living with a consequence). Bnei Yisrael were living at a time when they would often be led to do avodah zarah by the neighboring nations, which would cause G-d to retreat and punish them by sending an enemy to oppress them, which would cause Bnei Yisrael to do teshuva and daven, which would cause G-d to send a leader who would then fight the enemy, which would bring peace, which would lead to years of quiet, which would slowly result in Bnei Yisrael straying after the idol worship culture again. And so it went for approximately 400 years! The chanichim studied the psukim in the second chapter which describe this cycle and talked about why each step happened and what would have been better.
This evening we had our much-anticipated chugim fair!! A few times a week our Machane schedules a time for campers to participate in an elective they choose, and chanichim of all ages come together for that hour. This month, 32 different chugim/electives were offered and chanichim signed up for their top three choices. Our Roshei Sport, Alex and Tzila, will review all requests and assign every camper an elective to attend. Examples of chugim this month are: Archery, bracelets & brownies, music, LARPing, Tzahal, girls’ basketball, baseball, biking, ceramics, Milkshakes & Midrash, fishing, sewing, and glass-blowing . Ask your camper what chug he/she is in and learn about an interest you never knew he/she had!
Bunk night was the night activity after dinner tonight, and each bunk had a peulah during the day to work on their presentation, which included a shelet (painted sign with their bunk name – often in some punny manner), along with either a song/dance or a skit. Look for the camp pictures to see each bunk with their shelet. This presentation is always a nice opportunity for the creative and artistic campers to contribute and be appreciated for their talent. The bunk names this month reflect people and places from the period of Yehoshua through King Yoshiyahu, so we have names such as Gidon and Ehud (judges), Shilo and Gilgal (places where we had the mishkan), Natan (a prophet for King David) and Yeravam (the first king after the Kingdom split).
Kaytana learned about Yosef today. They talked about his “technicolor dream coat” and the jealousy it created between the brothers…and times where they have felt jealous. They enjoyed a special peulah today related to their shiur: tie-dye!! Always such a fun and creative activity. This evening before dinner they had their special night activity which was a trivia game between Kaytana and some 14 year old Eidah Daled chanichim. Who won? Kaytana!!!
Machal had a great day hiking The Big Gorge in the Allegheny Forest. They made it to the end in record time, so they had time to frolic in the lake. Once they set up their camp site they played some sports and cooked some dinner (always hamburgers, hotdogs or a combination of the two) : )
