Week 3 Wonders: Maccabiah Magic & Shabbat Joy at Jacobs Camp

Shabbat Shalom from Jacobs Camp!

We’ve had another incredible week here at camp! The summer is flying by, and we are having so much fun! You can see what we’ve been up to in our Week 3 in Review video.

We’ve just wrapped up an amazing Maccabiah, our all-camp color war, where campers are split into Adom (red), Kachol (blue), Tzahov (yellow) and Yarok (green) teams. This is an all-camp favorite, but I personally love it because campers get to know each other across units and age groups creating a truly strong community bond. After an epic two days of competition, the winner of this session’s Maccabiah is THE BLUE TEAM!!

Now we are coming back together as one big family for a Shabbat dinner of turkey, cornbread dressing, cranberry sauce and peach cobbler, followed by song session, services and Israeli dancing. Before we do, I want to share a bit about what each unit has been up to this week!

Garin
Garin has had lots of fun activities to choose from this week including soccer, fishing, pickleball, climbing, adventure, biking, dance, yoga, volleyball, arts and crafts, rock painting and friendship bracelet making! In Kehillah, Garin learned about Yirah or wonder/awe/fear. They did trust falls, “swimming past fears” and made bracelets to give them strength to overcome fears. Our Garin campers also love spending time with their Chalutzim buddies who planned a special evening program for them that included dressing up in silly costumes, making slime, and going through obstacle courses.

Maskilim
Maskilim has had an amazing week! They had an epic messy night, spent lots of time in the pool and lake, and each cabin had a special bunk night! In addition, campers got to choose activities like biking, boating, cooking, basketball, and gaga, and participated in cabin activities such as kickball, archery, cooking, and the adventure ropes course. For their lesson about Yirah, Maskilim meditated on the vastness of the sky and examined tiny things with magnifying glasses. We had so much fun choreographing and making music videos and loved making smores around the campfire!

Talmidim
This week in Talmidim, campers got to spend a lot of time in their specialty camps, and have enjoyed sharing their chugim with Chalutzim with choices like beat making, tennis, dance, fishing, art, volleyball, basketball, and climbing. Kehillah this week had Talmidim also learning about Yirah by playing HSJ Fear Factor while their cabin mates cheer them on. We had an awesome messy night, and a Talmidim-only talent show. Campers are also enjoying a lot of time at the pool and lake!

Chalutzim
It was an especially fun week for Chalutzim campers with “Take a Chalutz to Work Day” where each camper gets to shadow a staff member throughout the day. We are so happy to see our Chalutzim campers grow into leaders and role models for the rest of camp, hyping up their teams for Maccabiah, helping with Shabbat prep, and dabbling into songleading. They also had a chance to plan and lead an evening program for the Garin buddies, who look up to them so much! The unit split up for bunk night, and the girls joined the “secret society” as a Chalutzim girls tradition and the boys played “watermelon polo” in the pool with an actual watermelon. They are really soaking up every minute of their last days as campers!

We are looking forward to a relaxing Shabbat tomorrow, complete with Optional Breakfast, cartoons for our early risers, and lots of fun throughout the day!

Wishing you all Shabbat Shalom,

Anna Herman