by Tessa Robinson, Tzofim Rosh Eidah
The first two days of Tzofim Aleph 2011 have come and gone in a flash. Opening Day was a great day for all, filled with lots of singing, game-playing and ruach (spirit). On Opening Day, we learned some cheers, found out who was in each ohel (tent), and started to get to know each other. All of the chanichim (campers) and madrichim (counselors) have been having a great time so far, and Kibbutz HaTzofim already feels like a tight-knit community.
On Monday we also heard from our great segel (faculty) about our topic for the session. Rokki Parinello of Cong. Beth Tikvah in Hoffman Estates IL, Rabbi Jeffrey Weill of Temple Beth El in Northbrook IL, and Michael Lorge of Temple Beth Israel in Skokie IL, are busy teaching the chanichim about archaeology and how we are all connected to Jewish history and artifacts. We finished Monday with a great evening program, finding out who was in our va’ad (a group in Tzofim that works together to make sure the refet (farm) animals get fed, the gan (garden) gets weeded and watered, and that other chores around Tzofim get done). The chanichim came up with great va’ad names and had a great time getting to know the madrichim and the other chanichim in their va’ad.
On the second day of Tzofim Aleph, the chanichim went through their first day of a regular Tzofim schedule. We
played sports, went to chug (an activity like waterskiing, art, or drama), went swimming, and enjoyed a lot of other camp activities! We had a fun time avoiding the rain by playing games inside the Mercaz Sport (Sports Center) and enjoyed a great tochnit erev (evening program) of Counselor Dress-Up. Ohelim dressed up various madrichim according to different themes. We had a cowgirl, a jock, and we even had an ohel dress up a madrich as Jerry Kaye!
Today our first tents will get to go waterskiing on beautiful Lac La Belle and we’re all enjoying another great day of camp! The other madrichim and I are really looking forward to the next two weeks. We know it will be an amazing session!