Dear Parents,

I hope you are all doing well and are enjoying your summer. Here at NCSY Camp Sports, we keep the days filled with meaningful and fun activities! 

As we head into our second Shabbos in camp, it has been wonderful watching friendships develop, sports teams compete, and especially seeing each camper enjoy the fabulous days at camp, even with some small bits of rain mixed in.

Last week I emailed you as we headed into Shabbos, and I must say we had a great first Shabbos here in camp! The dancing and singing at the Shabbos meals and davening was filled with some incredible energy. We are all looking forward to another great Shabbos which we know will be even better!

Last Shabbos, on Friday night after the davening and Shabbos meal, each league team joined together for an Oneg where we got to know each other off the field. On Shabbos Morning we heard an amazing Dvar Torah and later in the day a shiur (class) about Anti-Semitism from Dr. David Luchins. Dr. Luchins is a former assistant to senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan and is currently a Dean at Lander Touro University. Dr. Luchins and his wife Vivian, who is the founding chair of NCSY’s Summer Committee, joined us for Shabbos and spoke to the NCSYers. It's always a pleasure having them join us for Shabbos in camp! The Shabbos day meal was also inspirational and full of the famous Camp NCSY Sports Ruach. In the afternoon we caught up on some much-needed sleep, we ate the third meal, and joined together for singing and inspiration. As Shabbos ebbed away, Rabbi Fried spoke about getting the most out of camp and not missing opportunities. On Saturday Night, we had a blast bowling and enjoyed late night pizza. 

Sunday was a late wake up from our busy Shabbos. After some learning in the morning, we headed out to sports and played two league games. We pushed through the heat! No worries, we always remind the teens to drink plenty of water. 

On Monday morning during learning, we had a great opportunity to hear from Adam Neuman. He is the Chief of Staff and special assistant to the President of the Baltimore Ravens and a Camp Sports alumnus. Adam inspired us with words of Torah, sports trivia and an inside look at the Ravens. After learning groups, we went to the fabulous HersheyPark! The NCSYers had a "sweet time" with all the rides the park had to offer. Of course, they also invested heavily in the “basketball shoot” and many prizes came home on the bus! 

On Tuesday after we enjoyed our learning and some crazy fun league games, we played a fun night activity called "Capture the Counselor” congratulations to the winning team who will receive steaks at our next barbecue.

Wednesday, we had a day filled with excitement! After hanging out at Topgolf and practicing our distance and driving we headed to the Baltimore Inner Harbor. Some boys played catch by the harbor, some walked around the harbor, and others rented pirate ship paddle boats. We then arrived at Federal Hill park for Mincha and a BBQ dinner. The guys enjoyed playing frisbee and running up and down this beautiful and historical site. After that, we went to the Baltimore Orioles baseball game! The Orioles lost but we all had a great time and got to see the Cubs go for the big win! There was a rain delay and I hope you saw our spontaneous dancing on our instagram account. We even had some teens on the Jumbo Tron this year cheering!

Going strong on Thursday with learning groups and leagues, we then headed out to the pool for a splashing cool-down or hockey after a busy day. Later, that evening we had a booming Mishmar program. Mishmar is optional late-night learning, but most NCSYers showed up and got rewarded with a raffle for a bike, Hershey chocolate and twizzlers, stuffed animal prizes and won at Hershey and much more. We ended the night with a kumzitz led by Rabbi Zucker followed by Yapchick and wings!

Today after our league games we'll take a trip to the local Kosher market and Target to stock up for shabbos! We are very excited for another great shabbos as we will be joined by YU Maccabee Zevy Samet.

Thank you for trusting us with your son this summer. 

As always, feel free to reach out to us here in Camp at any time and make sure you follow us on Social Media where you can “see” what is happening in camp. 

Good shabbos!

Rabbi Jon Green

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