MACCABIA!

Shalom friends and family of Camp Kadimah,
Last night the most exciting event of the summer was introduced to us. I of course refer to Maccabia! As our wonderful talent show ended, the campers were getting ready to go to back to their cabins. Suddenly, a fifteen person marching band stormed into the building playing the theme song to Maccabia! Today is a warm and sunny day and the Red, Blue, White and Yellow teams are all very excited to run, play and cheer for four days of fun!

Eric Hartman
Office Manager

Giborim Update - July 21

Hello everyone!

Our Gibbies have had a busy few days since our last post! The weather has been beautiful and we've been doing so many fun activities that the time has just flown by!

Since pre-Gibbie day last week, we got to know some of the other sections at camp. First, we had a guest evening program run by the CITs - a Jeopardy game that everyone loved! Then, we got to party it up with the Goshies and Kochotniks at our third Shabbat oneg and second social: the theme was Nathan's bar mitzvah party!

On Sunday, we were treated to Machar Day, where the campers in Machar got to take over the camp for the day. Filling the roles of director, section heads, head cook, driver, bunk staff, nurse, and even office manager, it was a great oppportunity for them to see what it's like to be a camp counsellor. The Gibbies really enjoyed having them around for the day, and the Gibbie staff didn't mind the day off either!

Monday night brought us to Tisha B'Av, a solemn day where we commemorate the tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people on this day in history. A meaningful camp-wide ceremony set the tone for the respectful day to come. The Gibbies and Goshies watched the classic animated movie An American Tail, and in the afternoon made bracelets to send as gifts to the Free the Children organization in Africa. The day ended with an evening program where the campers learned about the choices that must be made when trying to build a Jewish community.

With the gift of two sleep-ins in a row, everyone is well-rested and excited to tackle the awesome activities planned for the next few days. We can't wait to hang out in the lake and have a freezie or two to cool off from the gorgeous sunshine we've been given!

Though we've been having a fantastic time at camp, we're excited to see some of you on Visitors' Day in just four days to show you around our favourite place in the world!

Blog you soon,
Maddie and Nathan
Giborim Section Leaders

New Video Posted: Machar Talent Show

Hi everyone,

Check the website for a new video of the Machar talent show, where Macharniks performed songs, dances, athletics feats and even thoughtful poetry.

The audience was blown away by the campers' talent and everyone is excited to see who gets to present their acts in the camp-wide talent show after visitors day.

Enjoy the video and see everyone in a week!

Dan

Machar Day!

Shalom Kadimah Parents!

This is an update from your three Machar office staff, Aja Zylberberg, Josh Schild and Jenna Kaplan on Machar Day of 2010!

Machar Day is when the entire Machar Section takes over the camp, acting as General Staff, Senior Staff and Specialists. Everyone is having so much fun and the campers are so ecstatic to be developing new relationships with campers they never knew!

For Machar Day of 2010, Alex Hoffman got given the privilege to be Joanna Wexler, Director of Camp. Harry Meiteen is Assistant Director and Morgan Glass is Program Director. All three of these Macharniks are very hard-working, deserving and passionate Macharniks who are truly doing an outstanding job today.

This week is very special as it marks only one week until Visiting Day and Machar Day was an awesome way to start this week! Anyways, the three of us must sign off and get back to work but we are very excited for Sunday!! See you all then!

Shalom from Camp Machar!

These past 2 weeks have been quite busy with the start of Machar choice, regular peulot (including swim everyday) and learning our amazing section song. Camp Machar is very diverse this year; we have 20 Israeli teens, a mix of first and second year campers and plenty of hair types. Everyone is getting along well and new friendships are continuing to bloom as the days go by.

And we’re still going strong! We have just returned from our overnight camping trip at one of Nova Scotia’s most beautiful provincial parks – Blomidon. Located at the Bay of Fundy, Blomidon has the highest difference between high and low tide in the world. Now for the good stuff; the chanichim of Camp Machar had a great time! Last night they cooked a gourmet meal that was judged by the section heads as part of a cabin-on-cabin competition. Cabin 16 and Cabin 5 won the contest by making fries, beans and burgers. It was delicious!
This morning we woke up to find our campsite wet and rainy, it continued to downpour until we got to the buses, but fortunately enough, everyone was able to cram into the Pavillion and have a sing along and pancakes as a section.

The most important part of our trip was last night when we broke our theme to the campers. We took them around and told stories about Machar, and when one of the stories couldn’t continue because they had to go back to their tents, we finished it an hour later with a speech about the theme and a bonfire. This summer’s theme “I to Eye” is all about how your own perspective can be a part of a larger communal view on the world.

We cannot wait for the coming week ahead and all the fun surprises that are just around the corner.

Until Next Time,
O-Rose, Tali and Briguy
Machar Section Heads 2010

Kochot checking-in

Hello Kadimah parents. Our names are Sam and Isaac, and we are campers in Kochot. This summer in Kochot has been awesome!

In Kochot, we are allowed to participate in house leagues and a new event at camp, Kadimah Cup 2010. We have been playing softball, basketball and soccer and it has been lots of fun. We are on the best softball team at camp, the REBELCANES!

Everyday at camp we have activities called "peulah". This year we get to choose our peulah in the afternoons. Our favorite Peulah’s are Sports, Sail and Canoe.

We have had lots of fun programs this summer. A camp wide program called Kadimah Coup was like a giant game of LIFE but at camp. We got to be teamed up with senior staff and buy the buildings around camp.

Another camp wide program was called Hagannah Night. Hagannah Night is a game that refers to when our Jewish ancestors were trying to make it to Palestine. We have to run around camp and try to cross the bridge to “Palestine”. It was really fun because we got to play the game at night, and we both made it to ISRAEL!

The next day there was Israel Carnival day. It was lots of fun, there was a cotton candy machine, and snow cones! We had Shwarma for lunch! The food at camp is awesome. Our favorite meal is Pizza on Sunday nights, because we get Ice Cream for dessert.

Our section heads, Mikey, JD and Dara are the best! The other section heads are also awesome, but ours are the best! And all the other staff in Kochot are great! In Kochot we have had some awesome programs including, Dodgeball, Kochot Feud, and a program where we were given random words and had to make an invention.

Yesterday we got to watch the finals of World Cup. It was still a great game even though we were cheering for Netherlands and they lost. We couldn’t believe we got to watch Live TV at camp.

The weather has been awesome and really hot. The lake is cold but refreshing and we go swimming everyday. The boating at camp this summer is spectacular. There are ski boats, paddle boats, canoes, kayaks, row boats, sail boats, buddy boards and crash boats! We love the boats especially CANOE!

To conclude this blog, this has been the best summer ever!
Until Next time,
Isaac Benjamin (06-10) 1st year kochotnik
Sam Spodek (07-10) 1st year kochotnik

Hello parents and friends of the Goshrim section!

What an unbelievable 11 days! From day one, we started strong by swimming in the lake and celebrating Canada's birthday with fireworks and cake.

Day two we settled in, cleaned up the cabins and enjoyed Shabbat din.

Day three we played sports and sat in the sun, ate some subs while having fun.

Day four was our first 'normal' day, peulot galore- kids had nothing but 'yay' to say!

Day five to day eight were just a delight, we had Hagana night- the Jews made it to Israel alright!

And for the last couple days we have been rained on, but not to fret, the Goshies watched the world cup on a jumbotron!

We are looking forward to more exciting times, stay online and and watch as time flies!

With camp love,

Michael + Marli
Goshrim Section Heads

Gibbie Update - July 11

Hi everyone!

Today's post comes following an exciting few days and an amazing Pre-Gibbie Day at Camp Kadimah!

After our camping trip, we came home to a few days of the hottest weather Nova Scotia has seen in years -- over 35 degrees! We spent most of the day in the lake and enjoying some freezies to cool down. We also got to partake in an annual Kadimah classic: Haganah night! It was really fun to come up with a story and try to get our families across the bridge to "Palestine"!

The hot weather also brought us to the second Shabbat at camp, where we got our second helping of Anne's delicious knishes and kickin chicken. Saturday brought some rain, but our spirits stayed high as we prepared for the summer's first social -- superheroes and super-villains! The photos posted give just a hint of some of the awesome costumes at the social.

Finally, this morning was Pre-Gibbie Day! Our Giborim campers got to play host to 13 children from the Maritimes who are planning to come to camp in the next couple years. It was really fun to give them a taste of camp and why we love it so much here! A shirkud peulah, our section song, a game of gaga, a fantastic lunch, and an arts and crafts project to take home were sure to entice them to return to Kadimah soon :).

Right now some of the Gibbies are watching a live streaming of the World Cup final game, and we're excited for the next week of activities and programs!

Blog you soon,
Maddie and Nathan
Co-Giborim Section Heads

CITs and a HEBREW update!

Hi everybody!
My name is Hagar and I am one of the CIT leaders. I live in Israel and this is my first Summer at Camp Kadimah.
It's been a week since we all got here, and you are probably wondering what did we do?

The CITs are having a big buddy-little buddy program during the Summer. They all met their little buddies from Giborim and went on an overnight trip together. We all spent a great time together at the beach, and after that we went camping! At the camp site we ate BBQ and had a bonfire. It was a great time for all of us together. The next day we went to a Zoo, which was lots of fun also!

Today we had the Israel Carnival which was planned by the CITs. They all worked really hard to make it be so much fun! It went well and the campers had a great time walking around booths, listening and dancing to Israeli music and drinking Limonana - lemon & mint smoothie.

Right now all the CITs have started their placements - helping out in Peulot - joining sections or activities.

Now I'd like to write a few sentences in Hebrew for the Israeli parents:

כבר עבר שבוע מאז שכולכם נפרדתם מהילדים בשדה תעופה. עברה על כולנו טיסה ארוכה ומייגעת אך שבוע של כיף מזכיר לנו שזה היה שווה את זה.
כל אחד מילדיכם שובץ לקבוצת גיל המתאימה לו והכיר את החברים החדשים שלו. הישראלים הם לא מעט ואני רואה את ילדיכם משתלבים פה בצורה מדהימה. כולם משתפרים ברמת האנגלית שלהם ולומדים את שפת המחנה. השבוע היה ממש מוצלח. אמנם אני לא רואה את כל הישראלים כי אני נמצאת עם בני ה16 אך אני פוגשת אותם בפעילויות של כל המחנה, בשחיה משותפת באגם, בארוחות וסתם ככה על השבילים. כולם מחוייכים ומספרים שהם נהנים.

היום היה יריד ישראלי והיה מאוד כיף. כולנו נכנסו לאווירה, התקשטנו בדגלי ישראל ונהנו מהמוזיקה וההפעלות.
אז שיהיה לכולם שבת שלום ממחנה קדימה!
תהנו מהתמונות של הילדים שלכם - ותאמינו לי - קשה להבין עד כמה הם נהנים!

שבת שלום
הגר
Shabbat Shalom
Hagar

The Best Day Yet!

Hi everyone!

Today was my favourite day of camp so far this summer and I'm so excited I get to blog about it. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Ali Ciobotaru and I am one of the heads of waterfront this summer. The weather today was unbelievable, the perfect kind that we want for our swim docks. In the morning, we had instructional swim with the gibbies, goshies and kochotniks. Everyone was getting in the water which was so refreshing and enjoying some time in the sunshine. In the afternoon, since it was so hot outside, we decided to cancel all of the normal activities and have an open waterfront. For those of you who don't know what that means, every single boating dock in camp (canoe, ski, sail and paddle boat) is opened as well as the main pool, diving board and trampoline for general swim. We played music all day and the campers got to go to whatever water activity they wanted... everyone was having a blast! Don't worry parents - we made sure they were wearing lots of sunscreen, drinking lots of water and enjoying some popsicles along the way!

To top off an amazing sunny day at Camp Kadimah, tonight we surprised the campers and staff and ran a program that we do annually at camp called "Hagganah Night". The concept of this program is to reenact the exodus of Jews from Europe and their difficult journey to Palestine (pre-1948). Campers and staff were put into "families" and had to create characters in order to convince visa officers, identification officers and checkpoint guards that they should be allowed into Palestine. These families had to perform a bunch of different tasks and activities, while being chased by runners representing different obstacles that the Jews had to face after being displaced. If a family was caught, they got sent to jail. However, if a Hagannah decided to help a family, they could more easily get to Palestine (or in our case, the other side of the bridge). At the end of the program, everyone in camp ended up in Palestine, and we all celebrated together that we safely arrived. This program is an extremely fun one, but also highly enlightening for many campers who are unaware of the Hagganah organization and the role they played in aiding the Jews after the war.

In my opinion, we could not have asked for a better day here at camp. We had great weather, a bunch of exciting activities to choose from, and a camp wide evening program at night. There was not one camper without a smile on their face! It is only the end of our first week here and I am truly amazed at how well everything seems to be going. I know that this summer will prove to be the most amazing one yet - with partial thanks to mister golden sun and of course, great Camp Kadimah programming.

Signing off,

Ali Ciobotaru
Co-Head of Waterfront and Camp Kadimah Lifer

New Video Posted! First Shabbat at Camp

Hi everyone,

A new webisode has been posted to the website showcasing our first shabbat at camp. Shabbat at Kadimah is one of the things that makes the summer really special and campers look forward to it all week.

While you may not be able to smell the freshly-baked challah or dance with 300 other excited young Jews, hopefully this video will give you a small taste of what it is like to bring in shabbos at Lake William.

All the best,

Dan

Giborim Update - July 6

Hey everyone!

We're very excited to be making our first blog post of the summer following our amazing overnight!

The first couple days of the summer were full of sunshine, smiles, and happy campers. After settling in and experiencing possibly the greatest Canada Day extravaganza Kadimah has ever seen, we were happy to have a very special Shabbat at camp. After a Saturday of playing games and chilling on the waterfront, we had a great first Havdallah. Sunday was our first regular day of activities, and the new chugim program was a great success! Kids were able to choose between archery, field sports, canoeing, guitar lessons, and much more!

Finally, Monday brought us to our overnight trip. Accompanied by our CIT big buddies, we left right after breakfast and went straight to Risser's beach to enjoy some surf, sun, and ice cream! We then set up camp at the Risser's campsite and played some games, enjoyed the playground, and helped prepare dinner. We ended the night with a fantastic bonfire complete with roasting marshmallows and playing ukulele!

After leaving the campsite this morning, we went to Oaklawn Farm Zoo to see all sorts of animals. Our favourites were the zonkey (a zebra-donkey hybrid!) and a bird named Cookie who talked and repeated "Cookie want a cracker!".

We can't wait for all the other treasures this summer is sure to bring!

Blog you soon,
Maddie Axelrod and Nathan Pink
Co-Giborim Section Heads

First video of the summer is online!

Hi everyone, my name is Dan Shiner and after a great summer in 2009 I have returned as the camp videographer in 2010.

Like last summer, the plan is to publish a couple of "webisodes" -- mini-videos showing some of the great things happening at camp -- each week, as well as to send home a longer cumulative video on DVD after camp is over.

Yesterday the first webisode was published documenting some highlights of our action-packed first day in Barss Corner.

Please feel free to leave comments on this blog with feedback or requests of things you would like to see. Remember: I try to get every face in camp on the video so if you don't see that shayna punim you miss so much, please be patient and I'm sure it will appear soon!

All the best,

Dan

From the Director...

What a fabulous first Shabbat at camp! The weather has been beautiful and we couldn’t have asked for a more relaxed and wonderful Saturday at camp. Services were beautiful and musical as always. There is something special about having that peaceful time of reflection Shabbat morning.

Saturdays are also for softball Houseleagues at Kadimah. After a couple of National anthems, a speech, and my official first pitch, the games were underway! We played through the first round today, and everyone had a great time, both those playing and those watching. Open waterfront and boating all day as well was terrific, the water is warm and the pool busy.

The first Havdallah is also special- to have the whole camp in a circle, singing – For most of us long-timers, it is a favourite piece of the camp experience.

Tomorrow is officially the first day of regular programming, Iron Chef for Machar begins, and our vegetable patch is waiting for our peulot to be planted...

With hugs and love from your kids,
Joanna Wexler

Summer 2010 Begins With A Bang!

Hi Kadimah Parents!

My name is Jared Goldlust and I am the Associate Director for the summer of 2010. I wanted to give a quick update of what has been happening at camp since you left your precious children with us for what will be the summer of a lifetime.

The first 24 hours of Camp Kadimah has been filled with great weather, many smiles and tons of energy. All campers rolled off the busses by 1 p.m. Thursday and were greeted by enthused staff who had been waiting their arrival all week. Camp returnees were ecstatic to see their friends and all new campers were introduced to the Kadimah family.

In the afternoon, we took full advantage of the beautiful weather and “warm” lake as all campers did their deep tests. We had a camp wide mifkad ceremony, welcoming everyone and singing Hatikva and Oh Canada, in honor of Canada Day.

Camp was treated to a special Canada Day celebration which has turned into an annual tradition. Children and staff, all decked in red and white, screamed and danced their heart outs with the camp band and Kadimah dance troop.

The highlight of the evening came after the show, when all of camp joined in the chadar (dining hall) for a delicious strawberry shortcake (6 feet by 4 feet), decorated with a maple leaf (See below!). The cake party soon turned into a dance party with everyone in camp on their feet dancing. In my 11 years at Kadimah, I have never seen so much ruach (spirit) and smiling children on a first day at Kadimah! The night was capped with an incredible fireworks show along the waterfront.

THE CAKE!

All campers have unpacked and had a full schedule today including some canoeing, arts and crafts and of course sports. Mail and camp clothing was distributed to the campers after lunch. Everyone in camp is now getting ready for Shabbat which will include lively services, a traditional Friday night meal and an oneg. The oneg will consist of a funny play by the Kadimah senior staff and classic Hebrew songs and dances.

Pictures are being uploaded as we speak, so please check the photo gallery on the website. An amazing opening video will be up on the website this weekend! From your kids and everyone at Kadimah, we wish you a Shabbat shalom and a great weekend!