Camp Blog

Wednesday Aug 3

DATE: August 4, 2022

Today’s shiur was about the 10th century Ashkenazi Rabbi nicknamed Me’or haGolah – The Light of the Exile, Rabbi Gershom ben Yehuda. He taught the man that later became Rashi’s Rebbe!! While staying firmly rooted in the Beit Midrash, “Rabbeinu Gershom” was also actively involved in communal leadership, and famously created many takanot (communal rules) that the Ashkenazi community keeps to this day.  The chanichim studied four well-known takanot of his (among the 24 that are attributed to him): a man may marry only one woman, a man may not divorce a woman against her will, one is not allowed to read someone else’s mail or a note addressed to someone specific and lastly, if a Jew “converts” to another religion but decides to “come back” he or she should be welcomed with compassion. They discussed each one and then had the opportunity to experience takanot themselves when the Roshei Eidah put up decrees all over camp every few hours : )

Since Rabbeinu Gershom is the name of one of the eidah alef boys’ bunks, that bunk had a chance to represent Rabbeinu Gershom and receive some special recognition by performing their skit from Bunk Night in front of the whole camp at mincha today.

It was a warm August day here, and the chanichim had a full schedule of regular peulot, such as activities/projects in the Village, horse-back riding, high-ropes and the zipline, kickball, dodgeball, baseball, swim, agam, ceramics, baking in the Baby Bach (our small kitchen for baking and for prepping special gluten-free and vegetarian foods)  and more! Speaking of food, do you know how much spaghetti the kitchen staff made for tonight’s dinner? 120 pounds!!! Wow!

Tonight’s night tochnit was a fun creative activity that the Roshei Eidah called Takanot-Ball. The younger eidot and older eidot each played separately. It involved getting a ball across a large space and back with certain rules that got eased as takanot (new decrees/rules) were added throughout the game. The nature of the challenge kept changing as new takanot were announced. So too….our lives were changed and made easier and more meaningful by the takanot of Rabbeinu Gershom!

Kaytana had color war!! Team Moshe (blue) vs. Team Aharon (red)

They had a relay race (official name: The Ridiculous Ravioli Relay) which had each camper doing a task or silly activity before passing the baton onwards…they played dodgeball and 9-square and had agam too just for fun! But the relay race and team marches, songs and skits were all for points!  It got competitive during certain moments of the day, and everyone gave “it their all”! The points were tallied and…the winner was…no way!!! TIE SCORE!!!

Machal was out on a 6-mile hike today called Sugar Run, and then they set up their campsite right near machane for the night – at the Machal Chutz Site “around the corner”. They made pita pizzas and s’mores!

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