B’ruchim Habayim L’Tiferet Bet 2014!

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By Becca Levy, Rosh Eidah of Tiferet

We have had an extraordinary start to Tiferet Bet 2014! On Tuesday, our chanichim (campers) arrived excited and ready to begin a summer of fun and omanut (art)!  We began with a delicious opening day lunch and then split up into our trifim (cabins) to begin to get to know each other. After lunch, when we first arrived in Tiferet’s Beit Am, our meeting place, it was a bit rainy so we all worked together to get everyone’s luggage safely inside before starting our first Limud (learning) program. Nice and snug in the Beit Am, with the guidance of our segel (faculty) and moomchim (speacialists) we began Limud.

 This session’s Limud topic is T’hilim, or in English, Psalms. The chanichim have the opportunity to explore a variety of psalms in their individual studios as well as in group Limud sessions. In Tiferet, we apply our Limud topic to almost every part of the day, and in studio the chanichim will get to learn about psalms through the lens of their passions and art. On Tuesday, we began with a group writing activity, where the chanichim were split into groups representing five categories of Psalms, and each person was presented with a piece of paper and a pen. Then, every person wrote a single line of a new psalm on their paper and passed their paper on to the next person. Then, using the previous line as a new beginning, the next person continued the psalm. After the first two lines were written, the paper was folded down to only reveal a single line above the blank paper where the next line would be written. The line-by-line, and writer-by-writer, the papers were passed around the circle, and the psalms continued. When unfolded, the final psalm results were breathtaking! It was clear that this is a very special and talented group of chanichim, even from the first moments that we were together! The first night concluded with dinner, our first t’filot  (services) together, and a fun evening program! Camp was off to a wonderful beginning!

Yesterday, we had our first full day of camp activities! The chanichim woke up after their first night in their tzrifim fresh and ready for a beautiful day here at OSRUI. We began our day with t’filot and breakfast and then went to our first day of studio! The chanichim each participate in one of five specialty areas here in Tiferet- Drama, Dance, Visual Art, Music, and our newest studio, Digital Arts. After studio we joined together for swimming at the pool (today we swam at the lake!), then showers and lunch. After lunch, we have menucha, a break in the day for resting, reading, writing letters, and other relaxing activities followed by more studio in the afternoon! From studio, the chanichim go to an additional activity that they have chosen, called chug, where they do anything from horseback riding and waterskiing to improv and creative writing. On some days, we have Ivrit (Hebrew) lessons and on others we have chug.

 After chug, we joined together for dinner and t’filot, and last night we had a very special evening program called Erev Tzrif (Cabin Night), where each tzrif  came together and did their own bonding activities! We ended our first full day with siyyum (conclusion) where one of our madrichim sang a lovely song to the eidah (unit). We then said Lilah Tov (good night) and got plenty of rest before another wonderful day at camp!

The Tiferet chanichim have had a phenomenal start to the summer, and I can’t wait to experience all of camp and Tiferet with them for the next four weeks!