Tuesday, July 31

Today was another adventurous and amazing day at Camp Stone! Tonight is לינה – the camp-wide outdoor overnight!

Today the campers enjoyed a full day of activities, including sports, swim, refet, horseback riding, archery, baking, climbing wall, improv, dance, swim, Agam, ceramics . . . and the incredible activities in the Village. . . and so much more. Some campers enjoyed making lemonana or pesto in farm-to-table fashion from our vegetable garden and greenhouse produce.The campers continued to learn about Judges during the settling of the land of Israel and enjoyed skits centered on Gideon who guided the people to do Teshuva and helped them defeat Midyan.

Did you know that in addition to daily morning shiur and  skits related to the session’s theme, the campers also are immersed in learning opportunities during tefilla? Every morning the younger Eidot watch funny and engaging skits about relevant halachot. The older Eidot enjoy hearing reflections and divrei Torah that elaborate on different sections of tefilla and hear from different tzevet members and campers about what they find inspiring. For example, this morning, a camper in Eidah Gimmel shared that he finds “Az Yashir” meaningful when it describes how the Egyptians drowned in the water like rocks and Rashi reflects that Hashem has pity, even on the enemies, and thus ensured a quick and easy demise. He called on his fellow campers to remember Hashem’s great compassion. The campers also learn a relevant halacha and then are posed a question to ponder until tomorrow’s tefila. For example, this morning the campers learned that if you are about to eat bread and do not have any access to water in order to wash, say in a desert, you should refrain from directly touching the bread. Tefila is also filled with wonderful singing, dancing, and ruach.

During Shekem today the campers were thrilled to have a special “breakout” for the camp-wide overnight!!! Each Eidah – from Kaytana through Daled – hiked to a different local campsite for an amazing bonding experience sleeping in the great outdoors!! The campers ate dinner, sang songs, shared stories, and bonded with each other in the long-awaited Camp Stone signature overnight!

*Machal Spotlight* Yesterday Machal enjoyed a beautiful hike yesterday on the gorge and ended at a beautiful beach on Lake Eerie. They slept at a beautiful campsite near a vineyard. Today they enjoyed another picturesque water hike.

Signing off from another rich and beautiful day at Camp Stone. Layla tov from Sugar Grove!