by Annie Azriel, Gesher Rosh Eidah
Slip ‘n Slide, pancakes with chocolate chips, M & M’s, Reese’s peanut butter cups, learning about Prophets, staying cool in the pool, and swimming in the lake are just some of what has made the first week of Gesher great.
Though we had temperatures soar over 100 degrees, Gesher has done everything possible to cool off. We enjoyed extra time in the pool one day, did a Slip ‘n Slide the next and spent time in air-conditioned buildings when it was possible.
On Friday some of the fabulous Gesher counselors got up early and made special pancakes for all of the kids, with different types of chocolate to spice things up. This was a great pre-Shabbat treat for everyone. Friday night after evening services the entire camp gathered together for Shabbat dinner, a huge song session, and Israeli dancing. Many of the campers commented that this was their first time at Israeli dancing on Friday night and “it was so cool because we never knew it existed when we were in the younger units.” Saturday morning we got to sleep late, have the famous camp breakfast of doughnuts and chocolate milk, and gather with the entire camp for lunch and Israeli dancing. In the afternoon the campers had the opportunity to hang out with their friends, play sports and swim in the lake. Saturday night we had our traditional folk song night around the campfire.
During limudim we have been learning about prophets. To tie into this all of our cabins are named after prophets and each day we are uncovering more and more about the people our cabins are named after through games, skits, songs, and other fun activities. For the first two weeks we are privileged to have Rabbi Debbie Helbraun from Temple Jeremiah in Northfield IL and Rabbi Ali Abrams from Temple Chai in Long Grove IL join us in helping plan our limudim, prepare for services, teach Hebrew and much more.
At this point all of the kids have prepared an evening service to lead for the entire unit. Some of them lead the service this week and the rest will be leading one in the next couple of days before we start preparing again.
During Hebrew we have a group of 9thgraders working towards taking the entrance exam for Chalutzim at the end of the summer. The rest of the classes are learning different camp words, colors, numbers, and much more. By the end of the summer our hope is that each camper will leave knowing a few Hebrew sentences.
Each camper has also chosen two different chugim(elective activities) to do during the day. Some of these activities are waterskiing, cooking, sailing, media, water activities, photography, soccer, basketball, art, music, teva, survival, arts and crafts, and much more! This is one of the best parts of the day, which everyone looks forward to!
Next week we will be going on our first field trip, starting to plan the Gesher Carnival (put on for the rest of camp), participating in Israel night, and much more!