B-I-K-K!! B-I-K-K!! BIKKURIM!!
Today’s the day!! After a Nickelodeon-themed opening, we’ve broken into 6 teams each with an associated Nick-tv show -Red (The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius), Orange (The Penguins of Madagascar), Purple (Rugrats), Blue (Avatar: The Last Airbender), Green (The Fairly OddParents), and Yellow (SpongeBob SquarePants). At this moment, all of camp is deep in the competition of our color wars!
Many parts of Bikkurim are honored traditions, unchanged for decades, such as Silent Lunch and the elaborate Big Reveal for this annual event. So much planning and orchestration goes into Bikkurim – picking captains, planning the events to highlight a variety of skills and talents, and adding shtick and ruach to every moment!
Bikkurim is ultimately an extended, ruach-filled team work exercise. It brings campers and staff together from different age groups and interests to work towards a common goal. The program is carefully designed to let unexpected leaders emerge. Staff aim to create competitions that allow campers to shine who might not get that recognition in their daily lives. For captains, we look for campers who show signs that they are emerging as leaders but haven’t quite had that opportunity to be in the lead.
The competitions cover every skill and interest and all of camp’s facilities. To win, teams must shine in creativity and crazy shtick as much or more than athleticism. There is 3-minute 12 Gates, Floor Hockey, Cake Boss, spelling bee, Random Acts of Ruach, Pop Dance, Kayak races, Ping Pong tourney, and 12 more competitions in addition to the Marathon which incorporates artistic and shticky events in addition to athletic ones and covers camp from north to south and east to west. It promises to be a thrilling finish!
Besides a day of shticky fun, Bikkurim teaches campers and staff to cheer each other on, our own teammates and our opposing team players, because recognizing each other’s accomplishments and honoring a job well done is what Bikkurim is all about. It is great fun and we all love the ruach (spirit)!