Wednesday June 28th

Although it was technically the 4th of Tammuz,  here in Camp Stone it is…Chanukah!! Moving right along on our time line, we are in the 2nd century BCE and the Greeks are fighting the Macabim and the temple is getting desecrated and destroyed. The pre-lunch skit today featured this battle, which then followed us into the Chadar Ochel. Who will win? It went up and down and back and forth for a while. Shiur this morning was about both the political miracle and the special miracle of the menorah. The campers discussed which one was more important, i.e. more essential to our nation. Debate ensued! Best part of this Chanukah Day… jelly donuts for lunch dessert 🙂

Actually, the best part was later at shekem when the menorah needed oil, and the Roshei Moshava announced that everyone had to go looking for more oil…outside of camp…at the lina (campsites)!! Each eidah went out for a BBQ and a camp-out. I don’t think they found any oil 🙁

Kaytana experienced another one of our favorite moments in history – Kriyat Yam Suf (splitting of the sea a week after the Exodus) The Rosh Kaytana jumped into the agam in his clothes just like Nachshon ben Aminadav and a counselor split the sea (i.e. a lot of blue paper covering the bridge to the isalnd gazebo) and then everyone walked thorugh! They sang and cheered…all the way to…Friendly’s!! (Isn’t that how Am Yisrael celebrated too?) In the evening, as they roamed the desert (a.k.a. an empty camp because everyone else was at the lina), they put signs “Kaytana was here” thus leaving their mark.

Machal also crossed a river today…in boats! After a 7 mile hike. The boats took them to the other side where their campsite was. They are having a wonderful week, and we all look forward to getting all the details when they return for Shabbat! Every week, Machal creates the shabbat-o-gram card for campers to buy and fill out for each other, and they decorate it with memories, funny stories, hashtags, and private jokes from the week.