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 orthodox reactions to these changes: including the famous line of the Hasam Sofer (Moses Schreiber, 1762–1839) that “new things are forbidden by the Torah.” This led to a broader discussion of Halakha’s attitude toward change.

Meanwhile around camp, many exciting peulot were happening, including soccer, beach volleyball, archery, animal encounters in the refet, and music. Yesterday, chugim met again: which had campers returning to their elective activities, which included glassblowing, ceramics, fishing, creative writing, and moshpit slurpee (see Yakov’s Instagram posts to get some visuals!).

At 1 pm Camp Stone time, today, campers headed to the Chadar Ochel, for what they expected to be lunch. They were served breakfast instead. In what seemed like a time-warp, breakfast #2 was immediately followed by shiur and nikayon #2 today. “What was happening?” many campers wanted to know. At shekem time, it seemed like it was going to re-start the day again — cereal and milk was on the tables in the Chadar Ochel, instead of the usual ice cream, pretzels, and candy snacks at the Shekem Shack.

That was when the revolt began. The Roshei Mitbach (heads of the kitchen) demanded that campers be given their snacks and returned to a normal schedule! At dinnertime, the leadership of camp was challenged again — this time by the Roshei Plugah (heads of maintenance)! The Roshei Mitbach fought back to regain leadership of the camp — with a snack-based platform for their administration. They asked all the campers to follow them from dinner out to the source of all Shekem — they headed toward the lake. Where were they going? As they neared the lake, the entire camp was led to the right — to the climbing wall, with the promise of unlimited Shekem! Fruit-roll ups were hailing from the sky! At the top of the climbing wall were Adina and Yossi — the Roshei Moshava — looking to re-gain their leadership of the camp. They challenged the rebels to a fight — and as they rappelled down through the air, they unfurled a banner declaring that this coup could only lead to war — Color War!

More details about the teams, the competitions, and excitement of color war 2023 coming tomorrow!