The Opportunity to Enjoy What We Have
The last Shabbat Letter of the summer … the most bittersweet letter to be written this year What an amazing summer is has been! So many new friendships made and old friendships renewed. So many fears and challenges conquered, so much self-reflection and finding one’s self. So much innovation, imagination, and exploration. So many returning to their summer home and their summer family, and so many more discovering their new home and a new summer family.
Where have the 8 weeks, the 55 days, the 1320 hours, the 79,200 minutes, the 4,752,000 seconds gone? We think Ferris Bueller said it best “OSRUI moves pretty fast, if you don’t stop and look around and see the smiles, smell the challah, hear the shira, laughter, and ruach, you might miss it.”
After a week of trips, marathon week, Carnival, zoos, hiking, climbing, biking, canoeing, water balloon fights, etgar (the challenge course), limudim (Jewish learning), ivrit (Hebrew), t’filot (services), pools, lakes, water slides, horses, and so much more, Shabbat is here, a sacred and beloved time at camp.
Before we get clean and we put on our Friday night best one last time, before we join together in prayer, before we tune our guitar strings and warm up our voices, before we prepare to rest, we take a look back at the incredible 8th and final week of Summer 2017.
Moshavah embarked on their final trip (read about all the trip locations Here!), going hiking, biking, climbing, and canoeing. Everyone is back at camp safe, happy, and clean! Mosh enjoyed a much deserved sleep-in on Thursday and had a great time at the Gesher Carnival! They are looking forward to Shabbat, but are not excited about Saturday when they will take down the tents and return Mosh back to its fall/winter/spring state of ten non-descript concrete slabs, and two empty wooden structures. They will move into their temporary home for Saturday evening at the Sports Center as they prepare for banquet, friendship circle, and final Havdalah. There will be tears and there will be laughs!
Gesher Gimmel’s week started and finished strong! On Sunday, they joined Tzofim and Tiferet at the Milwaukee Zoo for a fun Safari Scavenger Hunt! They worked together on their ropes course in limud (Jewish learning) and spent the week building sets, painting signs, setting up booths, rehearsing songs, practicing dances all in preparation for…Gesher Karnival 2017!! The entire camp spent Thursday evening dunking roshei eidot (unit heads), jumping in the moon bounce, eating custom-made churros, kicking soccer balls, setting up tents, playing Minute to Win It, getting their minds blown in the fun house, and more! Gesher will come to a close on Sunday, but it has been an incredible summer!
Tiferet marathon week started strong with a trip to Milwaukee Zoo and now the work is here in preparation for their Final Showcase on Saturday, where they will present everything they have been working on in studio to their families! The theme has been “Marathon Through Time” and it has been, pun intended, an incredible trip and journey! They enjoyed Yom Cave Person where they ate cups of dirt for dinner and grunted to their hearts content. They enjoyed Yom Rome with a quesadilla feast in the Beit Am! They enjoyed Yom America where a listening party of the Broadway smash hit “Hamilton” was in order and on Friday they performed their show for the other eidot. Tiferet has had an amazing summer full of exploration, innovation, and discovery!
In Kibbutz HaTzofim, all you need to know is that it was a final week for the ages downstairs in the tents! It all began with a trip to the Milwaukee Zoo. They had a Hebrew Extravaganza including Israeli dancing and making shakshuka. They thoroughly enjoyed their s’ganit (asst. unit head) Raya’s project about the Six Day War and made mind and body exercise videos for limudim. They had an incredible erev ohel (tent night) which included trivia night, making guacamole, and destroying some pinatas. On Saturday, during take down, they will turn their wonderful Kibbutz into a simple, quiet, green field with ten concrete slabs. They are so excited for next summer!
Kallah Atid opened this week to much excitement, ruach, and fanfare, and chanichim (campers) did not waste a moment enjoying everything that OSRUI has to offer! Tubing, horseback riding, tower climbing, face painting, improv games, drum circles…all within the first 3 hours. The first night was capped off with a BBQ at Susan’s house with dance parties, dessert burgers, and a bon fire with s’mores. They decorated their sh’ma pillows cases at their pajama party so that they can have sweet dreams of many more summers at camp!
And finally, Tour La’Agam, spend their week riding down through Michigan, taking the ferry to Wisconsin, and heading back to Oconomowoc. They rode into camp Friday morning – see the video on our Facebook page.
It has been an incredible and exciting eighth week here at OSRUI! Sadly, this Sunday is closing day for all of camp. We had an wonderful time having you at camp, getting to know you, and showing you all the amazing things we do here at 600 Lac La Belle Drive! This is not goodbye, but l’hitraot, see you next time.
Information on Summer 2018 will be on our website around September 1st
Shabbat Shalom from all of us at OSRUI!
Albert Marks, Senior Assistant Director