Summer 2014

It’s hard to believe that it’s already the end of the third week of camp. This week was jammed packed with a meaningful fast day, sports, laser tag, a murder mystery, Washington D.C., trampolines and preparations for the arrival of David Cutler, our esteemed guest for this coming Shabbos.

Thursday began with the first learning groups finishing up their packets about murder and moving on to a new packet about Shabbos. After lunch, each team had two intense league games of either soccer, basketball, softball, ultimate or football. After a delicious dinner and mincha, a select group of campers who were arriving early to Shachris this week were treated to an awesome pool party. Then, after a video recap of the week and Maariv, the winners of the first learning group challenge was announced, which was followed by an amazing mishmar. This mishmar may have been the greatest yet, as it featured awesome prizes, a chulent contest and a whole lot of learning in the Beis Medresh.

Friday was another classic Erev Shabbos in Camp Sports. We had learning in the morning followed by Erev Shabbos cleanup of the Beis Medrash. We played one league game, as we do every Friday, and then the rest of the afternoon was open to preparing for Shabbos. There was time to rest up, run to Wal-Mart, Rita’s, & 7/11, whatever one needs to do to get ready for Shabbos in Camp Sports! We are all looking forward to what’s sure to be an incredible and memorable Shabbos!

You could tell that the much anticipated Washington, D.C. trip had arrived by the buzz of conversation in the Beit Midrash after davening. Many questions could be heard ranging from, “How could you not plan on making the 40 minute walk to Krispy Kreme?” to “Would you rather go to the Holocaust Museum or the Air and Space museum first?” Eventually we were able to put our money where our mouths were because, after a short bus ride, we were actually standing in the great capital city itself. From the beginning, the camp was split into three groups. One group went to the Holocaust Museum, the second group went to the Air and Space Museum, and the third group wandered around the city aimlessly, possibly looking for a nonexistent mall. I, along with many of my peers, started off in the Holocaust Museum. It was a chilling, but meaningful experience for all of us, and it was interesting to start off the trip with such a serious attitude. The Holocaust Museum gave me a more historical outlook on the Holocaust from what I usually encounter, and the up close feeling I had within the Holocaust Museum was an unprecedented one for me. One of my fellow NCSYers said to me the following about his experience there, “I think it’s really important how crowded it is today, all these people came here on a random weekday just to learn about the Holocaust.” After the Holocaust Museum, we walked around to many famous sites such as the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, White House, and Capitol Building. There was also an array of interesting museums in an area called the National Mall, which surprisingly is not a large building with many cool stores. We then boarded the buses and drove off to a nice park along the Potomac River, where we were able to chill after a long day and enjoy a BBQ dinner. To close off this fantastic trip, we went to Sky Zone, an indoor trampoline park, and we were able to test our skills at dunking, flipping, and for the kids less accustomed to trampolines, embarrassingly falling. If you ask any advisor, the highlight of the evening were the many rounds of advisor dodge ball from which the campers were strictly banned. After Sky Zone, we headed back to Camp Sports and, to Rabbi Green’s relief, fell asleep fairly quickly from a long tiring day. The Washington D.C. trip definitely lived up to all the hype and I’m glad I didn’t randomly get the flu and miss it!

-Asher Stein, Memphis, Tennessee

Today was no normal day at Camp Sports. Usually we spend the majority of the day playing intense sports or going on exciting trips, but today was different. Today was Shiva Asar B’tamuz. In the morning we had our second learning group followed by a learn-a-thon Seder for anybody who wanted to learn more (shout out to Ariel Adler, the best chavrusa ever!). The rest of the afternoon was spent doing optional learning in the Beis Medrash or resting, today being the longest fast of the year. Before Mincha, we heard a wonderful shuir from Rabbi Twersky, followed by an inspirational documentary on the spiritual power of the Jews through the Holocaust. After Mincha, we played a game in which we divided up in teams and decided which values are important in our Jewish lives. We davened Maariv with Eretz Yisrael in mind, and ran to the dining room to break our fast with fresh bagels and later Dunkin’ Donuts were brought to the dorms! I am happy to say that today was the most spiritual uplifting Shiva Asar Bitamuz I’ve ever experienced.

-Akiva Finkelstein, Memphis, Tennessee

We began our second full week of camp with another inspiring day of learning! After learning we boarded the buses and headed out to leagues! The season is in full swing and sports are getting very intense!
Recently in camp we have been learning about the laws of lo tirzach – don’t kill. In honor of this, our wonderful advisors set up a special program for us. The program was an interactive play about a murder mystery with professional actors leading the story. We were split up into our learning groups and given the mission of solving the mystery. We were given very vague clues with which we needed to use to solve the mystery. In the play, there was a mobster named Lou Zar, who was killed in his own Speakeasy. There were many suspects in the Speakeasy who each had a lot of motivation to kill him. At the end, after the murder was solved, Rabbi Weiner tied everything from the play into what we were learning. He showed us how the play tied in with the commandment not to commit suicide, the commandment not to stand idly by your friend as he is in danger and all the other things we are learning about. It surely was an unusual, entertaining and educational night activity.
-Ariel Blumstein, West Hempstead, NY

This past Shabbos was amazing! Kabbalas Shabbos was lively, spiritual, and was a spectacular intro into the second Shabbos at Camp Sports. The Friday night meal was wonderful (obviously) and was followed by an inspirational oneg led by Rabbi Kurland, one of our Shabbos guests. At the daytime seudah, after a beautiful Shachris and Mussaf. we were taught the Bumblebee Tuna version of Yom Zeh Mechubad, and heard multiple Dvar Torahs. At the end of the seudah, we sang happy birthday in Polish (Stola, Stola…), to Shimon (and a few others). The afternoon was filled with learning and games, and of course, sleep. After mincha, we heard a very interesting lesson on Christianity – and its falsehoods, by Jeremy Lavitt, another Shabbos guest of ours. As Shabbos was ebbing away, we all joined in a circle in the Beis Medrash, having an awesome ebbing program, followed by Havdalah and a Kumzitz around a bonfire. Rabbi Kurland led the superb Kumzitz and talked about how this summer is a great opportunity that we have to learn and grow, and at Camp Sports that is what we strive to do! We look ahead to another exciting week at Camp Sports!
-Micha Richman, Setauket, NY

On Wednesday we took a trip to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. We were given instructions to complete an exciting scavenger hunt throughout the city of Baltimore. Some of the challenges included ‘picture of a human pyramid with at least one stranger,’ ‘take the most deceptive photo,’ ‘video a city employee singing the national anthem.’ At 5:00 we met on top of Federal Hill where we tossed around frisbees and footballs and had a BBQ for dinner. After the BBQ we made our way to Camden Yards for the Baltimore Orioles-Washington Nationals baseball game. When we got back to Camp, everyone brought in their items, pictures, and videos they acquired throughout the scavenger hunt and later in the week there will be a vote on the winners of the hunt. Just an amazing day overall!

Rabbi Green always tells us that our week helps build up our Shabbos, and our Shabbos helps build up the upcoming week. After an inspiring first Shabbos in camp, we began our first full week with a lot of excitement! We had an uplifting morning of learning, and then headed out for a full day of sports. Following sports, we began our annual free throw competition. Every summer, we are able to raise over $1000 for Chai Lifeline through this competition. We closed off yet another “regular” day in camp with 7/11 and Dunkin’ Donuts runs before retiring for the night.

On Monday morning, we were informed that we would spending the day in Hershey Park! As with every day Camp Sports, we never sacrifice a morning of learning. So after a full morning of Torah study, we boarded the buses to Hershey for our exciting trip. We spent the day going on rides, winning prizes, and, of course, eating chocolate! After meeting for dinner and Mincha at 7, we reentered the park a few more hours of fun until heading back to camp! It was a long, fun filled, and especially tiring day. We look ahead to the rest of the week for more action packed fun!

Camp Sports celebrated its first Shabbos this past week. It was a lot of fun! We began by davening Mincha on Friday afternoon. We davened a very exciting Kabbalos Shabbos filled with singing and dancing. After that we ate a hearty meal with Challah rolls, fish, really…really…really…good chicken soup, and chicken. We were Zocheh this Shabbos Kodesh to have a Shalom Zachor on the special occasion of the birth of Rabbi Fried’s grandson. Mazel Tov! May he become a great Ben Torah! We sang more Zemiros and had extra treats. We also had the opportunity to hear Rabbi Fried speak on the Minhag of Shalom Zachor.
On Shabbos morning, we had an extended Shacharis at 9:00 AM; it was another Tefillah filled with our beautiful Baalei Shacharis’s voices! We were Zocheh to hear Rabbi Frand, an exeptional speaker, talk about when our prayers will be heard. We ate a scrumptious Shabbos lunch with cholent, chicken, and deli. We also had Rudy tell his funny stories, and we sang. Some people used their Shabbos afternoon to sleep, some learned Torah.
Shalosh Seudos was the most memorable of this Shabbos. First of all, we had breakfast foods. Secondly,we had the privilege of hearing a beautiful Dvar Torah from Avi Kahn about finding one’s strengthsin Yiddishkeit. But,those weren’t the best parts of Shalosh Seudos. It was ebbing, where the WHOLE camp got together and sang Zemiros for about 35 minutes! It was a complete fulfillment of Oneg Shabbos! We davened Maariv, made Havdalah, and then went bowling. It was blast…even for those like me who did not do so well. After bowling we came back to the campus andate a nice Melava Malke…pizza.
It was a Shabbos to remember. It was filled with Ruach. It was a great way to kick-off camp! Camp Sports looks forward to another three Shabbosos filled with even more spirit.
-Jacob Lehman, Richmond,VA