Day 1 – 2nd Session, Kadima & B’Yachad…they’re home!

Hi Herzl Family!

This is your pal Tommy Hoffman coming to you live from the porch of the Director’s House at the South end of Machaneh (Camp) Paradise! 

It’s the first night of 2nd Session, Kadima & B’yachad and it feels amazing!!! I wish I could package the feeling of the arrival into the Ulam (our auditorium building with a stage and rows and rows of benches) and the palpable joy and exuberance in the air…it’s genuinely beyond words to describe. The campers walk in to cheering and singing staff shouting out Im Tir Tzu and Am Yisrael Chai with abundant high fives, hugs, and greetings of assurance. Building on the confidence of the veterans and comforting the 1st timers and their nerves…it’s what we do! 

This is Ted Talk (a play on Theodore Herzl…get it?), a nightly post of my reflection of the day and the things I hear, see, and feel.  I will be posting every night but Shabbat.  It will most likely come out late at night and with bad grammar and some mispellings and I promise to not ever use ChatGPT (or any AI for that matter). Some nights may be a few paragraphs and some night a few sentences. But I’ll always aim to give you a good glimpse of camp through the eyes of a Camp Guy, Parent, and Alumni.

It’s going to be an awesome summer!!!

All is well, safely rest. 

Thanks for sending your kid to Herzl Camp

‏לילה טוב

Tommy