Shabbat Shalom

Tonight we welcomed Shabbat with a delicious dinner in the dining hall, featuring challah that was braided by Carmel campers (bunks numbered 1 & 2) and baked in our Tawonga Kitchen. Bunk B-7 harvested fresh produce from the garden for the meal, and the bunk of G-10b led the whole camp in the Friday night blessings over candle lighting, kiddush, and motzi.

 

After dinner, everyone danced and sang to a joyous song session called “freylach”. Then as dusk approached, each age group went to a different beautiful spot around Camp for their own out-of-the box Kabbalat Shabbat service – Carmel in the Freedom Forest, Galil next to the Lake, Eilat at a campfire circle on the western edge of Camp called The Burn, Haifa in the Garden, and Chalutzim in Makom Shalom, our outdoor amphitheater.

 

Each bunk contributed a skit, song, or poem to their unit’s service, and because it is the last Shabbat of the session, campers also shared how much Tawonga means to them. One Chalutzim camper, Jonah, said “My counselors accepted me, other campers accepted me, and that taught me to accept myself.” Another camper, Lucy, shared, “Even though I have only been coming here for two summers, the girls in my bunk are my sisters, and I know we will be friends for life.”

 

Shabbat Shalom! Enjoy some photos from today and this evening.