Greetings, our beloved blog readers!
Sadly, this is our last blog post of the summer, but we are itching to tell you about our last week together. We left off last week with Maccabiah breakout. Wednesday morning was our first day of Maccabiah, but the morning schedule was regular with kitah, chug, and swim. In the afternoon, the chanichim had team meetings, we played a competitive game of Gladiator, and they cheered on their madrichim in horse races. At night, the teams competed in Chidon, a game show where the chanichim demonstrated the knowledge they have acquired in their kitot (classes).
On Thursday, the morning was regular, and in the afternoon, they made music videos with their teams and had free swim. At night, the whole camp watched the madrichim and Kerem do Dizzy Izzy, and then we split up by ayda and Leviim and Maalot had their own Dizzy Izzy. For those who don’t know, Dizzy Izzy is a relay race where the chanichim start by putting their head on a baseball bat and running in circles. At this point, they are dizzy and they then have to do crazy tasks while trying to maintain their balance. It’s super silly and entertaining to watch.
Friday was the last regular morning of the summer. In the afternoon, we had an ayda game of dodgeball, Nistar vs. Nigleh. Each team won a game! It was a shorter afternoon because of Shabbat, so we ended the afternoon with free swim and everyone went back to the tzrifim (bunks) to get ready for Shabbat.
The last Shabbat is always bittersweet because it is a reminder that camp is coming to a close, but it is always the most ruach-filled of the summer. The chanichim enjoyed their free time, and we closed the day with Eicha and a ceremony introducing Tisha B’Av which started in the evening. Tisha B’Av is a day in the Jewish calendar where we mourn the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash.
Our programming at camp on Sunday was different and dedicated to maintaining the mood of the fast day. The chanichim had lots of time to rest, and we also had an interesting session learning about Estelle’s father who is a Holocaust survivor. The day ended with a delicious break fast, and the chanichim were excited to listen to non-acapella music after a long nine days.
Monday morning we started off with HaMeirutz HaNifla (The Amazing Race), formally known as Apache. The camp-wide relay took an hour and a half to finish and it was fun to watch them complete all their silly tasks (one even had to chug a cup of prune juice). The race ended with the whole camp racing to fill up their team’s bucket as they passed small buckets of water from the Agam to the Beit Am. Nistar won the race, and from there we moved to the Ben Tzvi for the camp play, Homesick at Hogwarts. In the afternoon, the chanichim had team meetings and finished working on tekes and shelet.
Following a barbeque dinner, the whole camp came together to watch the Tekes performances where each team showcased their acting, singing, and dancing. After, each team presented their shelet and we got to see the talented artistry of many Kerem and madrichim. From there, we went to the Beit Am for Lechu Nerannena. Each team sang a Shir Chasidi and Shir Pluga before coming together for Shir Machane and On and On and then watching Tekes Shoftim. At the end of the night, the Kerem madrichim announced the winner… Plugat Nistar!
As we look ahead to tomorrow, we will be packing up and then having a fun last night together at Banquet. As we wrap up our final blog, we’ll take this time to thank you, our lovely blog readers, for following along with us this summer and for giving us and trusting us with your wonderful children. They have been absolute pleasures to spend our summers with, and we are sad to send them back home to you.
B’ahava (with love),
Nina and Adina
