East Camp 2025
Canoeing
Eliran
Age: 12
Tribe: Levi
Hi my name is Eliran and today I will be talking about canoeing and why I love it. I love canoeing because of the beautiful view of the trees while I ride in the canoe. I also make new friends in the canoe. But my most favorite thing to do is look for rocks on the edge of the water and then throw them back into the deep end so that it makes a satisfying plop sound. I like to be in the front of the boat and paddle because I can see everything and I control the boat. If you ever come to Camp Gilgal, I can't wait to hear your favorite thing to do when canoeing. Thank you and bye.
Camp Core with the Tribe of Asher
Mary
Age: 14
Tribe: Asher
We wake up daily at 6:00 AM to Honey our tribe leader getting up, opening her suitcase, then letting the door slam as she goes to get ready. We go back to sleep until 7:20 and get out of bed at 7:30 because Patches (our other tribe leader) wakes us up and says, “Guys I woke you up 50,000 times already! Seriously, get up, get dressed, whatever you need to do!”
When we’re all ready, we get breakfast—it's usually good. Then we do Tabernacle time and worship and talk about the Bible. Then we go to the pool and sit in the corner and read while the others swim. We walk back for tribe time and change, practice our Bible verse, and shower before lunch. Lunch is the BEST meal of the day—no bad lunches yet.
After lunch we do FOB (flat on bunk) for an hour until activities. In Hebrew we sing and stuff, and in arts and crafts we made a mezuzah. We then do our third activity, which we can choose from field sports or artsy fun options—I chose art and drew everyone at camp in my own way—and then activities end.
We get ready for dinner and pray and eat. After dinner, we get ready for more camp activities. We play games like milling, catch the counselor, ninja heist, and capture the degel until we become tired. Then we go to the fire to sing and the camp staff tell stories about how they got to know God and then a camper prays for them.
We go to bed after staying behind to ask questions and we read a verse before bed. We ask questions about the Bible to our tribe leaders until they yell at us to “Go to bed! Enough questions already!” (in reality they say “Bedtime!” but my way of saying it is more dramatic, which makes it better). We pray for everyone (we pray a lot) and go to sleep. Then we hear the outdoors until we sleep.
I'm 14 and this is my first time at this camp. Anyways, this is camp core—or, if you're old, it’s “a day in the life of a camper.”
P.S. This camp is fun and these are the best counselors ever! : )
Movie Night
Jude
Age: 11
Tribe: Dan
Picture this…It is a dark and spooky night in camp. You're waiting down the road and you hear children screaming. You hear a blood curdling scream that could shatter glass. You go in to investigate and you discover…MOVIE NIGHT!
Hi, I’m Jude from Camp Gilgal and last night we watched "Ratatouille". If you have not seen it, it is about a rat who is the best chef ever, and a dude named Linguini (like the pasta) who is the worst possible chef ever. So they team up to become the best chef team.
At movie night we also had tons of snacks. At one point the projector even fell down (but it was fine). It was shocking and kind of funny. I love movie night and this one was great!
Milling Games
Eliyana
Age: 9
Tribe: Benjamin
One of the all camp activities that I like the best is milling games. The milling games are a group of games that keep changing, and I like the variety.
The games are a lot of paying attention to instructions and responding quickly. Sometimes I am really fast and sometimes I get out. The games are Captain, Sailor, Gunner, Clump and Gilgal-Golan-Gilleal. Most of the time we play in English but sometimes we play in Hebrew. In Hebrew class ‘lerutz’ means running, ‘lakfutz’ means jumping. Listening and playing is so fun and it is so fun to work together.
The Tribe of Levi
Aaron
Age: 14
Tribe: Levi
We play so many fun games in the tribe of Levi cabin, like Aaron Uno, or Country Conquer. Both games are so fun to play. This year there are three campers in our tribe: Micah, Eliran, and me. The counselors are Chipotle and Beardo. We really like to play games. Micah likes to play pranks on Chipotle. Micah also has a habit of laughing in the middle of the night. Eliran likes sleeping during FOB.
We had so much fun getting ready for the skit we performed on skit night. Our skit was like a little opera. I played the messenger and sang opera in the story of Joab and Absalom. Eliran played Joab and Micah played Absalom. Beardo played king David and Chipotle played Solomon. Micah and Chipotle practiced their sword fighting scene day and night and it ended up really good. We had to take out some scenes because it was too long.
I've really enjoyed being in the tribe of Levi. The tribe of Levi is so much fun. During pool, we have a game where I declare myself emperor of the pool and anyone who does not follow the commands of Aaronis Maximus Caesar of the Roman empire of the pool will be splashed out of the splash zone. Only the loyal survive the pool. Eliran would try and take the throne and so would Micah, but in the final days of pool he decided to be on my side.
I love my tribe. It is so much fun. This year I got camper of the year, which is super cool since it's my last year as a camper!
Pool Time
Sylvia
Age: 13
Tribe: Asher
Hi, my name is Sylvia. Pool time has been one of my favorites at Camp Gilgal because I like to hangout with my friends and swim. At the pool some crazy stuff happens, like kids splashing each other a lot. The pool is so cold when we first get in, but it gets better and it is more fun once we get used to the temperature.
When I'm at the pool I like doing cool and fun things. The things that I like to do are crisscross applesauce at the floor of the pool. I also like to lay down in the pool and to swim like a mermaid because it is really fun.
Pool time is a place where you can swim and you can do stuff like drawing, reading, resting, and sleeping. I feel like pool time is good too because you can get exercise in the pool and it's good for adults and children to swim and get exercise. So, overall, pool time is one of my favorite activities.
Field Sports
Tuvel
Age: 10
Tribe: Dan
I love field sports because I really enjoy playing games at camp. We work together and have a lot of strategies. Games like Ha Dov Ratz are really competitive and I am able to sneak through while others are getting caught. Capture the Degel is amazing because we get to hide the degel, find the degel, and work together to get people in jail. The milling games are different games where we have to listen carefully and respond quickly—like in Captain, Sailor, Gunner. I really like field sports a lot because I love working hard, running a lot, being competitive and even winning!
Row Your Boat
Yael R
Age: 9
Tribe: Benjamin
Hi, my name is Yael and I am in the tribe of Benjamin. I am nine years old. One of my favorite things to do at camp is to go boating, so I am going to tell you all about the first time I went.
First, when we got there we went over the rules. One of them was “don’t rock the boat.” After the rules, we got to choose our partners. My partners were Eden, Eliyana, and Skidoo. When we went on the water, I was paddling in the back. Eden was paddling in the front. And Eliyana and Skidoo were in the middle.
After we were rowing for a bit, all six boats on the water connected. But then we let go, and me, Eliyana, and Eden switched spots. I went in the front, Eliyana went in the back, and Skidoo and Eden went in the middle. Then, we went to the water. Fifteen minutes later, we had to go back and it was time to leave. I hope you enjoyed listening about how much fun boating was.
Ha Dov Ratz
Micah
Age: 12
Tribe: Levi
If you've played Sharks and Minnows or Fishy Cross My Ocean, you will be familiar with Ha Dov Ratz. The name means ‘the bear runs’ in Hebrew. I like being a fish. When we were playing Ha Dov Ratz, I got caught by Pickle when I was taunting the bears while Eliana was running across with my sister. When I was running after someone, I ran into Beardo and did a back flip. It was fun. The end.
Cabin Inspection
Mielli
Age: 11
Tribe: Asher
Hi, my name is Mielli and I am going to tell you about cabin inspections. Some people find cabin inspection fun and some think it's some boring strict check-up of our cabin. I find it easy, and what I really find fun about it is the end when we get our points revealed.
I have been to Camp Gilgal twice and on my second time there (this year) I love it even more. Our goal this year was 75,000 points. This year my cabin was having really good cabin points. This is all because of the judgement stick. One of our tribe leaders had a stick and it would tap on anything that might take away points. This stick pointed out all the things that they would point out in an actual inspection. This stick was really magical.
M.I.
Ethan
Age: 12
Tribe: Dan
I knew from the start of Mission Impossible—which might have been the music, but all I heard was Micah screaming “It’s M.I., it’s M.I., it’s M.I.!”—that my tribe, the tribe of Dan, was going to win. The clues for M.I. were all about locating Jerry, the cabin inspection capybara. Some of the clues were easy to find. Some were more tricky—like all of the clues in the Mishkan because a bat got into the building—but we kept going even when we got spotted three times and had to go back to our cabin. One time we got spotted on purpose so we could get to the clue in our cabin. M.I. is my favorite thing about camp and I am so glad we got to play and win!
FOB Part 1 (Fun in the Tribe of Asher)
Anga
Age: 11
Tribe: Asher
Hi, my name is Anga. I’m in the tribe of Asher and we are crazy, but even though we're crazy it's very fun. I'm from Canada with my other friends.
Today I am going to tell you what I did during FOBs with my friend Mielli. During FOB I couldn't sleep so I was talking to Mielli about Trader Joe’s, and we found a bug on her bed and we got the idea to roast the bug (meaning to make fun of it). I don't know why we did this. Just after the last roast the bug died and Patches came in and we said, “Patches, Patches, we were roasting a bug and it died.” We got rid of the bug but we laughed so hard.
The second FOB story was when my other friend Yael was snoring loudly and we got an idea for Mielli to rap to her snoring. And if you know the song “Nokia” by Drake, instead of saying who's calling my phone we said who's snoring my phone. I made a new version of the song. After, we told Yael about what we did and we couldn't stop laughing.
FOB Part 2 (Snore Rapping)
Yael S
Age: 12
Tribe: Asher
FOB is my favorite part of the day, but before I tell you more about it I must introduce myself. My name is Yael, I'm a first year camper and I am turning 13 in October. I hope you enjoy my FOB story.
Anyways…this happened twice the whole week. My tribe started rapping to my snoring. It started with Honey rapping to my snoring. “Tribe Asher, we the best!” is what Honey rapped. Then a couple days later during FOB, Anga did a remake of “Nokia” by Drake. She called it, “Who’s snoring my phone.” This made camp fun. Yael out.
FOB Part 3
Eden
Age: 9
Tribe: Benjamin
FOB stands for “flat on bunk.” FOB is very quiet. All you can do is read, write, sleep and draw. Sounds boring right? But I like reading, so it's not too bad. In some ways it's nice to get some quiet time now and again. Sometimes I’m pretty loud with the other girls because I am not tired. I also play games with no noise to pass the time with other girls, like charades.
FOB Part 4
Eliran
Age: 12
Tribe: Levi
Hi, my name is Eliran and I will be talking about FOB, which is short for “flat on bunk”. It is so fun because you can play games, you can sleep, and you can even play gaga ball. My favorite thing to do at FOB is sleeping because it gives me an extra boost so that I can have energy for field sports. But if you don't want to sleep, then that is ok. You can play Uno with your friends if you want, or you can practice your skit. Thank you and bye.
Tribe of Dan
Daniel
Age: 10
Tribe: Dan
My name is Daniel and I am a proud part of the tribe of Dan. They named the tribe after me (just kidding). Here are some memories from the tribe of Dan 2025.
It was 9:34 and we were walking to our cabin. We were shocked to see a wasp inside the cabin when we got there. It was a big, creepy, horrifying bug. In the beginning we thought it would fly away, but we had to call Snapple, Skidoo, and Groot who killed the wasp.
Our tribe won M.I. but one of our clues was inside the tabernacle where there were two bats. We called them friends named Tiffany and Timmy.
Another good memory was our skit. We were doing the story of Jacob and Esau and I played Rebekah.
During camp I met a new friend named Tuvel and we are the exact same age and we have the exact same birthday and birth time. We like to talk about crazy kosher stuff. I also taught him my technique for making salad. First you take two bowls. One is empty and the other has salad in it. You take your dressing and open it and use the two bowls to squeeze out the dressing. Then you shake it.
Another good memory is when I stole the tribe of Levi’s flag. And if you want to know how I stole it, I did it by distracting them so that they forgot their flag.
Thank you for listening to Daniel, age 10, tribe of Dan. I love my counselor Groot, and I love my tribe.
Capture the Degel
Lourdes
Age: 11
Tribe: Benjamin
My name is Lordes, I'm 11, and I am at Camp Gilgal. Today I'm talking about Capture the Degel. I was really good at it because I was saving everyone and it was really fun. Capture the Degel is basically Capture the Flag except Degel is Hebrew for flag. I had never played this game before. It has two teams and the point of the game is to get as many people out of jail as possible and, of course, to capture the Degel and return it to your team's side. The first time I tried to get someone out of jail I got caught, but then I had a comeback and got seven people in a row without getting tagged. Because our team was freed from jail, we won the whole game. I didn't get the flag, but I really helped get the win.
4 Square and Pool
Hadassah
Age: 8
Tribe: Benjamin
Hello there, I am Hadassah. I like to play 4 square and swim in the pool. 4 square is a game with 4 squares and you need 4 people. One person serves the ball and is called the king. The king serves the ball to me and you pick someone to hit it to and they hit it to someone else. Then someone gets out and one person from the line gets in and it goes on for like 5 hours. Figure out how to play 4 square and once you figure it out you will love it.
There are three different types of pools at camp. Two deep ones and one kiddie pool. The two 4 feet ones are very fun to swim in. One is very long and one side is for relaxing and one side is for splashing. I did hand stands in the pool, flips, and had tea parties in the water. I recommend doing tea parties underwater. They are so much fun. A tea party underwater is basically sitting crisscross applesauce under water and using your fingers as a tea cup. You drink fake tea underwater. The end.