SAC Israel Day 2018

Yesterday was one of my favorite days of camp, Israel Day! It’s so beautiful and unifying to have everybody dressed up in blue and white, waving around Israeli flags, and dancing and singing to Hebrew songs all day long. Breakfast was amazing, with our chef Shuli’s authentic Shakshuka. After our daily cabin clean up time, the festivities began! Each cabin rotated in different Israeli themed activities, like “Army Training”. Ben Mizrachi took the campers back in time to the Six Day War in 1967, their mission was to recapture the Kotel. They had their faces painted with camouflage stripes, completed different obstacle courses, and marched in a straight line as a cohesive bunk. Any “order” they answered with “Ken, Hamefaked” (“Yes, Commander”) and when they didn’t follow orders they were hit with water guns. Finally, they recaptured the Kotel, and they lined up and sang Hatikvah. Other activities included decorating hamsa shaped sugar cookies with blue icing, Israeli Dance with Beth Jacoby, and during art they painted Israeli flags and the Kotel.

This was interlaced with our daily sessions, today’s topics focused on Mitzvot specific to Israel, like Shmita and Yovel, the Beit HaMikdash, and the Shalosh Regalim specifically how they are pilgrimage holidays. Lunch was also fantastic, featuring pita with hummus, tehina, falafel, purple cabbage salad, Israeli salad with quinoa, and for dessert, homemade krembos. Then the whole camp came together for all camp soccer on the field. The night activity was split into two parts, one was boys vs. girls Israeli Jeopardy. The categories included Sephardic Heritage, Israeli Geography, Jerusalem, and Famous Israelis. The second part was a SAC classic, Iron Chef. Each bunk was given falafel, strawberry jam, yaprakis, chickpeas, saltines, apples, sriracha packets, zucchini, parsley, and for decoration: little mini Israeli flags. The teams were judged on several categories including their presentation, usage of Ladino, taste, and the story of how their dish was related to Israel. All of the campers had such deviant little smiles while the judges tried their dishes. The winning bunk was the B4 boys.

All in all it was another legendary Israel Day at Sephardic Adventure Camp filled with learning,  singing and dancing, and tons of pride for our homeland.

Al Vermos,

Rachel Benezra Devine

Communications Director