Camp Moshava Summer Blog

Week Four Happenings

Shabbat Shalom! Everyone at Mosh has had such an amazing week. We only have three schavot left at camp – the Bonimot, Bogrimot, and Madatz.

The Bogrimot have taken some deep dives into great content this week. After a pish (educational activity) about social media and another about Judaism and civil right, the Bogrimot spent their pish night relaxing and reminiscing about this summer and the jam-packed week behind them.

The Bonimot are thinking about the future, instead. First, they made a time capsule of their experience at Mosh this summer with letters to their future selves, personal artifacts, and even a 2+ hour vlog showing future Moshniks what Mosh looked like in 2021. The Bonimot spent so much time this week preparing for their oneg tonight. The dances have been practiced, the songs rehearsed, and the jokes crowd-tested. It should be a performance for the books.

The Madatz were up to the same-old, same-old — learning about being madrichimot, running some programming of their own, and staying up “all night” (AKA til they get tired at midnight from a long Mosh day).

As we write this post, Mosh is in Shabbat preparation mode. The chicken is in the oven, the chanichimot are starting to relax from the week, and even the goats can tell that we are heading into a restful weekend.

Special Day Mario Kart

We have two big updates from yesterday to share. The first is that we moved into our Phase III! This means we have even more freedom at camp – we are no longer cohorting and can be inside without masking or distancing. Yesterday was the first day of eating inside the Chadar Ochel (dining hall) and it was so refreshing to feel the energy.

The other exciting update is that yesterday was Special Day! Special Day is a fun and immersive day that explores an important educational topic. The theme of special day was Mario. The chanichimot (campers) woke up in a totally changed world – it was Super Mario everywhere you looked! Mosh was completely decorated and we even had Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Daisy, and more characters running the day.

In the morning, we had a fun and exciting round robin with some water activities. We played bumper boats in the pool, had a slip n slide, decorated mushroom cookies, and more. Later, it was revealed that all of our Mario characters had been in a car accident and couldn’t get the care they needed because they did not have health insurance. The afternoon was devoted to learning more about healthcare inequality. Chanichimot attended different chugim (interest groups) with topics such as racism in healthcare, healthcare for working Americans, the healthcare system in Israel, and more.

We finished out the day with a pool mesibah (party) and a delicious Princess Peach Cobbler. Chanichimot learned so much and had tons of fun while doing it!

Revo, Bozmon, Kuparnival, Oh My!

Welcome back to the Mosh blog! We have been so busy with this past week at camp. We kicked off the week with Revolution, when the Madatz take over camp for the day. Revolution is a time for the madatz to learn what it means to run camp and to create a fun and silly day while they do it. Right after Revolution, we had Bozman! Bozman is when the Bogrimot take over Mosh for the afternoon. The theme was time travel – the kids went through all different time periods to try to reset the space-time continuum. It was a huge success!!

On Friday, we had our Kuparnival, full of moonbounces, a blow-up waterslide, cotton candy, sno-cones, and some cool tunes. Every summer, we do a fun trip or event for all of Mosh from our camp kupa. Kupa is Mosh’s communal fund, so our kupa events are a way of having a shared experience together. The kuparnival is our way of having a fantastic kupa event right here at Mosh.

We finished off the week with our final mesibah, our celebration of the end of the first three weeks. We watched a slideshow with pictures from the summer, ate some treats, and danced into the night.

After all of the excitement of the past week, we had a few days of rest for the campers that are still here. They watched movies, went swimming, and relaxed. Today is the first day of second session, so we are back in the swing of things.

In these next few weeks, we will resume posting on our Monday, Wednesday, and Friday blog schedule. Keep an eye out for exciting updates!

Check out these photos from this past week.

Special Erev – Environmental Justice

Last evening all of Mosh participated in a special themed night of activities. This year’s theme was environmental justice.

First, everyone went on a round robbin of various activities all having to do with the environment. There was a water relay where the chanichimot learned about water disparity around the world. A trash race where they learned about the importance of picking up litter. Also an environment-themed Jeopardy game.

After dinner, the Amelimot (rising fourth and fifth graders) and Chotrimot (rising sixth and seventh graders) had a private discussion about what they learned. While Bonimot (rising eighth and ninth graders) and Bogrimot (rising tenth graders) went to special chugim (interest groups.) There was a chug about the fast fashion industry, environmental racism, and Native American rights and land back.

It was an informative and fun evening that made us think about the world around us more.

Spotlight on Tochnit Erev

Saying an average day at Mosh is hectic is an understatement! At night though, we like to come together and do something fun. This is called a Tochnit Erev or an Evening Activity. Chanichimot (campers) of all ages get to do something silly together.

This past week, we had a fun night of BLARPING (Bible Live Action Role Playing.) Chanichimot each got a bible story like the story of Ruth or the tower of Babel and then acted it out in front of an audience.

On the Fourth of July we played charades. Groups of chanichimot were given a Fourth of July activity that they had to act out while the rest of macheneh (camp) guessed. Examples included a fireworks show and the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Tochnit Erev is a great time to have fun as a whole camp instead of splitting up into age groups or special interest groups.

Shabbat Is Here

Wow! What an amazing first week it’s been! From hot days to rainy days we have done it all. Now it is time to relax and get ready for Shabbat.

We start Friday off with Super Avodah (work.) That means putting in a little extra work to help get camp ready for all the Shabbat activities. Then we have Shabbat Shira (music), when the chanichimot (campers) learn the special songs we sing on Shabbat.

Chanichimot at Mosh also get ready for Shabbat by cleaning their tzrif (cabin) or ohel (tent) in order to win a contest for the cleanest living space. Then we all get dressed up and begin the ceremonial elements of Shabbat. Songs are sung and prayers are prayed.

Next, it’s time for the big meal. After dinner, it’s time for the Oneg (Shabbat show.) This week it’s the Bogrimot (rising tenth graders) and Nitzanimot (rising third graders) performing it. We finish the day with Rikud (Israeli dancing.)

Shabbat is a really relaxing and special way to end the week.

Avodah Dah Dah We Like Like Avodah: A Spotlight on Avodah

One of the things that make Mosh so special is that we do is avodah. Avodah is work. At Mosh we do work every morning to keep machaneh (camp) beautiful. I have been doing an Avodah of the Day on Instagram, Facebook, and Campminder. So far we have done MLC/Sif, Gan, and Sababa

In MLC/Sif chanichimot (campers) clean the MLC and the Sif. The MLC is the big pavilion and the Sif is short for Sifrea which means library. Chanichimot (campers) are given brooms and dustpans and sweep all the nooks and crannies.

Gan means garden. At Mosh we have a garden patch and 2 goats and a turkey. Chanichimot in Gan gets to feed the goats and tend the garden.

Sababa means awesome and when we clean the bathroom we feel awesome. From sinks to showers to toilets Sababa does it all.

Other anafim (workgroups) include Ashpa (trash duty), Medurah (collecting wood for the fire pit), and tziur (mural painting)

Day Two Was Fantastic!

Hi Mosh Families!

We had a fantastic second day yesterday – sorry for the delayed post.

We started off with breakfast and everyone doing their avodah for the first time. At camp, every camper is in a working group – that’s how we all contribute to making camp beautiful and clean. We have campers responsible for cleaning the bathrooms, taking out the trash, making art for camp, and taking care of our goats and turkey.

We had a delicious lunch of fried rice with tofu and veggies. After lunch, everyone had time to go in the pool and shower!

After dinner of salad and pizza bagels, everyone at camp participated in our Lip Sync Battle. Each cohort was given a song and lyrics and created a dance. It was so much fun! At Mosh, we don’t stress competition, so we were all winners 🙂

While today is off to a hot start, we already have everyone sunscreened up and ready to go. Waterbottles are filled, Gatorade is ready, and we are all looking forward to another day at Mosh!

Shabbat Shalom, Machaneh Moshava!

‘Twas the Friday before Mosh, when all through the camp

The Tzevet (staff) were busy, even fixing the lamp

The ohels (tents) were built by hand with great care

With the hope that chanichimot (campers) would sleep restfully there!

While the chanichimot (campers) all quarantine at home

All of Tzevet (staff) can’t wait to say Shalom (hello)!

I hope you enjoy my poem. My name is Ruth and I am the communication specialist for this upcoming summer. I have been going to Mosh since I was 10 years old in 2008. I am so excited to be the one that will be updating you all on all of Mosh’s activities.

You can expect to hear from me on the blog about every other day. We would love your feedback about what you would like to see more of!

Our Last Hurrah

Sadly, this was our last week together at Mosh B’Yachad, but it was still an amazing week. The week began with an exciting Revolution, which is when the Madatz (counselors-in-training) take over Mosh. This year’s theme was getting the band back together. The madatz were all bandmembers of a musical group that needed help from the chanichimot (campers) to start making music again together. In the end, with the help of the chanichimot, the band got back together.

Yesterday was another classic Mosh surprise: Special Day!! It was dreams themed. The day began with a boring speech from Rosh Ben. It was so boring that everyone fell asleep! But once they were sleeping, their dream lives began. Chanichimot (campers) travelled through different dreams, met different characters, and did challenges. But in the second part of the day, they were trapped in a nightmare. They did a scavenger hunt to escape the nightmare and all made it back to being awake!

There were lots of fun characters populating the dreams.

In addition to these special events, every kvutza (age-group) had their last activities together where they talked about looking forward to the future of coming to ken events (year-round programming) together and hopefully seeing one another at Mosh next summer.

This summer, while unexpected, was full of fun and new experiences. Together we learned that even without the physical machaneh (camp), we are still one big Mosh community that cares for one another. We can still come together for fun, love, support, and learning. We look forward to what the ken will offer and everyone should stay tuned for updates.

Moshly yours,

Ben and Talia R