By Becky Dolinko, Gesher Rosh Eidah

It has been a great first week in the first ever Gesher Aleph! On Monday, the madrichim (counselors) welcomed the chanichim (campers) with open arms and tons of enthusiasm to begin the session. That evening, with the theme of Gesher being leadership and our Limmud theme being community, we began to build our identity in the community by participating in a “Balloon Museum.” All the chanichim were given the opportunity to anonymously write a fear that they had for the session on a slip of paper. The madrichim then attached these paper fears to a balloon, and the chanichim had the opportunity to read the fears and find one they connected with. After this discussion of sharing similar fears and how we will help each other face these fears, we busted the balloons to symbolize that these fears will be conquered throughout our session. It was very meaningful and the chanichim really enjoyed it! Here is a picture of our balloon museum.

We continued our week with our first Erev Tzrif (cabin night)! We had many different activities, from capture the flag, to trivia night, to s’mores and singing. Everyone had a great time and the bonds between the chanichim in the madrichim were greatly strengthened.

Today, we had our very first Yom Avodah in Gesher. Avodah is the Hebrew word for work, and the chanichim worked so hard to strengthen our community. They took part in beautifying Gesher, and making an identity in our eidah (unit). The campers all had the chance to create a fabric square with their tzrif (cabin), so that they could contribute to a “Tallit” to use in our Beit tefillah. Then, the unit split into three stations: painting a unit sign, painting cabin signs, and beautifying our Beit tefillah. All the kids enjoyed working as a team to beautify our unit.

As the week comes to a close, we are looking forward to our first Shabbat, and our second week of Gesher Aleph!