The Evelyn Games 2024!

A highlight of this final week of kayitz 2024 was the return of The Evelyn Games!!

Every few years we like to run a series of fun and silly tzrif competitions, based around Evelyn Dragat Rubenstein! (We’ve made up lots of tall tales about Evelyn and the Evelyn painting — see the opening video posted above — but the truth is that the painting used to hang in the old Ramah New England sifriyah. That library was replaced by our current Beit Midrash complex, but we saved the painting of Evelyn and we love running fun programs using her as the inspiration.)

For Tzad Aleph, we had a four-part event on Wednesday morning, while Tzad Bet had a slightly shorter two-part program in the afternoon.  For Tzad Aleph, the day kicked off with a nikayon competition, with the rashei edot giving nekudot (points) for the cleanest tzrifim.  Then we gathered for the DerbEvelyn (or the Evelyn Derby), led by adat ha-Nivonim!  Groups of Nivonimers gathered on the mirpesset (porch) of every tzrif (bunk), running silly, short 1-3 minute games and competitions.  The groups of campers, by bunk, had to travel together with their counselor, but they could go to any event in any order they wanted.  The idea was to get to as many competitions as possible in 50 minutes.  At each event, they got a score of 1-5 points.  There were all sorts of goofy games, including dance-offs, frisbee-tosses, cups-stacking, pin the hat on the Evelyn, make a Nivonimer laugh, playing me in Connect Four, and lots more.  This same event kicked off the Tzad Bet Evelyn Games in the afternoon.  The campers were all super-into these crazy games, and the Nivonimers did an amazing job running all the programs!

Six girls are outdoors forming a human pyramid on green grass, with four girls on the bottom row, two in the middle, and one girl on top, smiling. Trees and cabins are visible in the background under a blue sky.A group of teenage boys outdoors raise their arms and cheer enthusiastically. They stand on a grassy area near a road, surrounded by tall pine trees and cabins under a sunny sky.A group of children and an adult gather outdoors around a large, upright Connect Four game board, smiling and interacting, with trees and a building in the background.A group of boys stand on grass, watching as one boy, dizzy, tries to hit a ball with a bat after spinning around it. Cabins and tall trees are visible in the background, suggesting a summer camp setting.A group of teenagers stand in a line outdoors on a sunny day, smiling at the camera. They are on a grassy area with trees and a white cabin in the background. Some hold papers, and everyone appears relaxed and happy.A group of teenagers gathers outdoors around a large Connect 4 game. One boy is placing a red disc while others watch and wait their turn. Trees and grass fill the background under a blue, partly cloudy sky.A group of girls smiling and clapping as they play a large outdoor Connect Four game on a grassy field at summer camp, with cabins and trees in the background.

For the next event, the kids returned to their tzrifim and had 15-20 minutes to construct a representation of Evelyn out of whatever they had in their tzrifim. Look at some of the wild and creative Evelyn sculptures the kids made!!  (This was a Tzad Aleph only event.  For Tzad Bet, we jumped right to the next event…)

A doll made from clothes and everyday items lies on a wooden floor, holding a paper with a blue Star of David. Several childrens feet in various shoes and sandals surround the doll.A homemade puppet with a beige face, green button eyes, a pink mouth, curly hair made of gold beads and white material, and a black fabric body, lying on a wooden surface.An arrangement on a wooden floor resembling a face, made with bottles outlining the shape, shorts as eyebrows, toilet paper rolls as eyes, hooks as nostrils, a paper towel with sauce as a mouth, and a black jacket as a beard.

The final Evelyn event for both Tzad Aleph and Tzad Bet was: The Twelve Tasks of Evelyn! Each tzrif got a sheet, listing twelve silly tasks they had to accomplish in this one-hour program.  Challenges included: composing an ode to Evelyn, getting a senior staff-member to profess their love for Evelyn, performing a feat of sports or athletic achievement in Evelyn’s honor, getting as many signatures as they could on a petition to rename “Machane Gimel” “Machane Evelyn”, and more! As always, the kids were so funny and creative. I was so impressed!!

The kids are very anxious to know who won… we’ll be announcing the winners tomorrow before Shabbat!

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