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Jodi's Weekly Shabbat-o-Gram

July 18, 2008

With second session starting on Tuesday, it’s hard to believe so much has happened in just a couple of days. First session may have been a little larger in size, but you could never tell from the cheering in the dining hall! All the new campers have been blown away by how much fun they are having already at camp, and our 7-weekers are still talking about what an amazing time they had at camp for Intersession!

When the campers arrived on Tuesday they were warmly welcomed into their cabins and spent the afternoon learning their way around camp, making new friends and picking their activities for the session. With so many exciting options, it was hard to pick, but luckily they have chofesh (free) – the period before dinner when everything’s open and they can choose each day where they want to go. Tuesday night they got to know the other campers in their cabin at Bunk Night, and then came together with the rest of their village to learn some village cheers and have their first s’more of the summer around the campfire.

No time was wasted getting into the rhythm of camp, and our chugs (activities) started on Wednesday with one better than the next. At tower, campers learned how to put on harnesses and had a turn climbing the wall. At A&C, Chalutzimers were making dream catchers, while Noar campers worked on the mosaic on the outside of the building. At boating, they worked on their canoe strokes and tried out our brand new kayaks. In breakdancing, a new, popular chug, campers learned some moves for the routines they’ll perform next week in front of the whole camp, and in guitar, campers started to learn the chords for our favorite camp songs, so that eventually they can play with our Song Leader Adam at meals!

Some amazing evening programs have gotten the session off to a great start! Chalutzim’s Disney Pool Night and Ohalim’s Water Park Night were both full of wet fun, much needed in the heat wave we’ve been having out here at camp! Ohalim searched high and low for their staff at the Counselor Hunt, while Noar campers created their own tribes for Night of the Tribes. Thursday night the Noar boys took to the woods for their overnight, and perfected the art of making pizza over a fire!

While we’ve had Israeli staff members at Camp Wise for years, this year is the first time we have brought over a special group of campers from Israel to be a part of our camp community. Ten campers flew across the world to join us for second session, and they are already fitting into camp beautifully! Half of them are part of Noar and the other half are in Solel, and today a couple of the Solel girls said that having the Israeli campers in their group is making camp even better than they could have imagined! Speaking of Solel, for the first time we have a Solel group in 2nd session, and they’re having the time of their lives! They returned today from their first trip to Buffalo, where they spent yesterday learning the finer art of sailing, spent the night at Camp Lakeland, and then took a ride on the Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls!

Tonight we’ll celebrate our first Shabbat of the session together. At lunch today some returning campers were telling the new campers in their cabin about how much they love Shabbat at camp. In their words, “Shabbat at camp is so cool!” This Shabbat will be made even better by some special visitors. The Israeli Scouts Caravan (a singing and dancing troupe of Israeli teens) will be joining us for the weekend and performing before Havdalah on Saturday. We also have two visitors from St. Petersburg, Russia, who are college students there who help run Jewish overnight camps in Russia. I’m so excited for our campers to learn about the Russian camps, and realize how many similarities there are despite the distance between Chardon, Ohio and St. Petersburg. Ohalim’s Shabbat theme of “Equality” will have a special significance this week, as our campers hear the stories of our new Russian friends discovering their Jewish roots.

We have a full week ahead of us, so please check in next Shabbat to read all about it. In case you don’t have the username and password for the photo gallery, call us at the camp office, at (440) 635-5444.

Warm wishes for a beautiful Shabbat and a great week!

L'shavua tov,

Jodi

P.S. You may be reading these Shabbat-o-Grams, thinking, "Wow, a s'more sure does sound good now!" If that's you, join us for one of our two Family Camp Weekends in August! We still have a couple of seats open around the campfire for both weekends - August 22-24 and Labor Day Weekend. Click here for more information and to download the registration form.

P.P.S. If you’re a mom (sorry dads) and you feel like you deserve a break yourself, there are also a few spaces remaining for our Women's Retreat, August 15-17. In addition to all of the fun camp activities planned like hiking, swimming, campfires and arts & crafts, we’ll also have special treats like massages, meditation, and yoga! Click here for more information or call us at (440) 635-5444.

PREVIOUS WEEKS...

July 11, 2008

Tonight at spirit circle after Shabbat dinner, a Chalutzimer turned to me and asked how it was possible that the session has gone so fast! The past four weeks really do seem to have flown by, but even just in this past one week, we’ve done so much!

Last Saturday night’s programs were planned by our Cornerstone Fellows, a group of five counselors who are part of an elite national Jewish education and leadership development program through the Foundation for Jewish Camp (www.jewishcamp.org). The village programs were all part of Project Tikkun, our camp-wide initiative to perform acts of tikkun olam (making the world a better place) and learn about Judaism, and each village took on a different slant. At “Chalutzim Goes Green” Night, the campers learned about environmentalism through a Jewish lens, and made some simple changes in the village to help them remember to be green. The switch plates they made for all the lights in the village are awesome reminders, with messages like, “Turn me off!” and “Don’t forget to save electricity!” They painted their village’s recycling station and planted a heart-shaped flower garden next to their new moadon (rec hall). Ohalim campers also did projects around their village, making mezzuzot for their cabins, signs that identify locations in the village with Hebrew words, and improving their village’s garden. Noar campers learned about how to counter challenging issues impacting their lives today, like body image and the media. Solel also talked about current issues, as they debated differing sides of “hot topics” through a Jewish perspective.

Sunday at lunch all chocolate was mysteriously missing from canteen, and campers were in a frenzy. When Candy Bar Maccabiah was announced at dinner, and we discovered the candy had been “stolen” from canteen and it was our mission to find it and win it back, the camp went crazy! The teams of red Kit Kat, white Twix, Green Milky Way, tie dye M&Ms, and blue Crunch Bar battled through 24 hours of fun and exciting competitions, and I have never seen such a spirited Maccabiah! The first night’s games culminated in an Iron Chef cook-off where each team’s Solel campers had to make the most elaborate dessert using the ingredients earned by the rest of their team at various stations. The next day began with sports and plaque design competitions, and then in the afternoon every team member had their station in the Great Race all around camp. In the evening each team presented their song/skit/cheers, and you could tell each team had put so much work into their team’s presentations. The judges had a very difficult time picking a winner, because each team had won events throughout the day, and all the teams had a ridiculous amount of spirit points collected, but at the end of the night GREEN MILKY WAY was declared the winner! The whole camp ran up to watch the tradition of team captains and Maccabiah judges jump into the pool, and campers and staff agreed that Maccabiah was amazing from start to finish.

The rest of the week we’ve been busy having fun at activities and enjoying the sunshine! The Chalutzim and Ohalim boys had their overnights, and one Chalutzimer told me the burritos they cooked over the fire were the best burritos he ever had!  Solel campers had their final trip of the session, learning how to make their own pasta at a cooking school and then preparing their own banquet ceremony with the food they had made. Thursday night was Hawaiian Banquet, and then our Dinner and Theater Night was completed by our camp play! I couldn’t believe that in just three weeks these campers learned Shakespeare, and you could tell they were all having an amazing time performing. At the end, each of the leads spoke about why drama is important to them and what they took from being in the play – and such a challenging play at that, and afterwards so many campers were saying that next year they can’t wait to do drama too! One of the leads even said that drama had changed his life and helped him discover who he was because now he’s so much for comfortable in his own skin by being on stage! After the play, the cast and crew enjoyed a well-deserved cast party.

This afternoon while I was at the high ropes course with cabin N6 I was struck by the significance of the theme Solel picked this week for Shabbat, “With unity comes responsibility.” The girls of N6 were moving one-by-one through the high ropes obstacle course, and already a few of the girls had finished by soaring down the zip line and were now sitting on the ground waiting for the rest of the group to finish. The counselor, thinking the girls were probably anxious to go to their next activity, told them they could head back to the cabin when they were finished. The girls asked if instead they could stay, because if even one of their cabin mates was still up in the trees on the course, they all wanted to be there to support her and cheer her on.

For me, that’s one of the most important values of Camp Wise – appreciating the feeling of being a part of something bigger than yourself and accepting the responsibility to others that comes with it. At camp, this value plays out every day in countless ways, and it’s one of the many gifts your children will come home with on Sunday. You may consider camp gifts to be the ceramic Jewish star key holder or the beautiful multi-color lanyard necklace that is handed to you at the bus, but we consider these other things – the values of camp – to be the true gifts of Camp Wise. Take for example, a conversation I had later with a Noar boy. As the girls’ cabin was leaving the high ropes course, a Noar boys’ cabin, N3, was heading to the course. As they approached, one of the boys looked up into the trees and as his jaw dropped he said, “We’re going to be doing WHAT? Up there??” Tonight, when I saw him at Shabbat services he came running up to me with his hand up for a high five yelling, “Jodi! Guess what? I did the whole high ropes course!” That sense of accomplishment and confidence makes campers glow from the inside, and we’re seeing it all over the place here. We saw it today at lunch when the Ohalim breakdancing chug performed the dance they had been practicing, complete with backspins. We saw it last night on every cast and crew member of “Twelfth Night,” as our campers did a groundbreaking performance of Shakespeare that could have put London theater to shame (in the words of our British staff!). I even saw it today on one of our new Chalutzim campers who was so sure the first week of camp that she was too homesick to make it through the session, and since that first week has had nothing but a huge smile on her face, with new friends surrounding her the whole time.

Tomorrow night, at CW Night, the closing ceremony of camp, we will honor the campers who personify those values by naming the Village and Cabin Candle recipients. This is a huge honor at camp, and it reinforces the idea that how you treat others and yourself is paramount – accepting the challenge of Solel’s Shabbat theme, “With unity comes great responsibility.” Tonight we’ll also honor those campers who have reached landmark summers with our 5, 7, and 10 year awards. I am so proud that I’ve finally reached my 5th summer at Wise and will be earning my special 5-year bag! Yesterday we had a meeting for all the 5, 7, and 10-year kids, and one of the 7-year campers made a really touching remark. He said that with so much craziness in the ‘real’ world, it’s so comforting that he always had Camp Wise to come back to. I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Thanks to all of you who responded to my question last week about next year’s camp dates. There was an overwhelming request to push our dates back a week, so next summer we will be starting camp on Sunday, June 21, 2009. Mark your calendars, and also mark September 8, the day registration will open for 2009. Last fall, many of our villages were closed within days (Solel was closed within hours!), so please take advantage of our early registration to save your camper’s space and then not have to think about it all year. Nothing hurts worse than having to tell a camper we don’t have space for them, which is why we offer you the opportunity to register before anyone else can. Returning campers will have priority registration for their current session, so for the first month of registration, only returning first session campers can register for first session spaces. After that, registration will open to returning campers switching sessions and then to new families.  In August, you’ll receive a packet in the mail with all the details to help walk you through registration. Many of our families are now using our easy online registration form, where you can register for camp from your living room!

Also in the August packet you’ll receive our parent questionnaire, where we ask you for your input and suggestions. In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to let us you’re your feedback on the summer! Tomorrow at lunch our campers will all fill out their questionnaires, and we love hearing what they have to say so that we can always be aiming to make camp even better than it already is.

It’s time to go now…I’m heading into the woods to join our 5th grade campers for a very special 5th grade-only campfire. Moving up a village is a pretty exciting change, and we’re going to hear from some counselors what it’s like to live in Ohalim and learn the Ohalim cheers so everyone can get really pumped for next year!

Tomorrow morning we’ll load the buses, and we’ll return your children to you for the year. They’ll have just had a late night full of laughter and tears, so they’ll probably be pretty tired! I’m sad to see them go, but over 30 of them will be staying for intersession and then second session! You may be distracted by the dirty fingernails, tie-dyed t-shirts and muddy feet, but I encourage you to look past that and see what we’re most proud of that we often hear from parents. That their camper is weirdly nicer to their siblings. That they can do things now for themselves that they used to need to be told to do. That they’re able to solve problems and conflicts independently. That they hold their head just a little bit higher. That they stand up for something they believe in, or for someone who’s not being treated nicely. Socks and towels may be lost at camp, but so much more is found here.

Thanks to all of you for an amazing session,

Jodi

P.S. You may be reading these Shabbat-o-Grams, thinking, "Wow, a s'more sure does sound good now!" If that's you, join us for one of our two Family Camp Weekends in August! We still have a couple of seats open around the campfire for both weekends - August 22-24 and Labor Day Weekend. Click here for more information and to download the registration form.

P.P.S. If you’re a mom (sorry dads) and you feel like you deserve a break yourself, there are also a few spaces remaining for our Women's Retreat, August 15-17. In addition to all of the fun camp activities planned like hiking, swimming, campfires and arts & crafts, we’ll also have special treats like massages, meditation, and yoga! Click here for more information or call us at (440) 635-5444.

July 5, 2008

As if the 4th of July isn’t exciting enough at camp, yesterday we were lucky enough to celebrate July 4th and Shabbat – all in one day!

The day started with our traditional Independence Day wake up to Neil Diamond’s “America” broadcast throughout camp. The campers were very concerned that the 4th of July would be cancelled because of Shabbat, but at breakfast, with everyone decked out in their red, white, and blue, we announced that yes, we were still having the amazing carnival and fireworks! Yay! The campers cheered on as the American staff battled (and lost!) to the International staff in their annual soccer game. After that, fun was had by all at the carnival planned by our awesome S.I.T.s.

The rest of the week was pretty great too, starting with the Talent Show last Saturday night. Campers had a chance to strut their stuff on stage, and everyone was impressed by the talent in the room. Singers, dancers, musicians, comedians, storytellers – even a plant identification demonstrator! After Talent Show our Rishon 1 campers had their closing CW (Camp Wise) Night, and the campers shared their favorite camp stories and sang camp songs.

On Sunday, our new Rishon II campers arrived! At Shabbat lunch today one of the girls said to me she couldn’t believe it was only her first Shabbat here because she felt like Camp Wise has been her home forever! Awww…. The new two-weekers were warmly welcomed into Chalutzim and have quickly made friends in their cabins and in the village.

The Noar boys said goodbye to us all on Sunday as they headed out for their 2-night trips. The boys chose from the three trips the girls did the week before, and an amazing time was had by all. The canoe trip spotted a bald eagle on the Allegheny River, and the two camping groups had a cook-off at the campgrounds where they showed just how good a dessert can be with bananas, graham crackers, and chocolate.

Solel also left for their Big Trip this week, heading down to Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania for a week of whitewater rafting, caving, mountain biking, and playing on duckies! A little bit of rain couldn’t stop them from having a great time, and when they arrived back at camp they said they had the time of their lives!

In camp, there were some great overnights happening as well! All the Chalutzim girls and Ohalim girls had their cabin overnights this week, and they loved cooking their food over the fire, going on night hikes, and sleeping under the stars.

The villages had one great evening program after the other this week, and at Sunday’s Chalutzim Iron Chef Night a lot of campers were saying it was their favorite evening program ever! Their pool night was also a blast, and at Potato Night we played all sorts of potato activities – potato sack races, hot potato…even making stamps out of potatoes! At Ohalim’s Election Night the campers fought for their counselors to win next Ohalim president, and while the girls were on their overnight, the boys played for the gold metal in the Oha-lympics. The village of Noar competed in Road Rules Challenge, and then learned the finer art of relaxation at Utopia Night.

Based on this week’s Torah portion, “Chukat,” Noar chose the theme of “peace” for Shabbat this week. Their creative writings and their Torah skit this morning at services shed light on the importance of peace both in and out of camp, and how special our community here is at camp that peace is given such high value. One camper spoke about how cool it is that when kids aren’t getting along, the counselors sit with them to “make peace,” and how if the rest of the world operated like we do at camp, it would be a much better place! I’m looking forward to Noar’s Havdalah ceremony tonight to hear more of their thoughts on peace.

It’s hard to believe we only have one week left of first session. There is so much to look forward to this week, but as one Ohalim boy said to me today, “I can’t wait for everything this week, but I don’t want it to go too fast!” Maccabiah will be coming any day now, and our production of “12th Night – The Musical” is Thursday. Our 7 weekers are getting excited for Intersession and 7-week Visiting Day, and they can’t wait for their special two days between sessions at camp – especially that they get to live in Solel’s yurt village!

Even though it’s only the beginning of July, we’re already planning next summer and have a question for you – our camp families. How would you feel about camp starting a week later, on Sunday, June 21, 2009? If you have an opinion on this, please e-mail me!

 Thanks for your patience with this week’s Shabbat-o-Gram…the Chalutzimers were having way too much fun throwing pies of whipped cream in my face at the carnival yesterday for me to go inside and write you all. :-)

L’shavua tov,

Jodi

P.S. You may be reading these Shabbat-o-Grams, thinking, "Wow, a s'more sure does sound good now!" If that's you, join us for one of our two Family Camp Weekends in August! We still have a couple of seats open around the campfire for both weekends - August 22-24 and Labor Day Weekend. Click here for more information and to download the registration form.

P.P.S. If you’re a mom (sorry dads) and you feel like you deserve a break yourself, there are also a few spaces remaining for our Women's Retreat, August 15-17. In addition to all of the fun camp activities planned like hiking, swimming, campfires and arts & crafts, we’ll also have special treats like massages, meditation, and yoga! Click here for more information or call us at (440) 635-5444.

July 4, 2008

Dear parents and friends,

Due to today's crazy and awesome 4th of July events, the Shabbat-o-Gram will be posted by tomorrow afternoon. Thanks for your patience!

Shabbat shalom,

Jodi

June 27, 2008

“Find your place on the planet. Dig in, and take responsibility from there.” – Gary Snyder, author.

This quote was the theme to last Saturday’s Girls’ Night and Guys’ Night programs: “Finding Your Place: Being a Girl (Or Boy) at Camp.” The program offered campers the opportunity to talk about why our community at camp is so special, and our younger campers had a chance to hear our older campers speak about why this place is so comfortable and safe for them. We talked about the responsibility we all have to take care of each other, and more importantly – the responsibility we have to stand up for each other.

I start tonight’s Shabbat-o-Gram by telling you about this, because I haven’t been able to get this program out of my head all week. I wish you all could have been flies on the wall, so you could be as proud of your kids as I am. The girls’ program started with a few counselors completing the sentence, “I love being a Camp Wise girl because…” Their statements were things like, “…because at camp no one judges me for the labels in my clothes,” or “because at camp it’s my job to be goofy and play in the mud.” As the girls program was wrapping up, we opening the floor to the campers and to our surprise had about 75 girls wanting to speak in front of the whole group. There was the Solel camper who spoke about how she had always been embarrassed to be Jewish until she came to Camp Wise, and now it’s the thing she’s most proud of. The new camper in Chalutizm who said that she was so nervous about coming to camp and not having any friends, but now she has a whole village of best friends. The Ohalimer who said she’s just not into things like make up and boys, and that camp is the only place where she feels like that’s ok because everyone accepts her for who she is. The Noar camper who said that Camp Wise was where she found her confidence when she was younger and it’s where she’s happiest in the world. I hear the boys’ program was equally as moving – but I wasn’t allowed in, because I’m a girl. :-)

Talk about finding confidence, on Sunday, all the Noar girls left for 2-night outdoor adventure trips, where they accomplished things they never knew they could – like canoeing 26 miles down the Allegheny River! The girls had three choices of trips – hiking, canoeing or mountain biking – and all the trips were great! These trips are part of our new Al HaGova (Hebrew for “On the Heights”) program, which gives all of our campers increased opportunities to challenge themselves in the outdoors. For Chalutzim and Ohalim, this summer their overnights in our camp woods will be in smaller groups with added components like learning about Leave No Trace camping and cooking their own meals. Noar campers have the 2-night trips by choice (the boys’ trips are coming up in the next few days!), and Solel and the S.I.T.s both have their own trips as well. The Noar girls came back to camp on Tuesday so proud of what they had accomplished and so excited to be returning “home” to camp! 

The Noar girls weren’t the only ones heading out of camp on Sunday. Solel had their second incredible trip, as they headed to Pittsburgh for a Pirates game, spent the night camping at Bear Run, and then spent the day at Kennywood amusement park. A small group of Ohalimers also had a special trip for Project Tikkun (our camp wide Tikkun Olam initiative) – they went to a special program run by First Tee in Cleveland for a diversity and golf program with kids from other minority communities.

All across camp, chugs are in full swing, and whether it’s in sports tournaments or performances during meals, campers are showing off what they’ve learned so far. Just today at lunch, the Ohalim breakdancing chug strutted their stuff on stage with moves I haven’t seen looking so good since ’85 when I was doing back spins myself. At the lake, campers were learning the “J” stroke and were playing games practicing their new paddling skills. At archery, campers advanced from balloons to target shooting, and at A&C, campers have been working on murals for the new A&C cabinets. 

This year’s staff have been outdoing themselves with evening programs! I hope you’ve been able to check out some of the crazy costumes they’ve donned for programs – like Dan, our basketball specialist, dressed up like a lion for Ohalim’s Wizard of Oz night, or Mike, a counselor, dressing up like an elephant for Chalutzim’s Safari Night! Other highlights of evening programs this week include Chalutzim’s Human Board Game Night, Noar’s Mud Night, and Ohalim’s Survivor Night. Chalutzim’s Indiana Jones Night was definitely my favorite of the week – it was a choose-your-own-adventure program where the campers were trying to get the Golden Ga Ga Ball by fighting the AGHU (Association of Ga Ga Haters United). Needless to say, the Golden Ga Ga Ball was uncovered and returned to the campers.

Wednesday night, the entire camp celebrated the 60th anniversary of Israel at Israel Night! Each village had their own program, and we began the evening dancing around to cool Israeli tunes in our Israeli café (dining hall) decorated in honor of the celebration. All of the programs were awesome, but I particularly enjoyed Noar’s Eurovision Program, where they learned about the different songs that Israel has entered into the international song competition and what those songs say about Israeli society. This program was especially fitting because Naor Nave, our camp song leader from the past two summers, was a finalist on Israel’s version of American Idol!

Yesterday everyone packed their bags and hit the road for DAY TRIP DAY! It was the perfect day for waterslides, and fun was had by all. Chalutzim fittingly spent the day playing at Pioneer Water Park (Chalutzim means Pioneer in Hebrew). Ohalim tried out the slides at Geauga Lake’s Wildwater Kingdom, and Noar rode the rides at Cedar Point! Solel did the first part of their Project Tikkun Program, and spent the afternoon with a group of campers with autism at the Monarch School in Shaker Heights. Next week, the Monarch campers will be coming to Camp Wise for swimming with their new Solel friends. The S.I.T.s took a well-deserved day off and hit the beach at Mentor Headlands.

Chalutzim has been preparing all week for Shabbat, and earlier today a group of them were in the chadar braiding challot for dinner tonight. After reading about Korach’s rebellion against Moses and Aaron in this week’s Torah portion, the campers picked “cooperation” as their Shabbat theme. Even in Chalutzim, campers understand that it’s important to trust and listen to the people in charge (counselors), even if you don’t like what they’re asking you to do all the time (go to sleep or stop playing gaga, for example!). With a little cooperation, everyone ends up happier in the end! Tonight, the chalutzimers will share their own thoughts on this through their creative writings, songs, and dance.

Tomorrow night’s the camp talent show and I can’t wait to see everyone’s performances! On Sunday we’ll sadly say goodbye to our Rishon I campers, but all of them have assured us that next summer they’re in for 4 weeks for sure! Luckily we won’t be able to spend too much time feeling sad because we have our Rishon II campers arriving later that day! They’ll be arriving just in time for another exciting and amazing week at camp!

L’shavua tov,

Jodi

June 20, 2008

Dear parents and friends,

“We welcome you to Wise in Chardon, mighty glad you’re here! We’ll send the air reverberating with a mighty cheer, ra ra!” These are the first words our campers heard last week as they stepped off the bus at camp, joining in as our staff jumped and sang alongside the buses to greet the campers pulling in. Many of you witnessed that incredible energy earlier in the day at our Beachwood bus pickup (thank you for all the complimentary calls and emails about it!), and I’m happy to report that the enthusiasm and excitement has only increased! Chilly temperatures didn’t keep us from having an incredible first week, and as we begin celebrating Shabbat, it’s warm and sunny here at camp.

Campers and staff alike have warmly embraced the physical renovations to our site, and it’s hard to remember what the chadar ochel (dining hall) even looked like when it was smaller with the old floor, walls, and bathrooms! The Ohalim campers were envious of the Chaluztim cabin renovations and bathroom additions that they missed by a year, but they feel pretty lucky to have their very own new shower house. The Chalutzim campers finally have their own moadon (rec hall) that contains the new Lenny Rubin Israel Center, and now that we have a dedicated pottery studio, twice as many campers can enjoy this popular program area! The most significant physical change this summer is the kitchen, which has allowed us to strengthen our efforts to “Go Green” by switching from Styrofoam and plastic to real dishes at meals.

Activities at camp have gotten off to a great start, with radio, video, and arts & crafts all enjoying new program spaces. Sports and the lake are as popular as ever, and our Chalutzim boys can’t wait to run the bases at our new baseball diamond during a Shabbat softball game tomorrow! At the pool, as campers warmed up over cups of hot cocoa they raved about our change in swim lessons from ½ a period every day to a full period every other day. Kids taking guitar have been working on some of their favorites out of the camp songbook, and at the tower, they’re trying out the new routes we’ve created on the wall. Under the fantastic leadership of Becci and Adam, our drama specialists, the actors in Shakespeare’s A Twelfth Night (with music from Hairspray!) have been learning their lines.

Today Chalutzim celebrated “Dalet Day” (the Hebrew letter “D”), by acting like “dagim” (fish). The other day for “Aleph Day” all the kids learned the Hebrew word for red (adom) and wore red all day! Their evening programs have been awesome, with one night better than the next. Monday’s Counselor Hunt was followed by Tuesday’s Music Night, where campers learned breakdancing moves from our very own Hockey and Breakdancing specialist Ben. Wednesday night the Chalutzimers created their own Superheros and then last night they proved how smart they were at Are You Smarter Than A Counselor Night (yes, they were!).

Ohalim started the session with Waterpark Night, and then the girls had Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Night while the boys were inducted into the Brotherhood of Ohalim. The next night they played games at Unusual Sports Night and then last night the counselors were in hilarious costumes for their Bug Bandit Counselor Hunt.

Noaropoly started off the Noar evening programs with a bang, with NT winning the game. After turning their counselors into Superheroes for Have You Got What it Takes Night, the Noar campers shared stories of everyday heroes, including heroes among us here at camp. After a Wednesday night crazy scavenger hunt, Noar challenged Solel to a Rap Battle (with Noar winning by a landslide) as part of Hip Hop Night.

Solel, our 10th grade campers, headed off for their first trip this week, and bonded together on the river as they canoed from Raccoon Run in Geneva. They came back from their trip happier than ever, and several of them have already been asking about staying the whole summer!

Tonight’s Shabbat service was the first with our new camp siddur made by our very own Jewish Educator, Mara Berde. Ohalim picked the theme, “Trust and Belief” for this week’s Shabbat, and you could tell they had spent a lot of time preparing their creative writings, service parts, song, decorations, and dance. It’s a fitting theme for our first Shabbat of the summer, and we spent some time talking about what those two words mean. We discussed the importance of trusting yourself – to climb one step higher on the tower, saddle up on a horse, or be on stage in front of the whole camp. Trusting and believing in yourself to be at camp without your parents when it’s your first time away from home. Trusting yourself to walk up to another camper you don’t know and introduce yourself. Trusting yourself to speak up when see someone being mean.  We also talked about the important of trusting and believing in others – the other kids in your cabin and village and your counselors.

This next week is going to be an exciting one for all of us! The Noar girls leave on Sunday for 2-night trips as part of our new “Al HaGova” (On The Heights) Outdoor Adventure trips program. The girls have a choice of backpacking, canoeing, or mountain biking, and then the boys will have the same choices the following week. Solel will have another fantastic adventure this week, and Chalutzim and Ohalim will be busy having an incredible time right here in camp!

I look forward to sharing more stories from camp with you in the coming weeks. In the meantime, thanks so much to those of you who have followed our new “flat envelopes only” package policy. Just a reminder…if it’s padded, it’s not a flat envelope. :-)

Have a great week…Shabbat Shalom!

L’shavua tov,

Jodi