Sunday, August 20
Shavua tov from Sugar Grove! It is a beautiful, sunny morning and the day at camp is fully underway. What an elevating shabbat! From start to finish, the whole machaneh enjoyed a spirited, fun, and meaningful shabbat. Machal returned to camp after their epic trip to Virginia, and they brought phenomenal ruach back to camp. […]
Thursday, August 17
After Color War, where the chanichim fought it out between the values of Haskalah and Mesorah, in shiur this morning we learned about the approach of Ne0-Orthodoxy as it developed in Germany in the 1800’s. Through Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch and Rav Azriel Hildesheimer, we talked about how to balance competing values and integrate a […]
Wednesday, August 16
MESORAH and HASKALAH went at it all day here! Great sportsmanship all around and the eidah daled captains have been including as many chanichim as want to be involved. There are so many ways for everyone to contribute. Today, after mifkad, and tefillah, campers entered a bat mitzvah party for breakfast! Streamers, music, dim lighting, […]
Tuesday, August 15
Color War Day 1 – Reporting live: Here in Machane Stone there are only two places/times one does not feel Color War: during tefilah (focus is on our relationship with Hashem) and in the bunk (where everyone should feel comfortable and help one another). Otherwise, game on!! Our two teams this year are HASKALAH (blue […]
Monday, August 14
SUGAR GROVE, PA – Campers of Machane Stone continued their virtual journey through Judaism of the 17th and 18th centuries. In shiur, campers learned about the beginnings of the Reform movement, and examined some initial reforms: praying in the language of the land (German) and use of an organ in synagogues. Campers also studied some […]
Sunday, August 13
Shavua Tov from Sugar Grove! Our third shabbat was perfect – everyone is familar now with all of our songs and tunes in tefilah, in the chadar ochel during zemirot and during the shira at seudah shlishit. The dancing is all coming together beautifully by now as well, with everyone familar with the steps and […]
Thursday, August 10
Another amazing day at Machane Stone! The entire Machane returned early from the Chutz this morning, and after tefillah and breakfast, everyone got cleaned up, showering off two nights of camping out, and ready for a day of peulot! With everyone refreshed, and the raindrops moving out, it was back to the fun, with many […]
Wednesday, August 9
Eidot Alef – Daled continue to work hard, play hard, and “cook hard” at the Machane Chutz today! Each group (plugah) of campers is led by a few Eidah Daled campers, and they spent hours and hours at the annual Camp Stone chutz celebration of campfire-cooked brunch foods. The entire camp enjoyed making and eating […]
Tuesday, August 8
Yesterday saw a full day of peulot for the entire camp — this included candlemaking in the Melechet Yad, telescope-making in the Village, and tie-dye wars – where bunks create beautiful t-shirts while running around squirting each other with tie-dye. The day ended with another glorious dinner and night tochnit — there was lots of […]
Monday, August 7
The second Shabbat of camp was amazing. Shabbat was even more spirited than the first – everyone was looking forward to it: mifkad erev shabbat followed by – tefilah, meal, dancing, sleep. And then we woke up, went to tefilah, kiddush, learning, meal, dancing, tefilah, learning, game, meal, singing…havdalah. Ask your children to go through […]