Yom Yisrael! – Session 1 June 18th
Yom Yisrael, Yom Yisrael, Yom Yisrael!
It was a sleep-in morning (we give everyone in camp an extra hour of sleep on Thursdays, it’s good for health, energy, and spirit), and after yesterday’s very dewey day, the weather people apparently found the “sun” button and decided to press it. The skies cleared, the clouds packed up and moved along, and we were gifted a truly beautiful June day in the North Woods.
The sunshine seemed to warm up the smiles, and the day started with everyone dressed in blue and white for Yom Yisrael, showing up to the flag circle led by a lot of our If you Will it, it isn’t a Dream Team, who I’ve got to say were decked out in Israeli flags, Israeli shirts, Israeli baseball hats…Israeli everything. We really celebrated Israel today. Am Yisrael Chai!
The only thing we did at flag that wasn’t Israel-themed was sing the Star-Spangled Banner. Beyond that, we sang two or three Israeli/Hebrew songs, and then one extra just for fun. It was, as the kids would say, off the hook. Actually, I’m not even sure kids say that anymore. I think that phrase expired about a decade ago. But I digress.
It was insane! (that’s more on brand).
We always tell the kids that a little bit of Eretz Yisrael lives right here in Webster, Wisconsin, right here on the shores of Devils Lake.
Then they walked into the Chadar, which was adorned with Israeli flags, banners, streamers, you name it. There’s a whole lot of blue and white around here and an awful lot of JEWISH PRIDE.
Breakfast featured babka, lunch was falafel, and dessert at dinner was a giant Israeli flag cake. Thank you to our kitchen staff for getting fully into it!
Now, this little camper had to make his way back to the Cities for reasons, so I’ve invited a guest to give you more details. Here are some words from our Jewish Life and Learning Coordinator, Aden Barash:
Checking in after an amazing first Yom Yisrael of the summer. Today was incredible!
The Chadar was decked out in blue and white decor and Israeli flags, and Israeli songs echoed across the room during breakfast. Everyone loved the pita, spreads, and babka that the kitchen served us. It was a great way to kick off our day-long celebration of Israel!
Just like Judaism shows up in all aspects of camp, Israel shows up even more throughout the regular camp schedule on Yom Yisrael. Tochnit Boker (morning program) was full of Israeli flair, with campers participating in all sorts of activities, including an Israeli “boot camp,” learning Hebrew words, and much more. I got to see some of the boot camp program, and it was great to watch kids laughing and having fun while their staff used Hebrew to do silly things.
While dinner was our usual Thursday outdoor cookout, lunch was a big Israeli feast of falafel, pita, hummus, and all kinds of vegetables and toppings. Of course, the Ozrim planned a “Tel Aviv Beach Tropical” themed dress code for the evening cookout.
We finished the day during Tochnit Erev with a big, all-camp “Tour Around Israel.” This was planned in collaboration between our Chinuch (Jewish Education) team who, by the way, are fantastic counselors and so passionate about experiential Jewish education as well as our valued Israeli staff.
Campers traveled around camp participating in activities like making Kadorei Shokolad (a chocolatey dessert), learning an Israeli dance, playing games like Tifsu Ni and Chamamot, and hearing stories from staff about life growing up in Israel. It was so cool to see everyone eating, playing, dancing, creating, and engaging, the kind of learning through experience that can only be found at Jewish summer camp.
We had a great day, and I’m off to get ready for Shabbat tomorrow. I can’t believe it’s already the last Shabbat of first session!
Thanks, Aden!
But for now, thank you for sending your kid to Herzl Camp.
All is well. Safely rest.
לילה טוב,
Tommy