Shalom Camp Judaea Family,

Week Two of our First Session has been filled with so much fun, excitement and learning.  Our days have been busy with amazing peulot (activities), swimming, athletics, music, art, dance, out-of-camp trips and even a fantastic performance of the 40th Israeli Scouts Friendship Caravan!  We were all sad to say farewell to our First Session Rishonim (Taste of CJ) campers on Thursday.  The entire camp gathered to celebrate their first ten days of Camp with a slide show and pageant.  We are looking forward to their return to Camp as Offarim next summer.

On Sunday our campers will be venturing out to various forests and other natural attractions in Western North Carolina to experience the wonder of the great outdoors here in the Blue Ridge Mountains. At the end of their adventurous excursions, each eda (unit) will have an overnight experience in Pisgah National Forest.

Please enjoy this overview of what each eda (unit) has been up to this past week.

On behalf of the entire CJ Staff, thank you for the privilege of working with your family this session.  Shabbat Shalom!

Tom Rosenberg

WATCH OUR CJ NEWS VIDEO — WEEK 2 — CLICK HERE 

OR WATCH CJ NEWS ON OUR VIMEO SITE (if you have difficulties with the HD link above)

RISHONIM EDA

Shalom Rishonim Parents,

The Rishonim campers had a very busy last few days here at Camp Judaea. Last Sunday, we took a day trip to Tweetsie Railroad. The kids had a blast going on rides, exploring the petting zoo, and riding the famous Tweetsie Train! On Monday night, we took the campers on their very first overnight in the woods. We cooked hamburgers and hotdogs for dinner and later roasted smores and made banana-boats over the fire.

We also had fun filled daily schedules with peulot eda, rotational activities, and exciting tochniot erev (evening programs). The last peulah eda that we did was a spin off of the game Apples to Apples where the campers had to create Jewish symbols, religious symbols, and Israeli food out of random objects that they had collected. Some favorite rotational activities were playing gaga, horseback ridding, rock climbing, zip lining, swimming in both the pool and lake, and archery. Their favorite tochnit erev was a giant game of paint tag on the second to last night of camp.

The Rishonim staff and I had the best time with your children over the last 10 days. I can’t believe how fast the time flew by and how much we did in such a short amount of time. I hope that your children had as much fun as we did here at CJ. We can’t wait to see them in Offarim next summer!

Shabbat Shalom to you all and I hope you have a wonderful summer,

Emmy Cohn, Rishonim Merakezet

 OFFARIM EDA

Shalom Offarim Parents,

This second week of camp has been jam-packed with enthusiasm and excitement! We started off the week with our trip day to Tweetsie Railroad where the kids enjoyed a variety of rides, a petting zoo, and a park-wide train ride! Since last week, we have continued with our Jewish life cycle theme with a Bar Mitzvah themed peulah eda as well as an Israel Defense Force activity in order to incorporate the Israeli life cycle. Other than that, we’ve had a pool party, dance party, and have made it to the remainder of the rotational activities. We are all looking forward to another camp Shabbat together and yet another fun-filled week ahead of us!

Shabbat Shalom,

Shira Berman, Offarim Merakezet

ORANIM EDA

Shalom Oranim Parents,

It’s been another great week at CJ with your kids! We went to Dollywood in Tennessee, swam in the lake, zip lined and we even learned about Sukkot and  Tu B’shevat. The chanichim have also participated in fun night-time activities like firefly catching, capture the sukkah (mattress), cupcake wars and we even made our own drums out of cups and rice and created a drum circle! Tomorrow we will be leading Kabbalat Shabbat where your children will be leading the entire camp in Shabbat services, performing an Israeli dance and song, and leading Havdallah. This Sunday we will be going on our overnight and we will get to also visit the Western North Carolina Nature Center. My staff and i look forward to teaching the chanichim about more Jewish and Israeli holidays next week and for more fun Oranim activities!

Shabbat Shalom,

Emily Shalev, Oranim Merakezet

 SAYARIM EDA

Shalom Sayarim Parents,

Another successful week here at Camp Judaea completed! The week started off with Sayarim taking a fun filled day trip to Dollywood, an exciting theme park located in Tennessee. Amidst all the fun, we managed to find time to learn about some Zionist and Jewish heroes. Through interactive educational activities the campers learned about important figures such as Ilan Ramon, Omri Caspi, and Yossi Benayoun. The campers truly enjoyed themselves this week and have become a closer mishpacha (family).The Sayarim staff and I are looking forward to the activities that we have planned for the campers in the coming week.

Shabbat Shalom,

Eitan Bender, Sayarim Merakez

 TSOFIM EDA

Dear Tsofim Parents,

Another busy week here at Camp Judaea has come to an end! This week Tsofim continued to learn about Israeli culture and society and managed to have quite a bit of fun along the way! We learned about Israeli food during one Peula Eda by having a cooking competition were chanichim made their own humus and Israeli salad. In another Peula Eda, the chanichim adopted the political views of different political parties in Israel, and tried to run for President of Camp Judaea.  The entire eda voted and by a landslide, elected Yesh Atid to run Camp Judaea.

Tsofim went on a day trip this week to Carowinds amusement park.  The chanichim got to spend a few hours going on all of the roller coasters and playing lots of games.

All of our activities this week have brought our eda closer together and we are trying to ignore the fact that in just a short while, the first session will be over.  We are looking forward to all of the activities and events we have planned for the rest of the summer!

Shabbat Shalom and Shavuah Tov,

Sam Morse, Tsofim Merakez

 KESHER EDA

Shalom Kesher Parents,

My staff and I had another great week with your children. This week we took our Kesher theme, Jewish Identity, to the next level in New York City. We took a ferry around Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty and learned about the immigration process that some of our Jewish ancestors took when immigrating to the United States of America. We also visited the Jewish Heritage Museum, Chabad-Lubovitch Headquarters, and Temple Emanu-el, one of the largest Reform Synagogues in the country.  In addition, the chanichim (campers) had free time with their walking groups to see 5th ave, Time Square, and Chinatown. We were also fortunate enough to see a baseball game and attend a Broadway play. My staff and I distributed journals to each and every camper allowing them to write down their thoughts about our powerful, educational, and fun experiences that we had this week.

We all had a great safe trip and we are all excited to come back to CJ to continue the rest of the session together.

Shabbat Shalom,

Tali Burger, Kesher Merekezet

 BOGRIM EDA

Shalom Bogrim Parents,

This week, Bogrim traveled all over the nation’s capital, Washington D.C. We kicked off the trip with a visit to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. There, we all got to learn about the history of sky travel and experience the exciting aircraft simulator.  Later in the week, the chanichim spent time at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Together, the chanichim learned the deep significance of the eternal promise, “Never again.” Finally, we visited the Newseum, a museum that explores the culture and history of journalism. On a journey outside the city, Bogrim got the unique opportunity to participate in a program at Kayam farms, a Jewish organic farm in Maryland. At the farm, we learned about how Jewish values govern sustainable farming techniques and how to apply the Jewish ideal of tikkun olam, or repairing our world. The tidal basin tour of the Jefferson, FDR, and MLK Jr. monuments took Bogrim’s understanding of the summer’s theme, dreams to reality, to a new depth. In addition to learning about these visionaries, the trip parallels Bogrim’s focus on Jerusalem as the nation of Israel’s capital. After a wonderful week of adventures, we are all thrilled to be back together with our Camp Judaea family this Shabbat!

Shabbat Shalom,

Sarah Fine, Bogrim Merakezet

 WATCH OUR CJ NEWS VIDEO — WEEK 2 — CLICK HERE