Camp Blog

Sunday, August 1

DATE: August 1, 2021

Shavua tov! Sha-sha shavua tov!

We celebrated another beautiful Shabbat together in Machane Stone. Our outdoor Kabbalat Shabbat was full of singing and dancing — the atmosphere so joyful. And the spirit continued into Friday night dinner — with plenty of singing there as well! One highlight of Shabbat day was hevruta time— tzevet members were spread across all the migrashim (fields) engaged in learning with their 2 or 3 chanichim. After having met each other for the first time last week, this week the hevrutot really dug in to their learning together — so many smiles during this special Shabbat tradition at Stone. Slow Shira in the late afternoon brought the whole camp together in “Indoor World” (our largest outdoor venue) for singing full of ruach and a moving story told by Adira Botwinick about the Pesach her grandmother celebrated during the Shoah. After a melodious Havdalah, the chanichim had special evening activities by edah. These included night swimming, nighttime high ropes, climbing wall, dodgeball, gaga, and basketball.

The Mishna was redacted today! In shiur, our chanichim learned about Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi’s courageous decision to collect the Oral traditions into the Mishna. They discussed the counterarguments, pressures, and concerns he faced, and they learned about his ability to push through. Playing broken telephone helped to concretize the difficulties in relying solely on oral transmission.

Kaytana loved their Color War on Friday — red vs. blue! Activities included lots of sports, a baking competition in the “baby-Bach” (special kitchen), and their very own Apache race. Today, it was back to a full schedule of activities, including making their own “limonana,” by picking their own mint from the camp herb garden.

Chanichim continued to travel back in time to the village of Tzipori today, where campers bound their own copy of the Mishna of Masechet Avot at the book-binding station, and took a trip to Machane Stone’s very own planetarium to learn about the importance of the constellations of the zodiac to ancient people, including Jews living in the time of the Mishna and the Gemara, and baked bread in a real wood-burning oven.

After departing late last night, Machal arrived in Virginia today to begin their week of outdoor adventure, hiking and boating on the James River.

Registration for summer 2025 opens 10/1/24 for returning families, 11/1/24 for new families.

Please contact Randi Mashmoor with any questions at:

or 440-465-5486. Thank You!

All Meet the Director events have been postponed until further notice. Thank you.

Staff application opens on 11/17.

New camper application opens on 11/1. Returning campers can register now.

Available positions for Summer 2024 are very limited! Click on the button below to apply.

We are no longer accepting applications from current 11th graders.

For questions, please email:

Registration for summer 2023 is now closed. There are a few select spots remaining.
Please contact Randi Mashmoor at:

or 440-465-5486. Thank You!

About the Chanukah Raffle

Dear Camp Stone Community,

It is an incredible feeling to reconnect with everyone once again at the beginning of our 2021 camp season.

We are writing to you today, first and foremost, to express tremendous gratitude.

Hakarat HaTov, literally “recognizing the good”, is an important and fundamental principle in our community. We, at Camp Stone, want to express our Hakarat HaTov to everyone receiving this email for your unwavering support, especially this past summer. Whether you provided financial assistance through your donated tuition dollars, participated in Indoor World, or connected with the Camp Stone community in other ways, together we had an incredibly successful, albeit different, summer experience.

There is no substitute for being in Sugar Grove, Pennsylvania, and this summer, B’ezrat Hashem, we will be back at Camp Stone, in person, in full force.

To achieve that goal, we must continue to ensure the financial success of our home away from home that we all know and love so deeply. The logo on top, featuring the slogan “Stone. Forever.” also features a Ner Tamid, an “eternal flame.” The year 1969, etched into the logo, is the year camp was founded. Symbolically, the overall image represents the idea that Camp Stone began many years ago and must endure forever, always burning brightly, and always an integral part of our collective conscience.

On that note, we are excited to announce that our annual Chanukah Campaign will be a raffle taking place over all 8 nights of Chanukah with prizes for both campers and parents/alumni!!

Please go back to the web page  to purchase raffle tickets and help us achieve 100% participation from our entire camp community!

Looking forward to being in touch with all of you in the near future.

Sincerely,

Yakov & Estee, Co-Directors