Galil Blog
Shabbat shalom, Galil families! As the sun rose this morning on our last Shabbat of the summer, we slept in and took relaxing walks to the chadar ochel (dining hall) for donuts and cereal. The bogrimot (ages 14-15) ran chuggim (electives) for the rest of the kids one last time for the summer. Then we had Chug Ritz (serious electives), where we had educational discussions in a relaxed Shabbat atmosphere. Then everyone hung out with their friends as we had pizza picnic lunches around camp.
The madatz (CITs) had one more chance to run an activity for all of camp. We spent the rest of the afternoon packing up before coming together at the mini mo for musicale. There were plenty of acts as the kids were eager to show off their musical talents one more time. Then, the festivities began for final final, our last night at camp. We had a wonderful meal of chicken shawarma, pita, couscous and salad. After dinner was kumzits, where we sing folk songs together as the sun sets. This week, we made sure to sing every song in our brand new kumzits booklets. Emotions were high as we sang songs about growing up, being friends, and coming home.
We ended our last Shabbat of the summer with havdallah as always. Havdallah is always special, as its when we silently reflect on the past week and look up at the stars with our friends, but this one was extra special as it not only symbolized Shabbat’s end, but the end of the summer too. Shabbat was ending, but the night was only beginning. We headed down to the medurah pit for a huge bonfire where the kids performed their funniest bits for the audience. As is tradition at the last medurah, two of the bonimot (ages 13-14) were chosen to carry on the legacy of a legendary medurah act: froggy and gnu. Froggy and Gnu is a weekly update style act about camp happenings performed by two of the bogrimot (ages 14-15). All the previous froggies and gnus passed the torch to the next generation.
After medurah, we gathered at the chadar ochel for another last-night tradition: wish night. At the start of the session, the kids each made three wishes, and each kid had one wish granted by the tzevet (counselors) and madatz (CITs) on the last night of the summer. After wish night, we learned the theme of our final messibah (party): final messibro. We joined Gamma Lambda Lambda, Galil’s fictional Greek life organization, and had a party at the mini mo to celebrate our great summer. After the party, we watched Monsters Inc. to wind down for the night. The next morning, we got all our bags together and cleaned up our cabins one last time before saying goodbye to our friends for the summer. It’s been great being the communications specialist this session, and with that, I’ll sign off.