East Camp 2024
Ninja Heist
Orley
Age: 9
Tribe: Benjamin
It was very fun! Ninja heist is a game where you can play any place. To play Ninja Heist you have to split up in two teams. One team is the guards and the other team is the ninjas! Someone will call out to the guards to go to sleep and the ninjas sneak over to the other side and try to find a treasure. The treasure is something you can use. And then someone says, “Guards, wake up!” Then the guards have to try to tag the ninjas and if the ninjas get tagged they have to go to jail. The jail is kinda fun to be in because when the guards go to sleep the free ninjas can go untag the ninjas in the jail. This was an awesome game!
The Treasures of Tabernacle
Emanuela
Age: 14
Tribe: Benjamin
At Camp Gilgal we worship God and praise the Lord. After breakfast, we bring our Bibles into the Mishkan, where tabernacle is held. We start it off by singing 3-5 songs. My favorites this year were Praise the Lord, One Thing Remains, Goodness of God, Waymaker, and Promises. While we sing the songs I feel joy, comfort and love from the Lord and my fellow campers. Once we sing our songs, we turn East and sing the Shema. Then we say the English translation. After we sing our songs and the Shema, RedSox will read from the Bible. This year we are reading about how Joshua helped lead the Israelites into the land of Canaan. We campers also read verses out loud from the Bible and then share our thoughts and ideas about the verses we read. Then we conclude tabernacle with a prayer. I believe that the true treasures of tabernacle are to praise and understand the Lord and what he has done and is doing, and to have faith in the Lord like Joshua did when he was leading the Israelites into the Promise Land.
Skidoo’s Interview
Micah
Age: 11
Tribe: Judah
Micah: What is your favorite country? / Skidoo: Canada
Micah: What is your favorite food? / Skidoo: Sushi
Micah: Who is your favorite camper? / Skidoo: Micah
Micah: What is your favorite fruit? / Skidoo: Strawberries
Micah: What has been your favorite year of camp? / Skidoo: This year!
Micah: What is your favorite worship song? / Skidoo: Blessed Be Your Name
Micah: What is your favorite camp activity? / Skidoo: The Decathlon
Micah: What is your favorite bird? / Skidoo: A cardinal
Micah: What is your favorite tribe? / Skidoo: Judah!
Camp Gilgal’s Campfire
Emanuela
Age: 14
Tribe: Benjamin
I am walking to campfire. As I walk I can see light from the red and orange flames. Everyone is sitting around the fire on wooden benches. My face is getting slightly warmer as I sit down. We start it off by singing some songs. I love Hinei Ma Tov “Camp Gilgal Style” and Jesus Loves Me “Camp Gilgal Style.” After the campfire songs are over, one of the camp counselors then reads a verse from the Bible. Once the verse is read, we talk about what the verse might mean, represent, or how it relates to us. Then a counselor will share their testimony. Their testimonies give me hope and joy. And simply looking at the mesmerizing fire calms my soul. Then the counselors say that we’re having S’MORES! All of our faces light up. We go into the woods to look for the perfect marshmallow sticks. I find a long one and bring it back to the campfire, adding the fluffy white marshmallow and turning it every few seconds while laughing with my fellow friends and campers. I add the chocolate and graham crackers and bite into the s’more. We all eat our s’mores and then sit and listen to one of the staff and campers pray. And the campfire ends with, “Amen!”
Who is the Pool King?
Aaron
Age: 13
Tribe: Judah
Pool time is my favorite part of camp. I love swimming with Micah, Ben, Gili, and Daniel. One of the best games to play in the pool is something I made up called Who is the Pool King? Basically, someone just says that they are the king of the pool and then other people try to become pool king too. The lifeguards at the pool are really nice and they keep us safe. Swimming is my favorite part of the day and it is so fun to play silly games with the other campers in my tribe.
Camp Gilgal’s Crazy Cool Craft
Emanuela
Age: 14
Tribe: Benjamin
Every year Camp Gilgal has a crazy cool craft. This year, we got a wooden template and had to wood burn our names onto it in Hebrew. We could also add some details. Noodles was the leader of craft this year. On my craft my name is written in Hebrew. I decided to add some mountains below my name. The first step was to sketch out your idea on a piece of paper. I wrote my name in bubble letters, then added two big mountains onto the left and right sides and small mountains in the middle. The next day we had to sand down the wooden templates that we were handed. There were two options—a rectangular one with corners or a rectangular one with round and smoothed out corners. I chose the second option. I started sanding with a light sandpaper, and I used the heavier sandpaper later.
Once everything was smooth and sanded, we lightly redrew the sketch we made on day 1 onto the wooden template. On day three, we started wood burning. I picked up the gloves, put them on, then picked up the wood burner and started to carefully trace my name and the mountains. Once I was done with the wood burner I put it down and took off my gloves. This brought me to day 4 of doing the craft. We started it off by putting on some gloves because we were going to stain our wooden templates. I put on my blue gloves while Noodles poured some of the stain in a cup. I dipped in the brush and started to stain. The wooden template turned into a glossy darker color. Once I was done, I took off my gloves and let my craft dry. Day 5 on the last day, we put some gloves on again and added the finisher, which is a glossy clear coat. It made my craft bright and glossy. I left it out to dry and the finished result was beautiful. Camp Gilgal is a fun place for messianic Jews to come together in Yeshua our Messiah and have fun.
FOB: Excitingly FUN!
Daniel
Age: 9
Tribe: Judah
In FOB (Flat On Bunk) sometimes we stay flat on bunk and sometimes we just can’t do it! When we get wiggly we have to stay quiet enough that we don’t wake up anyone trying to take a nap and then we can do things like building forts, doing magic tricks, and putting our stuffed animals together so that they can have a Bible study.
Songs in the Land of Canaan
Meora
Age: 10
Tribe: Benjamin
Campfire songs can be peaceful or loud, but they are always so fun. My personal favorite song during campfire is the 12 spies in Canaan song. It goes like this:
“12 men went to spy on Canaan. Ten were bad and two were good. What did they see when they spied on Canaan? Ten were bad and two were good. Some saw giants big and strong. Some saw grapes and clusters fall. Some saw God was in it all. Ten were bad and two were good.”
I don’t know why, but I cherish that song very much. I really enjoy the part where some of them realize God is there in the land with them; it really comforts me. Campfire songs aren’t just songs. They are songs that bring us together in God. I feel like it’s a joy to not only sing, but to sing to God. Plus, campfire is like the number one opportunity to make memories at camp, which I love and will cherish forever. I think campfire songs are one of the reasons I enjoy coming to camp. And that’s my Gilgal Gazette.
Movie Night
Jude
Age: 11
Tribe: Judah
Imagine a dark night in a random house and all your toys come to life. This is the plot of Toy Story, which is what we watched on Friday, which is movie night! It was super fun. This is a summary of it. Soooooo basically Woody is chilling, and then it is Andy’s birthday. Wow. Next, out of the middle of nowhere, a new toy comes and is sooooo cool, so Andy decides that Buzz (the name of the new toy) is going to take Woody’s seat as the best toy. So Woody is angry—like so angry—and he kinda partly throws Buzz out the window. Later the fam goes to Pizza Planet and a lot of things happen. After the movie we watched a lot of these cool shorts. It was cool and some had one of our counselors being abducted by aliens. It was so cool. That’s it. Bye!
The Mysterious Interview of Snapshot
Chaya
Age: 11
Tribe: Benjamin
Chaya: Where are you coming from? / Snapshot: I study in the Swiss mountains in Beatenberg, Switzerland.
Chaya: What do you study in Switzerland? / Snapshot: Theology; I focus on mission work. I also want to become a missionary for Jews for Jesus.
Chaya: Why do you want to become a missionary? / Snapshot: God put the unreached people - to which Jews belong - in my heart. I want to obey Jesus' great commission in Matthew 28:18-20 because God chose us to be a blessing to all nations, to the Jews first.
Chaya: If you could talk to God about anything, what would you ask? / Snapshot: Why does it seem that some people get mercy and others do not?
Chaya: Finally, if you were to move, where would you move to? / Snapshot: I want to be willing to leave my comfort zone to go wherever God wants me to be. If I could pick a state, it would probably be California because the sunshine keeps me happy.
Mission Impossible
Yael
Age: 8
Tribe: Benjamin
The first day of camp was so exciting, but I was also so excited about Mission Impossible. MI is a really fun clue game. It’s so fun that it’s my favorite, favorite game.
2 days later
Guess what?! Mission Impossible might not be happening. I'm so mad! But we still have one night left. I really hope it’s tonight.
Woah, we played Mission Impossible on the last night of camp. That was so surprising and so exciting. I really thought we weren’t going to get to play this year and I’m so glad we did—even though the boys won!
I AM GROOT
Gilad
Age: 12
Tribe: Judah
Hello my name is Gilad and today I am going to interview my counselor Groot.
Gilad: How did you get your name? / Groot: I just recently watched Guardians of the Galaxy and I asked my dad, “What should my name be?” and he said, “GROOT.”
Gilad: What connection did you have to Camp Gilgal before becoming a counselor? / Groot: I was actually never a camper but I always had a connection to RedSox.
Gilad: When you think of Camp Gilgal what do you see in your mind? / Groot: I see you guys right now.
Counselor Hunt
Eliora
Age: 13
Tribe: Benjamin
Day 3 of Camp Gilgal, on the field…
“Close your eyes!” Skidoo shouts. “Counselors find your hiding spot.”
The game that day was Counselor Hunt. It’s a game where the counselors choose an animal or object to act as, then they hide and think about what their object/animal likes, hates, and is tired of. After they’re ready the overseer (AKA Skidoo) will yell: “Goooo!” And we take off!
In the first round, our counselors Groot, Kiwi, Wave and Snapshot where hiding in plain sight so that it was pretty easy to find them. Wave, as it turned out, was a wave! So we all had to ask a bunch of questions to figure out what action we had to do to get him to the base. “Make a circle and do the wave motion,” someone said. It worked! While doing the wave motion we moved him to the base; apparently Wave was the last to be solved. Groot was a cow; it was funny.
The last round had to be the best. Snapshot was Covid and we all had to cough to get her. Groot was a Spanish wood collector. We had to give him sticks and speak Spanish to him. Kiwi was also a Spanish speaker and Wave was an owl. It was kind of hilarious because we all had to pretend to fly together. Overall it was super fun. It requires intelligence, courage and plenty of investigation. Do you have the skills to play? Find out next year at Camp Gilgal!
Decathlon Q&A
Ben
Age: 14
Tribe: Judah
Daniel, member of the Flaming Dragons
Ben: What was your favorite event? / Daniel: It was making the clothes out of random supplies because it was cool designing and making clothes for the fashion show event.
Gili, member of the Juicy Jews for Jewish Juice
Ben: Why did you choose the name JJFJJ / Gili: Because we are Jewish and the juice is from the fruits of the spirit, and we are also just juicy Jews.
Meora, member of the Gilgalian Maccabees
Ben: How did it feel winning? / Meora: It feels good to set your goal and achieve your goal. It is also really fun winning!
Kiwi, counselor member of Flaming Dragons
Ben: What was the idea behind your chant? / Kiwi: Orley thought up our chant. We had a ring of fire in our chant just because we wanted to.
Hebrew
Sylvia
Age: 12
Tribe: Benjamin
Hebrew is when someone says something and does the thing that they’re saying so you can learn the meaning of the new word. Sometimes it might be different than that, but it is really fun because you can learn a different language in a fun way. And you can maybe learn how to speak Hebrew really well. I feel like it’s really cool to learn a new language too. Some of the stuff that I learned that I really liked learning is the Alef Bet, plus everything else that I learned because I think it was really cool. So I really hope that you enjoy it and have fun too, because I think it is cool and fun!
Boating
Eliran
Age: 11
Tribe: Judah
I love boating. It is so fun! I spend time with my friends and enjoy the beautiful view. When I did it my favorite part about it was when we took 5 boats and combined them into one and paddled everywhere with 5 boats. The lifeguards are so kind and help me whenever I need help. I like the guy with long hair; he is so cool. I like to find seaweed in the water when boating. It is so cool to look at. Also, you can paddle to the end of the lake. I love boating!
Mission Impossible
Eden
Age: 8
Tribe: Benjamin
Mission Impossible is so exciting because you never know when it is going to happen. Here are the rules. You wake up at 10:30. If counselors see you, you have to start over. The goal is to collect all the clues. When you start the game, you get a clue and it’s really exciting. The clues you follow are emojis. It is awesome, and it is cool.
Wood Burning Conundrum
Ethan
Age: 11
Tribe: Judah
Wood Burning is dangerous if you don’t use the tools right. So when I went wood burning at Camp Gilgal I made sure that I listened to all of the rules of wood burning so I didn't get burned. And then after I finished wood burning, I stained the wood and it was fun.
Navy/Milling Games
Eliyana
Age: 8
Tribe: Benjamin
Milling games are fun challenges at Camp Gilgal. One of them is called Captain, Sailor, Gunner. It’s a game where one person (in this case Skidoo) calls out different commands: Captain (you have to give someone a piggyback ride while they salute in front), Sailor (requires 3 people; 2 of them kneel with one of their legs out so the 3rd person sits on their laps), and Gunner (requires 4 people, 3 of them get on their hands and knees and the 4th gets on top and pretends to shoot). And last but not least, “Hit the Deck!” is when you have to lay down on your stomach on the floor. And sometimes they add numbers to the game, like “3!” and you have to get into a group of 3, or shout Golon, Galel, or Gilgal. Those are locations of the field that we played in.
The Best of Benjamin
Emanuela
Age: 14
Tribe: Benjamin
My name is Emanuela. I am 14 years old. This is my 5th year at Camp Gilgal summer camp. I did gymnastics for 8 years.
Snapshot is a counselor. This is her first year at camp Gilgal. She loves to photograph special moments.
Kiwi is also a counselor. This is her 3rd year as a counselor. She has been to North America, Asia, Europe, and Africa.
Eliora is 13 years old. This is her 2nd year at Camp Gilgal. She is really good at drawing. This is Eliora’s last year at Camp Gilgal. And she is really funny.
Her sister, Eliyana, is 8 years old.
Sylvia is 12 years old. This is her 2nd year at Camp Gilgal. She does ballet.
Chaya is 11 years old. This is her 2nd year at camp Gilgal. She has 12 chickens.
Meora is 10 years old. This is her 2nd year at Camp Gilgal. She has a bearded dragon that’s named after Bilbo Baggins.
Orley is Meora’s sister. She is 9 years old. This is her first year at camp. She likes to do art.
Yael is 8 years old. This is her 2nd year at camp. Her eyes turn rainbow in the sun.
Eden is 8 years old. This is her first year at camp. Her hair shines in the sunlight.
I love being a part of the tribe of Benjamin. Everyone is so fun and I feel like we are all family when I am with them. They are so happy, joyful and funny.