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Dear Parents,
We had a very exciting week her at NCSY Camp Sports! This past shabbos, we had an inspiring Friday night davening with dancing and singing that continued through to the meal. After the seudah, we had a great oneg with extra deli roll and poppers supplied by David Cutler and national NCSY. We shared stories and heard Divrei Torah from our guest Rabbi Yosef Granofsky, the Rosh Yeshiva of Yehsivas Or David. The ruach continued through shabbos day, with an amazing davening and shabbos day meal. We had a special opportunity to hear from world famous speaker Rabbi Frand, who is a Rebbe at Ner Israel. He told an amazing story about how G-d sometimes waits to give rewards. The NCSYers had time to nap, learn, and play games in the afternoon. The day ended with alumnus Jeremy Lavitt speaking about comparative religions. We ended shabbos with singing, and I spoke about the Wright Brothers and how their failures enabled them to fly (ask your son for more details). It was especially nice for the NCSYers to have David Cutler, Director of NCSY Summer Programs, with us for for all of shabbos. After havdala we enjoyed our typical motzei shabbos, with late night bowling and pizza.
Sunday morning started with special singing and stories from Rabbi Yitzchok Dinovitzer, Associate Regional Director of Atlantic Seaboard NCSY. In the afternoon, we headed to Camden Yards to see a sell-out baseball game, the Baltimore Orioles vs. the Washington Nationals. The Orioles lost 3-2 but we definitely still had a great time. What made it even more fun was that every NCSYer was assigned a random player from one of the teams. If that player did something in the game (hit home run, stole a base, etc.), the NCSYer got points which later turned into awesome prizes. When the game was over we broke into groups for a scavenger hunt at the harbor. Our day ended with a BBQ on historic Federal Hill. Monday morning was a typical schedule of learning groups and sports. The whole camp went swimming after a long day of sports.
During Tuesday and Wednesday morning learning groups we had water races. The NCSYers had to use a washing cup and follow the rules of washing your hands to help kick off our latest unit on washing hands according to Jewish law. Following that we went on our sweetest trip of the summer to Hersheypark! It was great weather for the trip, and we went on tons of rides, ate tons of chocolate, and had tons of fun.
Wednesday started as a typical morning with learning groups. After lunch, however, we had a surprise trip to roller skating and Dave and Buster’s. It was the perfect trip for an almost rainy day, and everyone had a lot of fun.
On Thursday we had learning groups and league games.During the day we had a very special visit from Rabbi Micah Greenland, Director of National NCSY. He flew in to see our program for a few short hours and we are honored he took time out of his very busy schedule. He spoke to many of the NCSYers individually and then shared some Torah thoughts we the whole camp. After our league games, we had a free-throw basketball contest to benefit Chai Lifeline. We continued our night with mishmar which included learning, prizes, and tons of kugel. We had kugel to celebrate all the NCSYer. who gave their phones in when they should not be using them- instead of Google they got “koogle”!
Friday morning started with learning groups and a special presentation from Camp Sports and Landers College alumnus Rabbi Ilan Segalman. The presentation started our free sefer campaign. Next week we will take trips to a Jewish book store for free seforim. Each NCSYer will work with their learning partner to choose a sefer and they will go to the seforim store to get their free book sponsored by Lander College.
We look forward to a great Shabbos and wish the same to you,
Rabbi Green |
