Session 1 – Day 6: It’s Yom Yisrael!

Heat, shmeat! It’s Yom Yisrael!!!

I woke up this morning and the sun was shining and ready early for the heat of the day. I walked outside, went down to the waterfront just to say good morning to Devils Lake. There was our resident eagle Mother and her two juveniles soaring above out searching for breakfast and I knew it was gonna be another beautiful day in the great Northwoods. 

Last night our Israeli staff stayed up late and after hours and painted up signs and found every Israeli flag they could at camp. They decorated the Chadar,  the entrance to the waterfront and the Teyelet. Due to the heat, we made a pivot in programming and turned our Yom Yisrael morning into a trip to Eilat and to the Teyelet in Tel Aviv. 

Our Israeli staff was beaming with patriotic pride and hosted campers on both sites for Tochnit Boker (morning program).  They gave a little story about a memory they would have like a run on the Teyelet, playing on the beach in Tel Aviv or a family vacation down in Eilat… which is what our waterfront had become complete with water games and some type of dancing that I can’t remember the name of to save my life. But the kids were splashing around, the volleyball game up on the beach in the Teyelet was in full swing. Some sprinklers were sprinkling, and kids were laughing and staff was engaged and it was a proud day at Herzl Camp. It was Yom Yisrael! 

At lunch, there was Israeli music playing over the PA. We had Shawarma and an awesome salad bar with big red juicy tomatoes and perfectly sliced cucumbers just like you’re sitting at a café in Tel Aviv and then to add a little extra fun, all of the messages (because we don’t use that other word, announc….oops, I almost said it) were given in English, followed by Hebrew with additional commentary provided by our Israeli staff shouting Hebrew across the Chadar. It was a sight! 

Though I like to think everything here is unicorns and rainbows, the heat did get a little oppressive this afternoon with the sun beating down and no cloud cover. People were walking a little slower, a lot of water bottle refills needed to happen often (and our great staff was all over it!) and most chugim were moved into cooler locations – like our awesome Beit Ruach (big guan gymnasium) which is tucked up into the woods and permanently shaded…it basically stays incredibly cool. But I think the exceptional thing to note was watching some of our staff turn lemons into lemonade. They went to find the big giant tarp move it up to the hill just above the farm, get a few hoses…maybe a little dish soap…and slip and slide ensued!! Yes, I was tempted and had to remind myself that campus for the campers. I mean, let’s be honest, who doesn’t love a slip and slide.

A number of us on the leadership staff were beckoned to the Ulam  for the Create a Play Chug major performance after four days of hard work during Chug Gimel, the 20 or so campers put on a performance that would rival…well it was entertaining. There was a storyline there was creativity, and of course, as always, especially with these younger campers, there was the random cartwheels and dancing in the background.  

Dinner tonight was another awesome meal of Israeli fare,  couscous, some beef dish that I can’t remember the name of, and again a salad bar that wasn’t any different than this afternoon, but the salad felt a little greener, a little more red, a little more crispy, a little more colorful and as a fresh crispy refreshment in the wake of a hot day. 

Tochnit Erev (evening program) consisted of eight separate stations all doing Israeli things. The list is long and I don’t remember all of them and can’t find the piece of paper on which they’re written so you’re gonna have to ask your kids. My experience is a parent is it’ll be something that comes out in a dinner conversation in February because when they get home, they’ll say simply, I had fun. But it always shocked me that I’d be sitting around the dinner table with my kids and they’d pull out some story about camp from five or six months earlier like it happened yesterday. That’s the kind of impact we know we have and we take great care of it and hold it sacred.

I was a little chatty tonight, so as I close it out. I’m sitting here on the screen porch of the director’s house, Danya is sittting across from my diligently typing away (because she never stops!) and I can hear the loons chattering out on the lake, the symphony of frogs and crickets filling the air and I am going to sit back and smile, we just got to have an awesome day celebrating Israel, building Jewish pride, and we got to do it with over 200 very happy campers.

‏עם ישראל חי

Thanks for sending your kid to Herzl Camp!

All is well, safely rest.

‏לילה טוב

Tommy

PS…episode 1 of 2025 Herzlcast was released today – it’s not on Spotify as of this writing (it takes them 24 hours for some aggravating reason) but you can find it here: https://linktr.ee/herzlcast