Dear Crane Lake Families,

Has this week gone by fast or what? We’ve had a wonderful first week of second session as we welcomed home more campers for the rest of the summer. Opening day was a little rainy but we still had a successful move in day and we want to thank everyone for your patience and understanding as the process took a little longer than normal.

Our opening ceremony brought all the campers and staff together in the Beit Am as we celebrated being reunited as a Kehillah Kedosha, holy community. Our ceremony touched on our mission statement of Hinenu– here we are. Hinenu, here we are, is a theme that is a central part of life at Crane Lake for we aim to be present in everything that we do here.

As campers and staff entered the Beit Am, they received a rock to symbolize the strength that each individual Crane Laker adds to our community. During the ceremony we passed our camp Torah l’dor v’dor, from generation to generation, oldest campers to youngest campers to symbolize our commitment to building and growing our Jewish identities and spiritualty while at camp.

Each week we have a new Jewish value that we encourage everyone at Crane Lake to think about and live by. This week Achrayut, responsibility was our value.  Campers and staff thought about different ways they take responsibility while at camp and Lower Chaverim campers talked about Achrayut during the service they led on Friday night.

One of the ways we show Achrayut at camp is that each bunk at the beginning of the session creates a Brit Kehillah, or bunk rules to follow throughout their time at camp.  Campers and counselors come up with ideas for what rules to establish and then sign the contract to acknowledge that they agree.

We had so many fun activities going on this week at camp. We had our annual international night where staff from around the world hosted games and events on the main lawn to teach about their homelands. Lots of countries were represented like Australia, Israel, Hungary, England, Poland, Scotland and more.

Along with the start of second session comes the excitement of color war! We had a couple fake outs in anticipation for the real thing, but there is still time before it breaks out. Olim gets antsier as the days go by and even got to participate in their own miniature maccabia to prepare for captainship.

Each week here is packed with non-stop fun and happiness. Every day is a blessing and we can’t wait to cherish the time we have left in the Crane Lake bubble.

With love,

Debby, Max and Sarah