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A Brief Overview of the Summer of 2008 - special
Written by Debbie Sussman, Director
There are many exciting things that are planned for the summer of 2008
as summer quickly approaches! Our staff is the engine of our camp and
we are working on all hybrid cylinders! We have 22 past campers/CIT’s
and Na’aleh participants staffing the junior counselor positions.
The remainder of the staff is mostly returning counselors and a very
strong and enthusiastic group of madrichim (counselors) from Israel.
This means we can hit the ground running with ruach (spirit), masoret
(tradition) and great supervision. So…bruchim habaim…welcome
to Machanei Yavneh, a division of Hebrew College and an ACA (American
Camping Association) accredited camp!
So what’s new structurally at Yavneh that will impact your children
this summer??! To begin with we have 4 brand new tennis courts that have
taken the place of our 20 year old courts. Nearby to our tennis courts
sits the largest building in camp, Bet Haam which has a whole new look
on the outside having been re-sided with a new covered porch in the front.
Across the road is Kolbo always a favorite place in camp where the campers
come for snacks and to purchase Yavnehwear. This new space will be used
for mail distribution. On the other side of Kolbo we have added a big
covered porch to be used for enjoying an ice cream or just hanging out
on the picnic tables there. Moving up to the girls area we have built
a brand new girls bunk which will be used for our Kerem girls. This is
the first new bunk built at Yavneh in 30 years! The boys area also has
2 new bunks which were transformed by taking off the side of one of the
bunks, adding a whole new section and dividing the bunks into two new
bunks. Ben Zvi, our second biggest meeting space in camp has a new projector
to better enjoy any videos/DVD’s that we may show at camp. We have
also purchased a new sailboat- a Sprite for you sailors out there!
For the fourth summer, Yavneh will be the sponsors of our intercamp basketball
tournament to take place second session on our 2 basketball courts. The “old” court
has new professional goalposts/nets that equal the other basketball nets
and goalposts. The climbing tower is open and ready for use along with
the 300 foot zip line. This year we have various animals at camp that
are being loaned to us through the Northwood School like pythons and
Igunas in our exotic animal room and of course our goats, chickens and
rabbits will be returning in our animal pen.
Both months, some of our campers will compete against Camp Young Judaea
of NH in a soccer, archery or ultimate frisbee tournament at Yavneh.
And of course we will have our weekly sporting matches of softball, volleyball
and Newcomb against other Jewish camps in NH. The tennis tournaments
and swimming team tournaments will happen each month as well.
Our talented teaching staff will be organizing and running educational
activities that will revolve around our theme called Shanat Hashishim-
od lo avda tikvatenu.- celebrating Israel’s 60th anniversary- we
have not lost our hope! We will be having an Israeli film festival of
sorts at camp. ADL will be coming for a day to speak with our older campers.
We will also have a guest artist Hilda Marom joining us from Israel.
Our 4th of July celebration will be quite the show! In past years we
have rented a monmouth screen to show The Boston Pops 4th of July performance
and also show other goodies but this year we have made our own screen
for now and future use. After the showings we will do our own 20 minutes
of fireworks, which is quite a sight to behold. Traditionally other 4th
favorites will include the famous 4th of July parade, which culminates
in singing and our traditional outrageously large flag cakes that feeds
400!
Our Yomei Tiyul- trip days, will find Maalot in Acadia National park
in Maine, during second session, for 3 days—camping, hiking, ocean
kayaking and biking. Kerem will be going on a 3 day white water rafting
trip in Maine. Leviim will be doing trail repair in The White Mountains
and staying in the beautiful Highland Center in Crawford Notch, NH. Second
session will find Yavneh at Circus Shmirkus which is a Vermont based
teen entertainers, circus. The younger campers will be going to Water
Country. There will of course be hiking/overnights and other surprises.
On one of the Sundays, we will be hosting Gateways a group of cognitively
and physically challenged Jewish kids and their families. As part of
Kerem’s chesed projects this summer they will be walking in support
of Breast Cancer Survivors and raising money for that cause. The camp
will be supporting A Safe Place, a shelter for battered women and their
children, with houses in 3 local towns. We have asked all families to
send along shampoo, toothpaste etc. so that we may share these items
with this shelter. Yavneh will also be sponsoring a Red Cross Blood Drive
which will take place at our camp. We hope to be able to contribute over
70 pints of blood. We are bringing Carnival Day back to Yavneh after
a 4 year hiatus where we rent in inflatables, serve cotton candy, use
our newly acquired foam machine and generally have a blast. The day will
culminate with jugglers coming into entertain. The extra nice part about
the lead juggler is that he is a Yavneh alum. First session a group of
very talented musicians and actors will be coming to do day long workshops
with all the campers. In the evening their band, Reva L’sheva will
entertain us all.
Overnights first month include the following groups: Gurim, Leviim, Maalot
and Kerem. The camp play, will be Free To Be You and Me performed first
session. The Kerem play this summer will be Grease. Of course the highlight
of first session is Zimriyah on Thursday evening July 17th. Check out
the website for details. Mini Maccabaiah, run by Maalot, will finish
out the session on Friday the 18th. For the local parents we hope you
will join us in Newton for an evening Tuesday July 29th as our performing
group exclusively from Arayot, called Ketsev, will be performing in the
morning for Camp Grossman, in the afternoon at the Hebrew Rehab and in
the evening for our parents. Details will follow. Also second month for
our campers that play string instruments we will be taking them to a
local artisan who makes violins and Cellos where they will tour his workshop.
There will be many other special activities, interactions, and Shabbatot,
in addition to the electives your child will have chosen as part of their
month long schedule. Every Shabbat we invite special guests to camp to
discuss interesting topics with our older campers. The nine days begin
during first session, which we will observe by limiting our music and
dance activities and in other ways. On Tisha B’Av second session,
we will be having a special day of remembrances and a special guest speaker.
Other special highlights this summer will include Hilda Merom who is
a well known potter who is our guest artist from Israel. With the help
of our Israeli staff we will have pita making every Wed. afternoon, Yom
Yisrael celebrations and the encouragement of Hebrew usage at every turn.
Arayot and all aydat Kfirim will be going on their overnights second
session. First session, Maalot will be spending a sleepless night at
Hampshire Hills, a health club with a pool, climbing wall and much more!
Rikkudiyah and Kerem Idol events are also scheduled during second session.
Maalot and Gurim will be “buddying up” to do some activities
together. We will be having our all camp BBQ on the coast of Maine. Na’aleh
our summer in Israel program will join us back at camp on in August to
talk about their incredible 6 week experience in Eretz Yisrael. Maccabiah
will happen somewhere in the middle of all that and that will last for
5 days filled with sports, Hebrew speaking, dancing, singing and drama.
And let’s not forget Yavneh For a day where we invite perspective
families to come to see Yavneh in action. If you know of anyone that
might be interested in this event it will be held July 27th. For details
contact the Yavneh office.
You will be able to follow all this on the web through our website at
www.campyavneh.org and your child’s Roshei Aydah will be posting
weekly updates as to what your child’s aydah is doing. Having said
all, the most important part that makes every child’s Yavneh summer
camp experience is the fellow campers and staff that they interact with.
Rest assured, we have the best in both categories! I look forward to
greeting everyone at camp. Just follow the signs! I know it will be an
awesome summer! Thanks for coming to Machanei Yavneh, we love having
you as part of the mishpacha!
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