Monday June 21

This morning’s shiur focused on the end of Sefer Shoftim, as we fly through Jewish history here in Machane Stone.

The schedule is packed with 8 activites daily  -with one always being Shower Time in the evening hours. The chanichim have 50 minutes at each peulah, with 5 minutes to get to the next one. When they see zumba they know where to go, when they see swimming they know too, but when they see “Ir David” where/what is that?

Drum Roll please….. Welcome to this month’s VILLAGE: each summer we have an opportunity for the campers to engage with the lost arts of centuries a long time ago. We set up stations under the trees at the edge of camp. You have to see it to believe it! It is like stepping back into the Olden Days. This session, the campers will go to the Village and press olives, acquire navigation skills (by learning about the North Star), create bookends with a blacksmith and kiddush cups with a glassblower, make soap and parchment (the way they used to in the “olden days”) and of course bake in the brick oven, while learning about mitzvot and halachot connected to bread and wheat.

After dinner tonight, we all learned the shir haMachane, this session’s song that will be sung at mifkad twice a day, morning and evening. It is to the popular tune of “Am Yisrael Lo Mifached” and is about Jewish history from Yehoshua through the times when Eliyahu, Elisha and then Yeshayahu prophesized.

The chanichim are happy and exhausted by the time they are done with dinner, maariv and night tochnit. The days are long but the weeks fly by!  The younger eidot, aleph and vav, actually do the night activity before dinner, so they can go to sleep a little earlier.

Machal had bonding and activities in camp today, due to some rain on their hike, and then they went ice skating.

Make-up Machal hiked, went tubing and set up camp for a sleep-out.  They are so appreciative for the chance to be together and experience some of the machal magic and fun.