by Tessa Robinson, Tzofim Rosh Eidah (Unit Head)

The first day of Tzofim Bet has come and gone and it was certainly a great one in Oconomowoc! On Monday, we started off our session with cheering and finding out who is in each ohel (tent), and went downstairs to our eidah (unit) to move in. All of our 100 chanichim (campers) have settled in nicely to the ohelim. After unpacking and some free time on Tzofim Hill, we had our first aruchat erev (dinner) as an eidah, our first services led by Geoff and Kathy, our segel (faculty) for Bet. (Geoff Prass is the Director of Education at Congregation Solel in Highland Park, IL and Kathy Schwartz is the educator at Congregation Har Hashem in Boulder, Colorado.) We then organized into our va’adot (committees) for tochnit erev (evening program) and came up with va’ad names like “The Va’ad Squad” and “Va’adup?” We then settled in for our first sleep in the ohelim.

We are so excited for the next two weeks in Tzofim! We have such fun things planned for this session. Yesterday, we had  extra time in the pool, along with a slip ‘n slide, to evade the heat! Then in the evening we cheered extra loud at the Star Spangled Mesibah, the all camp talent show put on by Tiferet, for Tzofim’s representatives, Jacob A. and Seth F! Then we  enjoyed the fireworks for the 4th of July celebration. After all of that excitement we will continue with a regular week of Tzofim, full of water sports, chugim (electives) like art, sports, and drama, Ivrit lessons and climbing etgar (the high ropes course). We have a busy, exciting and fun two weeks ahead of us and we are all looking forward to everything that is coming our way!

Tessa Robinson is the Rosh Eidah (Unit Head) of Kibbutz HaTzofim. This is her sixth year on staff at OSRUI and second summer as Tzofim Rosh Eidah. She is a graduate of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec.