Sha’ar Week 1 Update

What an amazing first week we had with our chanichim (חניכים), campers!

During our Sha’ar time, we spent a lot of time getting to know one another. The campers learned how to introduce themselves by saying “Hashem sheli (השם שלי)…” (“My name is…”) and how to ask one another “Mah hashem shelcha/shelach? (מה השם שלך?) (“What is your name?”). They also learned Hebrew words for colors (tzva’im (צבעים)), animals (ba’alei chayim (בעלי חיים)), and parts of the body (chelkei haguf (חלקי הגוף)).

Throughout the week, the children played Israeli icebreaker games, including Psalim (פסלים) (“Statues”). Similar to freeze dance, the madrichim (מדריכים), counselors, played Hebrew music, and whenever the music stopped, the campers froze in the pose of the animal called out by the madrich. They also played Twister, moving their yad (יד) (hand) or regel (רגל) (foot) to the correct tzeva (צבע) (color), and Shimon Omer (שמעון אומר) (“Simon Says”), practicing body-part vocabulary such as rosh (ראש) (head), ktefayim (כתפיים) (shoulders), af (אף) (nose), peh (פה) (mouth), ayinayim (עיניים) (eyes), and oznayim (אוזניים) (ears).

In keeping with this summer’s theme, Kulanu Kochavim (כולנו כוכבים) (“We Are All Stars”), the campers decorated nameplates featuring their Hebrew names. We ended the week with an extra-special activity: tie-dye! The chanichim created beautiful kisuei challah (כיסויי חלה), Shabbat challah covers. Before choosing their colors, the campers practiced saying “Ani rotzeh/rotzah (אני רוצה)” (“I want”). As they selected their favorite colors, they practiced words such as adom (אדום) (red), kachol (כחול) (blue), tzahov (צהוב) (yellow), yarok (ירוק) (green), and sagol (סגול) (purple).

We had so much fun during our first week and are looking forward to many more exciting activities ahead. We can’t wait to continue building our Hebrew vocabulary and exploring Israeli culture together.

Shabbat Shalom!