Great Week One Peulot!
We’ve had an incredible first week of camp so far! Chanichim (campers) are already deep into their first round of chugim (elective activities), and the edot (divisions) have been running lots of fun peulot (activities)! Here’s just a taste of some of the fantastic first-week peulot:
Kochavim (rising 2nd & 3rd graders) — Kochavim had a fun Choose Your Own Adventure themed Peulat Shabbat! Our chanichim were faced with choices that either prolonged or simplified their journeys, and we related that to Moshe’s choice to hit the rock (which we read in this past week’s Torah portion).
Ilanot (rising 4th graders) — A highlight of the first week in Ilanot was a great quiz about the madrichim (counselors) for the whole edah! The kids were sorted by tzrifim (bunks), and then they were challenged to guess what fun and exciting fact matched each of their staff members. The campers were really exited to get to know their counselors!
Solelim (rising 5th graders) — A highlight of the first week in Solelim was definitely our “Build-A-Boat” peulat erev (evening activity), in which the chanichim in each tzrif (bunk) were challenged to built a boat using only the array of materials we provided.
Shoafim (rising 6th graders) — On Shabbat afternoon, Shoafim had a great Peulat Shabbat, doing trust exercises relating the story of Bilam not trusting his donkey (from this past week’s Torah portion). We built card towers to work on being careful to build each other up with our words, instead of knocking them down.
Amitzim — Amitzim did a lovely Peulat Shabbat: A Sensory Mah Tovu Experience! We learned different tunes, and then went around to three stations. At one station, Good (Tov) Deeds were pulled out of a bag, then at another station, participants smelled different items from the camp garden and rating them Tov or lo Tov, and finally at the third station, we rated different sounds we can make, rating them Tov and lo Tov!
Magshimim (rising 7th graders) — Magshimim had an incredible first-week medurah (campfire)! The tzevet (staff) made 100 s’mores in under 40 minutes! Chanichim loved singing songs around the campfire, especially their edah song, a spin on the Beatles classic Twist and Shout!
Bogrim (rising 8th graders) — On Friday morning, Bogrim did alternative teffilot with madrichim running different groups. The chanichim were able to experience teffilah through various lenses, from poetry to meditation, learning how to implement those new approaches into their own personal teffilah.
Machon (rising 9th graders) — Machon had a lively medurah (campfire), where we did a lot of singing, including practicing our Shabbat song, learning our edah song for 2026 (which is to the tune of YMCA), and singing lots of classic camp medurah songs like One Day. And, of course, we ate some delicious s’mores!
Nivonim (rising 10th graders) — Nivonim kicked off the kayitz with a bang with our silly opening night Peulat Erev: a “see, run, do” activity in which the senior staff of camp were revealed as secret art forgers, and the chanichim were challenged to recreate different images without having seen them themselves; with only the descriptions spoken by other campers to guide them.
Week two is already going great, and lots more kef (fun) lies ahead…!