Shalom Leviim blog readers!
It’s been a fun and exciting week since we last wrote, and we can’t wait to tell you all about it.
Last week for Achla Yom, we went to the beach in New Castle, NH. The chanichim (campers) enjoyed a very relaxing day splashing in the (very) cold ocean water, relaxing on the beach, playing board games and sports, walking along the shore, and taking in the beautiful view. They ended their time at the beach with a delicious cold treat, and then we headed back to camp for our weekly Achla Yom barbecue dinner. For our peulat erev, we did Erev Superhero. The chanichim were split into groups and they had to dress up one of their madrichim as a superhero while also creating a song and backstory behind their creation. We were impressed with their creativity and fun that went into this peulah, especially because we remember doing it with them back in Kfirim.
After a regular morning, Thursday’s afternoon activities consisted of omanut, gaga, dodgeball, Zimriyah practice, Kef B’ivrit and practice for the Yom Yisrael tekes on Sunday. After dinner, Kerem ran the peulot erev for the banim and banot. The banim had Erev Trivia where they played an intense trivia game with random questions and tasks they had to complete. The banot had Erev Coachella, where they were split into groups and assigned a famous pop singer who they had to dress up as and perform a song written by them. All the chanichim had lots of fun at these peulot, and we were impressed with Kerem’s programming abilities, a difficult skill to learn.
Friday was the camp play which was a Yavneh original: Moana’s Bat Mitzvah. This cute play was a cabaret of various Disney songs, and we were lucky to see two of our chanichim in the performance. Before heading back to shower and get ready for Shabbat, we set up the Chadar Ochel for Shabbat dinner. We welcomed another beautiful Shabbat with ReliSh and Kabbalat Shabbat and then had a delicious Shabbat dinner and sang beautiful zemirot to close off the night.
Saturday was a beautiful, and luckily not rainy, day, so after morning services, the chanichim enjoyed the lovely weather and spent their free time playing and hanging out with each other. Along with meltzing all three meals, the chanichim had sicha in the afternoon, and then the camp came together for Tzipori. Following dinner, which was lasagna instead of the classic wacky mac, we had Havdallah and then Israeli dancing in the Beit Am. After, Kerem covered the bunks while the madrichim had a staff meeting.
Sunday was Yom Yisrael! The mishlachat planned a wonderful day with free swim, a scavenger hunt across camp about Israel, a shuk, pita making, and Cafe Dilemma. The shuk is always a fan favorite as the chanichim get money to spend and they can buy souvenirs, fruits and vegetables, candy, juice, and more. It truly felt like the real shuk with music blasting, lots of people pushing each other to get from stand to stand, singing, dancing, and distinct smells from the various stands as well. Cafe Dilemma was an interesting activity as the chanichim got to discuss conflicts that Israel is currently facing such as the religious divisions within the country as well as the morals and information spread about the IDF. We enjoyed Israeli food throughout the day with Shachar (Israeli chocolate spread) for breakfast, falafel for lunch, and shawarma for dinner. We closed the day with a Tekes (ceremony) to reflect on all we are thankful for from the state of Israel. It was a beautiful ceremony where every ayda contributed. Our banot did an impressive flag dance and the banim performed the song, Toda, by singing and playing various instruments. Our chanichim are so talented! We ended the night dancing in Gilboa to Israeli songs with the whole Machane, and we then had a Zimriyah practice with Bentzi before bed.
On Monday, some of our boys were off at Tel Noar playing in the basketball tournament. Those of us in camp spent the afternoon at the Agam for free swim, in Zimriyah practice, and on the sports fields playing football and dodgeball. Our peulat erev was SNL (Saturday Night Leviim). The chanichim absolutely loved this fun creative twist on SNL where they were split into groups and created funny skits based on camp that they then performed for the Ayda. We loved seeing their creative and comical juices flowing.
On Tuesday, the banim got to sleep in because they got enough high scores on nikayon. The banot had chug tefillah so they could pick which kind of tefillot experience they wanted to have. It was the last day of chug which is crazy to believe that first month is starting to come to a close. In the afternoon, we had Zimriyah practice, free swim, and Kanguarauch. Zimriyah is just tomorrow and they are looking and sounding so great, we can’t wait!! After dinner, we saw the Maalot Cabaret, which was more of a nightclub theme with various acts and performers. It was quite a night with lots of talent!
We are very much looking forward to Zimriyah on Thursday, and hope you will all catch us either live or on Facebook live! It’s a night filled with so much ruach (energy), you will not want to miss out. Our chanichim have been working so hard on learning the songs, hand motions, and harmonies, we know you will not be disappointed. No matter the results, we know they’re all winners and have much to be proud of.
B’ahava,
Nina and Adina
