Tzofim Gimmel Beginnings

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by Deborah Goldberg, Tzofim Rosh Eidah

Tzofim Gimmel is off to an amazing start!  Our campers arrived on Tuesday morning.  They were excited to be at camp and cheered loudly when Jerry and Susan pointed to Kibbutz HaTzofim.  When we gathered as an eidah (unit) and learned our first cheer together, I could already tell that Tzofim Gimmel has an incredible amount of ruach (spirit)!

On Wednesday, we had our first full day together as an eidah.  We started our morning with a limud (Jewish learning) session where we talked about making a brit kehillah (holy covenant) for our eidah.  The chanichim (campers) had thoughtful things to say about ways that we can create a kehillah kedoshah (holy community) while we are at camp together.  We went to the Merkaz Sport and we found out which chugim (electives) the chanichim would be participating in for the first two weeks.  We ate lunch together in our beautiful outdoor eating area and then we all went to the pool!  On Wednesday afternoon, the chanichim did an activity to check their Hebrew level.  Then we went to camp’s geniza.  Camp has a tradition of opening the geniza in connection with Tisha B’av.  The chanichim really enjoyed being a part of this camp tradition.  We finished Wednesday by participating in our first va’adot (committee) rotations, having evening t’fillot in our beautiful outdoor beit t’fillah.  We played a big round of meet the counselor before heading off to bed.  Our first day together was jam-packed and really fun!

Thursday was a special day for all camp.  We spent the day doing all kinds of fun activities to get out of the heat!  We went down a giant slip n’ slide and swam in the lake in the morning and we played in the pool on Thursday afternoon.  The chanichim loved having a special schedule, and all the madrichim (counselors) had a great time bonding with chanichim throughout the day.  Things have cooled down a bit in Oconomowoc since Thursday!

Friday we celebrated Shabbat together.  Tzofim has a tradition of gathering on the hill to hear a story from a member of our segel.  Then, we  had kabbalat Shabbat services in our beit t’fillah before walking upstairs to have dinner and Shabbat shira with all of camp.  It was a great night at camp and we were so excited to share our first Shabbat as Tzofim Gimmel 2013 together!  Today we got to sleep in, had Shabbat morning services and then joined with all of camp for lunch and Israeli dancing.  The afternoon was spent relaxing at the beach.

Shavuah Tov!