By Laura Perpinyal, Director of Congregational Learning at Temple Chai, Long Grove IL, and Tzofim Segel

Being downstairs in the rain can be hard; it’s just more complicated since the vast majority of our programming is outside. We eat our meals outside, our beit t’fillah, or prayer space is outside, and of course we live in tents! I’ve been so impressed with our chanichim (campers) and madrichim (counselors) ability to change plans and be flexible as needed with the weather, and despite the change in schedule, still have so much fun and meaningful experiences! The rain has not dampened Tzofim’s incredible ruach (spirit) and energy!  In fact I think it’s helped to bond our chanichim (campers) together in a special way right from the beginning of the session.

This session in Tzofim we are learning about archeology, and started by discovering what we can learn about a culture by shifting through their artifacts. Every Tzofim va’ad (committee or group) received “garbage” from a unit around camp, and by examining the artifacts in the garbage tried to learn about the culture and history of that unit on camp. For example, one bag of garbage contained stencils, paint brushes and old mixing bowls; this was garbage from Tiferet because they have a special focus on art. We noticed that every bag of garbage contained Hebrew and some sort of OSRUI gear or clothing. This reminded us that even though units may divide us, we’re one camp!

Next we had an opportunity to “dig” through Torah. We read part of a parsha (portion) of Torah and discussed what artifacts might help others learn about the story. Then chanichim (campers) created these artifacts from a variety of creative materials. For example, one va’ad (committee or group) read the story of Joseph and then created an artifact of his coat of many colors from colored Popsicle sticks.  It’s been incredible to share in discussions with our chanichim (campers) and to see their creative ideas come to life! We will be continuing to learn about the history of camp and even get to dig for real artifacts next week.

Again, despite the rain, we’ve had a few special highlights. Last night was erev ohel (tent night) for evening program. Each ohel (tent) engaged in a special activity: one ohel (tent) climbed the Alpine Tower, another had a camp fire and made s’mores, another had a special Z’hal (Israeli Army) experience! The chanichim (campers) were all smiles at the end of the evening! Today everyone was able to go swimming, I heard from a few chanichim (campers) that went kayaking that it was the best day yet!

I can’t wait to celebrate our first Shabbat at camp tomorrow! It seems like every day will be the best day yet!