Camp Gan Israel

This morning, the Talmidei Hachodesh were announced. The best student from each learning class was selected as the winner. Each winner received a certificate, and a picture of the Rebbe. The winners of Kevutzah Competition were also announced. The members of the winning classes each got a plaque with a picture of the Rebbe on it. The winners are Shmuel Dovid Hurwitz’s class, Kevutzah Hey; Baruch Hecht’s class, Kevutzah Vov; Menachem Benchimouhn’s class, Kevutzah Chof-Aleph and Yitzi Kleinman’s class, Kevutzah Lamed.

From each division, one camper was given an award for the most Mishnayos Baal Peh in his division. From the first division, Menachem Mendel Rosenblum earned one crown and one gold. In the second division, the winner is Menachem Mendel Spalter, who earned one crown and one red. In the third division, the winner is Menachem Mendel Zirkind, who earned one flag, one gold and one red. From the fourth division, the winners is Avremi Zippel, who earned one crown and two golds.

After Breakfast, learning classes were held as usual. After learning class, the campers who were leaving went to get their stuff. Some were picked up by their families directly from camp. Others went in camp’s van to the airport. Most campers went by bus to Crown Heights, New York City, where many of them live. Some will fly home from there.

Later on, the new campers arrived. At 2:00, the head counselors gave their welcoming speech. After the speech the campers were split into bunks, and went to unpack their stuff. Everyone met in the Shul for Mincha, followed by supper.

After supper, it was time for the first Night Activity of the second month! Night Activity Director Dovid Taub came up with the innovative idea of playing “musical chairs” and “Simple Simon says” simultaneously. Several selected campers went up on stage, and had to dance around the chairs, while following the instructions given by “Simple Simon.” At the same time, they had to make sure to grab a seat as soon as the music stopped. After night activity, Maariv was davened and everybody went off to sleep, to prepare for tomorrow, the first day of the second month.

121 Campers came to Cocoa Club this morning. If all the campers of any bunk came, each one received a picture of the Rebbe. Meir Blesofsky, of Bunk Chof-Aleph won a bike in a raffle, from among all those who learned at least two yellows last shabbos. A bike is raffled off every week.

Today was the first trip of the second month to… Skaters’ World! Bunks Aleph through Yud-Gimmel left camp at 3:10, and left the rink at 5:00. Bunks Yud-Daled through Chof-Hey left camp at 5:00, and left the rink at 7:00.

For supper tonight, the hard working kitchen staff put together a barbeque. Everybody ate outside. In addition, Camp bought soda and corn chips to complement the meal. Songs were sung during the meal, and afterwards we played a special round of Simon Says. Some of our talented staff got together their instruments, and played music for the campers during the meal.

Tisha Bav morning, after davening, bunks Aleph through Yud went to eat breakfast, while the older bunks remained in Shul for Kinus.

Throughout the summer, the campers have been receiving cards of pictures of the Rebbe as rewards. The cards are part of a set. Camp gave out special albums in which to keep the cards. Many campers have doubles of some pictures and are missing other pictures. Today everybody gathered in the dining room to trade pictures. There will be another set given out next month.

By lunchtime, bunks Aleph through Yud-Daled ate lunch.

Today was the auction, for which the campers have been earning money the entire week. Bunk Aleph won a box of Twizzlers.
Bunk Beis won two oversized beach balls.
Bunk Gimmel won 60 seconds of free canteen.
Bunk Daled won a box of assorted candy.
Bunk Hey won hula hoops for the entire bunk.
Bunk Vov won large, multi-colored cups, straws and Kool-Aid.
Bunk Zayin won picture of the Rebbe cards 1-45.
Bunk Ches won a glow-in-the-dark, miniature air hockey.
Bunk Tes won camp yarmulkes for the entire bunk.
Bunk Yud won a pizza party.
Bunk Yud-Aleph won smiley-face tennis balls.
Bunk Yud-Beis won framed pictures of the Rebbe at the Lag B’omer Parade of 1950.
Bunk Yud-Gimmel won Frisbees for the entire bunk.
Bunk Yud-Daled won Bissli snacks for the entire bunk.
Bunk Tes-Vov won bottles of bubbles for the entire bunk.
Bunk Tes-Zayin won goggles for the entire bunk, plus a floating-ring-toss-set and six rolls of scotch tape.
Bunk Yud-Zayin won kites for the entire bunk.
Bunk Yud-Ches won camp hats for the entire bunk.
Bunk Yud-Tes won two boxes of graham crackers and a jar of marshmallow fluff.
Bunk Chof won 1,000 ices. (That’s approximately 100 per camper.)
Bunk Chof-Aleph won two jars of pickles.
Bunk Chof-Beis won a box of assorted candies.
Bunk Chof-Gimmel won a postal box of cans of coke.
Bunk Chof-Daled won miniature fans for the entire bunk.
Bunk Chof-Hey won flutes for the entire bunk.

Unfortunately, due to the rain, the annual camper-counselor baseball game had to be canceled. The campers played board games and watched videos in the Shul. One the videos watched was “Al Naharos Bavel,” a vivid depiction of the Churban Bais Rishon. The play is performed in Polish Yiddish, so Rabbi Baras gave a simultaneous translation into English.

After Maariv, and breaking of the fast, it was time for the awards ceremony. The best campers from each bunk were announced, and were given their plaques and certificates. The winners of Bunk Competition were given their plaques, as well. The winners are bunks Zayin, Yud-Bias and Chof-Aleph. The winners of the championship, as well as the MVP of each division were given trophies. From Division 1, the MVP is Yanky Greene, from Division 2, Moshe Epstein, and from Division 3, Mendel Kranz. The winners of Kevutzah Competition and the winners of Talmid Hachodesh will be announced tomorrow. Everybody then trekked up the hill, to what will be (for some of us) the last night at CGI!

Erev Tisha Bav, learning classes continued as usual, despite the fact the from midday on most learning is prohibited. The laws of Tisha Bav were taught. Some classes learned the stories from the Gemara about the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash.

After learning class was the championship games! The winners were the Holtz Hakkers, the Miki-Dippers and the Kaliskers.

In the afternoon, everyone went into the dining to eat supper. After supper, everyone went to change into non-leather shoes, and then came back for the seudas hamafsekes. We then davened Maariv, and recited Eicha and Kinus.

Today one student from each Learning Class was chosen to go a special trip. They went to Holiday Mountain Ski and Fun Park, where the camp went on July 6th. See that article for a full rundown of the attractions available there.

Today also was the weekly chidon. The two older divisions (the older mishnayos classes and the gemara classes) held their respective chidons during the morning session. In the mishnayos divion there was a tie between Mendy Schapiro’s class, Kevutzah Yud-Gimmel, and Shmuli Schapiro’s class, Kevutzah Yud-Bais. In the Gemara Division, the winners were Zalman Schapiro’s class, Kevutzah Yud-Tes. These Schapiros are on a roll! The younger mishnayos classes and the Chumash classes held their chidon this afternoon. The result was a five-way tie! None of the contestants got any questions wrong! Keep it up guys!

This Shabbos were the birthdays of Camper Avraham Chaim Stern, and the counselor of Bunk Aleph, Menachem Mendel Bronstein.

The winners of shabbos competition for shabbos Parshas Matos-Masai were Bunk Hey, Bunk Yud-Aleph and Bunk Yud-Zayin.

Motzai Shabbos the winners of bunk competition were also announced. The winners are Bunk Zayin, Bunk Yud-Bais and Bunk Chof-Aleph. An honorable mention also goes to Bunk Yud-Tes, who missed winning by three points. The winners went on their trip today. The plan was to take them to Great Adventures in New Jersey. Unfortunately, these plans had to be discarded to do bad weather. Instead the campers had a blast, going on a whole bunch of trips in the area. The went to Chips ‘n’ Dips, Pizza, arcades and Wal-Mart! Rumor has it that the children enjoyed the trips even more than Great Adventures

There will be a special competition from now until the end of the first month, in place of bunk competition.

On Thursday reveille was later due to the minimal sleep received last night. Today was the birthday of Levi Hadokov, CEO of Shmais News Service. Itzakadoozie posicles were distributed to all the campers! At night he held a Farbrengen for all the staff.

Wednesday morning reveille was at 7:00. Everyone came directly to the Shul and began davening. After davening and a quick breakfast, we boarded the buses and headed off to The Great Escape!

Around 12:30 we arrived at the park. Everyone lined up outside the park. The counselors gave out snacks, and began breaking up the children into groups of three or four. All staff members, not just counselors, took a group of children.

The weather was perfect for a Grand Trip – overcast and drizzly, so there were very few visitors at the park. Lines were almost non -existent. One group went on a water ride six times in a row, without stopping. Another group went on a roller coaster five times in a row. Just at the time lunch was scheduled to begin, it began to rain hard. During lunch, Head Counselor Yudi Steiner said that the bunk in which every member ate nicely, sang nicely, and smiled would receive every Rebbe picture that was given out yet, a total of 25 pictures. As time went on the stakes rose to 48 pictures. Bunks Yud and Yub-Bais almost made it, but in the end, nobody won. As lunch was ending, the rain continued falling. Yudi Steiner predicted that if the whole camp would say Ad Mosai nine times it would stop raining. First, every person in the tent needed to get on a bench (or table.) It took quite a while, but in the end, every single person (even the staff) got onto a bench. Then Yudi led the cries of Ad Mosai, each time louder than the last. After the ninth Ad Mosai, the sun could be seen shining from behind the clouds. After only a couple of minutes the rain stopped.

Throughout the day shouts of “CGI! CGI” and “Wherever we go!” Night Activity Director Dovid Taub prepared a scavenger hunt to do in the park. Among the things to do was to get the majority of the line to shout “CGI!”, to get people from foreign states to sign a paper, and to put tefilin on with a Jewish visitor. Over 25 people put on tefilin, at least seven of them for the first time. Dovid Taub’s puppet, Itche Kadoozy put on a show on one the park’s stages. A large audience, from camp and not from camp, gathered to watch the hilarious show. Although the show was not videoed, you can watch other Itche Kadoozy productions at www.itchekadoozy.com.

At 7:00, it was time to gather outside the park and daven Mincha. Just then, rain started pouring. The tent was rather small, and just barely fit the entire camp. After Mincha, everyone loaded onto the buses. Supper was eaten on the bus. At 11:45, the buses pulled into camp. We davened Maariv and went to sleep.

Sicha of the Rebbe urging parents to send children to summer Camps.

Source: Chabad.org

Monday saw particularly bad weather. It rained most of the day. In the afternoon a sign was put up on the bulletin board, purportedly printed off the internet, predicting bad weather, and possibly a hurricane in the Catskill Mountains. Next to it was a printout from Shmais.com reporting how the Catskill Mountains may be evacuated.

Inspectors came to camp on Tuesday. Overall they were impressed with camp. It continued to drizzle most of the day.

Before supper tape was put up on most of camp’s windows to minimize damage done by shattered glass. At the end of supper Head Counselor Chezzy Deren got up on the table and gravely announced that all counselors should get bentchers for their bunks and begin bentching immediately, regardless of whether their table was cleared or not. “Let no camper allow the words “BOG War” leave his mouth!” he warned solemnly.

After they finished bentching the campers were herded into the basement, followed by the staff. As everybody sat down on the floor, Chezzy told everyone that the storm would not hit us with full intensity for quite some time. Meanwhile horrible banging and shaking could be heard upstairs. Chezzy then demonstrated how to sit cross legged and hold our hands over our heads in case thing should fall from the ceiling, when…

the BMD came running into room, “BOG WAR!!!” Singing and dancing broke out, simultaneously with cries of “I knew it the whole time!” “I saw through the window that everything was fine.” Everyone then proceeded to the shul were the benches had been moved into three groups.

Everyone sat down and Yudi began to explain the theme of BOG War. “This war is to be called Chosid War. Each team will try to demonstrate who can be more of a chosid. There will be three teams. The first team is called Yosef. Yosef lived in Egypt. He was in golus for 22 years. This team will show how horrible golus is, and the life of a Jew in golus. The second team is Menashe. Menashe symbolizes the desire and yearning to leave golus. The third team is Ephraim. Ephraim symbolizes how a Jew can be fruitful, and maintain a connection to Hashem even in the golus, and on the contrary, strengthen his bond through the golus.”

He then split up the teams, and announced the staff members to be on each team. Then the lieutenants and generals were announced. Each team loudly expressed their confidence and pride in their team. Shaya Goupin then asked for silence. Some time passed and the campers continued to talk. “Menashe, you have lost a point!” Shaya bellowed.

Menashe’s general, Counelor Ruvain Gidder stomped to the front of the shul “What? A full point? Maybe a quarter of a point. Not more than half a point!”

“That’s it!” said Shaya, “If you can’t have BOG War, then there will have to be-”
“GRAND TRIP!!!!” screamed the lieutenants of Team Yosef. Once again singing and dancing broke out. A couple smart alecks still insisted on screaming “I knew the whole time!” but many campers were just confused.

Shaya got up again and explained “Tomorrow will not be not be BOG War. Tomorrow will be the Grand Trip to the Great Escape!”

Confused looks continued to be seen on many of the campers’ faces. “Let me explain,” said Yudi, “Inspectors, yes. Hurricane, no. BOG War, no. Grand Trip, yes. We will not be davening by team. We are davening by bunk like every usual night.”

Over 120 campers arrived this morning for Malafaphone Monday. Each of the children got a Malfaphone card – the only way to be picked as a volunteer for night activity.

Despite the rain the persisted throughout the day, the campers still had fun the entire day. Popular activities that were played indoors include: gag-ga, hockey tournaments, computer room, game room, board games, bingo, swimming, arts and crafts and many others. The rain did little do dampen the spirits of the CGI campers.

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Hundreds of visitors from around the world, including father’s and mother’s, brother’s and sister’s, bubby’s and zaidy’s uncle and aunts and others spent their Sunday afternoon visiting with campers & staff @ Gan Yisroel in Parksville, NY.
The highlight of the day was the grand dedication ceremony of a brand new bunkhouse on the famous hill in CGI.

CGINY’s Executive Camp Director Rabbi Avrohom Shemtov addressed the crowd, reminding them of the extra special connection & attention the Rebbe gave to this camp.

Afterwards, the red ribbon was cut and the Fellig brothers from Miami Beach, FL, Zalman & Shlomie, who dedicated the new bunkhouse in memory of their dear father R’ Yosef Mordechai ben Tzvi Meir OBM, were honored with affixing the Mezuzos on the 2 doorposts.

Following the ceremony the large crowd enjoyed delicious fresh donuts and soda.

While many campers & staff left campgrounds for the day, many others remained to enjoy the delicious food from the canteen, relax and picnic on the front lawn, have some fun on the lake and much more.

11:00 Camp Time (12:00 Eastern Time) visiting day officially began. Many parents came from the NY area and beyond to visit their children. At 12:00, a ceremony began for the dedication of a new bunkhouse. Rabbi Avremel Shemtov spoke how when Camp Gan Israel moved from Swan Lake to Parksville the Rebbe said that grounds belong to Merkos, and the keys are lent the camp staff. This land legally belongs to the Rebbe. The Rebbe also said that the land of Gan Yisroel is an extension of 770. He then spoke of the great zechus the Zalman and Shlomo Fellig have to be able to sponsor a new bunkhouse in the Rebbe’s camp. Camper Yossi Fellig cut the ribbon in front of the house, and the head staff, the directors and the Fellig brothers walked onto the porch. Each of the Fellig brothers affixed a mezuzah on one of the doors. In the meantime, a sign was put up dedicating the house to Rabbi Yosef Mordechai ben Tzvi Meir Fellig, the father of Shlomo and Zalman. The large crowd then enjoyed soda and fresh donuts.

Throughout the day, parents kept coming to camp. Many spoke to their sons’ respective learning teachers and counselors. A buffet lunch was put out in the dining room for all the campers and visitors to enjoy. In addition to the usual array of fine food available at the canteen, specially for Visiting Day, hot dogs, hamburgers, and grilled chicken wings were for sale the entire day. Camp T-shirt and caps were being sold in the main lobby. The camp video (to come out at the end of the summer) was on sale for $16.99, including free shipping to anywhere in the US. After camp, the price will go up to $20. The special sale price is still available, so order yours today! In lobby, an exclusive sneak preview of the video was being shown. There were paddleboats, bumper boats, rowboats available to be taken out by the lake. Many parents took their children out to the many attractions available in the area. All in all a great time was had by all.

Among our distinguished visiting day guests was former Night Activity Director Moshe Markel. First a game of “mummy wrap” played. Two teams of two campers were selected. One camper had to wrap his teammate entirely in toilet paper. The winner’s entire bunk got to play another game.