Praying for clean air with the wise and powerful, Rav Yoshi!
Shabbat shalom from a sunnier and less hazy Camp Wise, today! It’s been quite a week – three days of rain and cool temps followed by three days of wildfire smoke inversion. In spite of the weather challenges this week, we recognize how lucky we are to live and operate in a region where generally we are free of natural hazards and extreme weather. We commend our energetic and creative staff for keeping our campers in full spirit and smiling even as we adjusted each day’s schedules for health and wellness reasons.
The third week of Trip I was full of joy and growth. Campers are fully comfortable in their cabin communities and now is when the real work of camp begins: navigating more complex relationships, overcoming interpersonal conflict, and building stronger bonds as a cabin and village – “Live Wise” and acting towards one another through blessing is our message. This is the goal.
This summer’s guiding value is hachnasat orchim – welcoming guests. As we explore this theme we learn from the example in Torah of Abraham and Sarah, who welcomed guests to their tent “in the heat of the day.” As you can imagine, this metaphor checks out. The desert region where they resided was brutally hot, and even Abraham, was recovering and in pain as the Torah story suggests. Who would want to serve tea under those conditions?? Yet, in spite of their struggles, they opened their tent to greet passersby, and in turn, welcomed God’s presence to dwell with them.
At first glance, we never know what gifts each person brings into a community, such as in a cabin group or a camp village. It takes time, openness, awareness of our own biases and judgement, and personal effort to lead to acceptance. It is not automatic that each individual feels included, welcomed, and honored in our community- each person must commit to this goal, even in heated moments, and even when we are tired and run down.
As we move into another Shabbat, our goal for the coming week as a camp is to lift up the acts of kindness, compassion, care, and concern for others around us. This approach of “chesed” (kindness) serves as the foundation of a community and makes it possible to create a sense of belonging that makes Camp Wise so strong.
Let’s check out how each cabin has grown this week….
C1 – Our highlight has been cheering in the Chadar Ochel this week. We’ve led several of the prayers at meals and we keep inspiring camp to cheer and share their energy! We were especially excited for the new Chug activities to start this week and we are getting closer as a cabin. C2 – The highlight of the week was the birthday pool parties for Dennis and Zane, everyone had a great time! Everyone was sharing silly jokes in the cabin during rest hour and it was a funny experience. The campers are learning to speak to each other with respect and understanding.C4 – We had so much fun for the first night at camp. They ate snacks, played corn hole, and get to know you games! This morning they had arts and crafts and outdoor cooking. They are getting settled into camp and excited for the next two weeks. The campers decided to build a fort in the cabin. They learned independence by going away from home for the first time and getting their cabin set up.C5 – We started an amazing new chapter this week – we welcomed Rishon Bet and have started building special connections. C6 – Our highlight was welcoming our Rishon campers and getting to know them!! Chipwhich raid!! We learned that they can stay the night away for one night and therefore can do it for the rest of the time here! We are so excited!C7 – This week our highlight was our SIT Fiona’s birthday party during rest hour! We had a surprise spa hour for Fiona 🙂 The funniest moment of the week was having a funeral in our cabin for Journey’s stick from stick night. The campers learned this week about respecting others space and cleaning up their own areas.C8 – Our highlight this week was getting to go on the new high ropes course together! The funniest moment of the week was getting a visit from our very own camp wise tooth fairy. This week we supported each other in taking risks to try new things like the giant swing and obstacles on the high ropes course.O1 – Our highlight was going to the lake and going on the jet skis. When the tent fell over at the overnight – it was the funniest moment of the week. Our campers grew by going in the woods for their overnight.O2 – We had a great time at the village overnight! The funniest moment of the week was when we had our very own video specialist Adam have a bar mitzvah for an evening program. The campers are all bonding and getting closer than ever this week.O5 – Our highlight was definitely Adam Cole’s bar mitzvah! We had many laughs when our kids all had a shower party while waiting for the showers. The campers learned that it’s easy to get run down, so sleep is very important to staying healthy!O8 – This week our highlight was having smores at the overnight! The funniest moment of the week was when we all jumped into the pool after Adam Coles’s bar mitzvah. One thing we learned about each other was how much our cabin loves making jewelry with each other!O9 – This week our highlight was making brownies with our counselor and Teva specialist Hannah at outdoor cooking. The funniest moment of the week was attending Adams bar mitzvah and listening to the speeches by Rabbi Josh Levy and Nicole and Berko. This week we grew closer to each other and learned more about ourselves when we did name webs and had a nice conversation at Live Wise with Rabbi Shauna. We also enjoyed watching everyone challenge themselves and eventually find success climbing up the vertical playground.O10 – as you can see – our highlight was the swim party. We also had a blast celebrating Adam’s bar mitzvah and then the impromptu night swim that took place after wards. We can’t wait for another camp shabbat!N1 – Our highlight was playing basketball with everyone participating!! When Ari beat josh in “sock off” it was epic! Our cabin in learning that they are capable of anything they put their minds to.N3 – This week our highlight was riding jet skis at the lake! The funniest moment of the week was when we did a skit at lunch with the song we made in music production! N3 campers learned this week to be appreciative of the time we have at camp and to take advantage of every opportunity.N4 – As a cabin we enjoyed horse back riding throughout camp. We helped prank our supervisor by putting cups of water all around the door of his room! Campers are all getting closer with new kids. All learning how to live together!N5 – The week’s highlight was definitely the evening programs – Pool party, paint party and wrestling They loved the paint party! We had some great cabin bonding moments. They wrote letters to their future self and they wrote nice things about each other and had their own bag with the notes. We all got closer.N6 – we’ve had an exciting week of getting closer as a cabin group. We loved paint party and our chugim with our friends. We can’t wait for the 4th of july next week!N7 – this week our highlight was the evening programs, the pool party and the paint party were the best! the funniest moment of the week was when we were all messy after paint party!! the campers learned that they can all come together even when there is a mouse in the cabin! Yikes!N8 – This week we had a blast trying out the new zip line and the brand new ropes course! The funniest moment this week was when we finished our amazing cabin plaque with all our cabin-mates represented with Phil Dunphy! We expressed gratitude for each other in our nightly compliment circle!S1S2S3S4
SOLEL! Our Detroit trip was a huge highlight this week. We loved going to Cedar point and hanging out at Belle Isle Park. We stopped for surprise ice cream at Deb’s Soft Kreme, which has a funny name and delicious sundaes. In Belle Isle Park we did an activity, A Dyadic Encounter, where campers were paired off and got to know someone and themselves better.
ILS – A fun filled week moving back from the north toward Tel Aviv. We learned about social justice and participated in the activity of “Leket” where fallen fruit and produce is donated to people experiencing food insecurity. Tonight was Shabbat overlooking the water!SIT – Though not all of us are pictured here, we wanted to show off some of the amazing building we are doing around camp. Check out these comfy benches on our new “early bird deck” in the woods!!
