After several incredible fake outs, the waiting is over…Maccabia 2015 has finally begun! Last night, during Todd Yahney, a video with footage from Maccabia 2001 and 2014 suddenly appeared. Past generals entered the beit am with blue and white masks hiding their identity. The excitement and cheering was so powerful in the beit am that past generals had to yell the clues! From the beit am, all of camp followed the past generals to the soccer field where everyone found their bunk bucket and popped open balloons containing either blue or white paint which signified what team they would be on for the next 4 days. From there, we followed the torches to the lake where there was a graffiti artist spray painting “White Empire” and “Blue Uprising”. After minutes of waiting, the generals were announced. For the blue team: Sarah Stein, Jake Haber, Brandon Rosenberg and Danica Feuz, and for the white team: Matt Lewis, Hanna Hausler, Sarah Vasilevsky and Adam Fenley. Campers and staff cheered as their counselors and friends received the great honor!

The day began with line up on the main lawn where white took the lead. Immediately following line up, captains chopped aggressively through the log as their teammates chanted their names and team cheers. White team came out on top once again as they chopped the wood in two before blue.

After some meatball subs and rest hour, blue and white gathered on the main lawn for hatchet hunt. The hunt was close as no team found the hatchet before the last clue was given. An Olim captain from each team was sent to find the hatchet in Fieldview and sprinted as fast as they possibly could until they reached the finish line. White finished only .34 seconds ahead of blue and after penalties were tallied white came out on top by 6 seconds.

The afternoon was filled with various activities such as soccer, football, a boating regatta, basketball, gaga, and so much more. White Empire took evening line up as they sang to the song “My House”. Tug-of-war was intense as the two teams battled it out on the soccer field for the win. In the end, neither team came out on top as it ended in a tie!

As day one of Maccabia comes to an end White Empire is in the lead. At this point in the competition it is still anyone’s game!

By Lindsey Blackman, Communications Specialist