Thursday July 25

Big news here from Sugar Grove, PA! The Jewish nation has split – Rechav’am has lost 10 tribes to Yerav’am!! Shlomo’s son has lost part of his kingdom 🙁 All because Rechav’am listened to the wrong advisors when it came to some grumblings about taxes. (This goes back to a promise Hashem made Shlomo that his kingdom would be split because of his sins with avodah zarah and having too many wives, but that is not a topic we are covering this month…) The chanichim/ot learned the story from Sefer Melachim and watched it during a lunch skit too (although in the skit, Yerav’am was chased out of the Chadar Ochel and rebuked and booed for trying to encourage a rebellion) The shiur discussion was about what happens when people disagree and communities break apart and how do people make choices and know who / what voice to follow. Really powerful and relevant messages. The theme was emphasized this evening during Sichot – a discussion run twice a week by the madrichim/ot of each bunk. Today the bunk reinforced the shiur topic by discussing leaders and followers: how can you get people to follow you and what makes it hard to follow someone else? All good questions…

AND, of course, there were peulot today that included the ropes course (we have high ropes, low ropes and a climbing wall here!!), activities in the Agam (lake) which this year include our newest “toy” – The Iceberg – a huge climbing wall in the water that you can jump from into the water! And of course cermaics, sports, swim, dance etc. Next week we will begin activities in The Village. Stay tuned to hear all about that!!

After Mincha today, Yakov Fleischmann told us all great news!! We found out that the famous DJ Rafi will be here after Tisha B’Av to work with us on a cool camp video. No spoilers so let’s just leave it at that for now 😉

Huge campwide night activity tonight that also played off the whole Rechav’am vs. Yerav’am split: chanichim/ot had to find tzevet who were all around camp and try to convince them to be on their team (many many tactics were used!), and then everyone gathered in Indoor World to see whose team was bigger – everyone had a ribbon and they were tying them to compare the overall lengths…if you see some pictures you’ll understand. Ha! Also, look for Yerav’am’s golden calf idol and Rechav’am’s golden altar.

Loooooong, fun and meaningful day!!

Kaytana began their day with Challah Baking and learning about the mitzvah of Hafrashat Challah. They learned about the Avot and Imahot and how they served meals/bread to guests and remembered Hashem by taking some off. Later, the mitzvah was to give kohanim this part of our dough – known as challah. The chanichim/ot thought it was funny that we call the whole bread challah now. They braided their dough and let it rise while they were at peulot. Then they enjoyed their fresh bread for lunch. I had some and it was soooo good!! #kaytanakitchen

Tonight kaytana had a scavenger hunt all around camp. They had to figure out clues to sites in Machane – a good review (test?) of their tour around camp.

Machal went to “the Buckaloons” today which is a hike followed by some inner- tubing. They are sleeping at the campgrounds there and will have a fun day of caoneing tomorrow, before they return to prepare for Shabbat.

Every Eidah has a hike tomorrow with a picnic lunch that they pack at breakfast.

Hope you are having as much fun as your children are having!!