August 8th, 2016 – Camp SAComen Schecther
Queridos Madres y Padres,
Day seven of Sephardic Adventure Camp 2016, and the good times are rollin’!! The staff of Camp Solomon Schechter has been wonderfully accommodating in juggling our simultaneous very happening schedules, and because of the varying activities we have all had opportunity to explore the plentiful grounds. A map of the grounds can be found below.
Our campers can most often be found playing a variety of sports like soccer, football, and eight-square in the big soccer field, battling head to head in the gaga pits, crafting beautiful creations with our fabulous art director, Sarina, in the lake-side art shed, praying Sephardic-style in the Beit Knesset, or enjoying our masterful kitchen crew’s mealtime delicacies on the porch of the chadar ochel (white part on the map). We have campers sleeping in the upper cabins of the boys’ side, lower cabins of the girls’ side, and in the yurt village, while Camp Schechter’s campers are sleeping in the lower cabins of the boys’ side and the upper cabins of the girls’ side. We most often run into each other during meal times, when SAC inhabits the porch of the Chadar Ochel and Schechter eats inside of it, and we frequently find ourselves dancing in parallel, on alternating sides of the doors into the Chadar, when music finds its way through the speakers.
Last night’s night activity was a huge hit for campers of all ages! In Top Chef: Ladies Auxiliary Edition, campers were divided into the following teams: Maimon, Benjo, Lareo, Franco, Alkana, Adatto, Mossafer, and Palagi, and each team was stationed at a table with a variety of random kitchen ingredients and instructed to make an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert. The most popular entree made was spinach cuijado (a baked spinach, egg, and cheese dish), and Team Benjo won a trip to 7-11 with their award-winning spinach and tomato salad, cuijado, and chocolate chip blondies.
Today marked the beginning of our Learner’s minyan, where young campers who arrived to Shacharit in a timely fashion were invited to join Julia Owen in the Beit Am for an alternative to the normal Shacharit service to learn more about a few of the beginning tefilot such as Modeh Ani and the blessing of Asher Yatzar. After breakfast, cabin cleanup, and sessions, all of our campers gathered in the Beit Knesset for a thrilling scavenger hunt, which involved sprints to and from the cabins seeking out left foot tennis shoes, books, water bottles, and other various items.
Camp is officially in full swing, as we wrap up the first complete week. The excitement about the varied programs is palpable, and everyone has a renewed vigor that came along with getting into a routine here at Camp Schechter. The smiles are bountiful, and good times are being had by all!
Back to Sephardic Adventures!
Chana Adatto-Shefa
