East Camp 2026

What Are We Not? Statues!

Anga
Age: 12
Tribe: Naphtali

My name is Anga and I’m in the tribe of Naphtali. One of the best things we do when it is not raining is water balloon volleyball. Water balloon volleyball is my all time new favorite game now. It is played by tribe vs tribe. You have this tarp, but you have to get the front people holding the tarp up high and the back people have to hold the tarp low. When they put the ginormous water balloon in, you have to get the back people to put all their power and fling it up by using the tarp.

So when I played with my tribe we had to think of a strategy to win and ours was we got the front people putting the tarp to their chins and the back people had to bend down low to launch the balloon. After a while we figured out that if we put the balloon to one side and launched it the balloon would go on a curve.

We also named all of the balloons that we got to serve. The balloons were called Patrick Circle, Sandy Cheeks, Spongebob Circle Pants, Plankton, and Squidward. We made sure it was all Spongebob themed names, and it was so much fun. The best part about the water balloon volleyball is that you play to win first and we came in second in the whole tournament. So that’s why I love playing water balloon volleyball. It is so much fun and competitive, which was the best part ever.

Noodles

Hadassah
Age: 10
Tribe: Reuben

Hi, my name is Hadassah and I will be interviewing Noodles. She has five nephews, one niece, and eight immediate family members. Also, her favorite thing to do is to hang out with the people she loves—like me. Her favorite hobby is to paint with water colors and her favorite places she’s been to are Austria and Rome.

Her favorite bible verse is Philippians 4:6-7 because it says do not be anxious, but seek the Lord and he will give you his peace that surpasses all understanding, which helps her because she struggles with feeling anxious. Part of her testimony is about how God helped her with her anxiety and overthinking when she was in the bomb shelter in Israel. She was overthinking and shaking a lot in the dark and she was just there when most people were asleep. Then she suddenly felt God's peace. And then whenever she went into the bomb shelter again, instead of being anxious she worshiped her dang heart out.

Her favorite food is drunken noodles and cinnamon rolls. She likes, no, loves eating noodles. She also doesn't have a favorite animal which is kinda weird but anyway… She said she likes elephants. S’mores wants me to end this so… My favorite thing about Noodles is I like the way she smiles when she laughs. Finally, my last words shall be that I like Noodles’ laugh. It’s very unique and she should embrace it.

Tribe of Judah

Tuvel
Age: 11
Tribe: Judah

Hello my name is Tuvel. I will be talking about my cabin and tribe. First, my cabin’s name is the tribe of Judah. We chose this because we liked the symbol, a lion! Our tribe is sooo good because we don’t have many people so it’s not crowded at all. For FOB (flat on bunk), we play card games, like War, and sometimes we take naps. For the camp special “Water Balloon Volleyball”, the teams were too small so we combined with the older cabin and we made Judeon. My counselor's name is Ranger and we call him Ranger Danger Horsey. He is a cop. We made a degel with a Lion because of the lion of Judah. The color was orange. I drew the lion. It looked awesome. We also do cabin devotions.

The people in my tribe are Daniel, David, and Ranger. David left camp early for his sister’s friend’s bat mitzvah, so our cabin got smaller. “And then there were two”. It was very fun when I played basketball with my tribe. Gaga ball is also very fun with my tribe. We do special activities like making s’mores with my tribe. We also learn Hebrew with Kayitz. For the awards, my certificate was ‘hungry for God's word’. I also got the tribe flag. I am super happy! It was my first time getting the flag! It was super fun spending my summer at Camp Gilgal. I am super excited for next year’s Camp Gilgal 2027! This is all I can say about the tribe of Judah.

Water Balloon Volleyball

Ethan
Age: 13
Tribe: Simeon

If you have never played water balloon volleyball before, let me tell you about it. It is a game where you get a tarp to catch and throw the ball. This year, my tribe and the tribe of Judah joined together to make one big men’s team called Jud-eon. We won every round. “Don’t be a statue” was our strategy. We faced the tribe of Reuben and the tribe of Naphtali. Naphtali was in the finals. We used teamwork and listened to our 5-year champion, Spot. If we were to lose twice in the finals, we would be out because it was a double elimination. But we didn’t lose once, so we were okay and we were able to win the final. To catch it, you have to bend in the tarp so that it has some slack to it so it can roll down. To get the water balloon over the net you and your team lift one slide of the tarp, then let the balloon roll down. Then you lift the alternate side fast so it goes over the net and hope the other team does not catch it. Using these strategies we were able to win.

All About FOB

Orley
Age: 11
Tribe: Naphtali

Today I am going to talk all about FOB. FOB stands for flat on bunk. The main thing about FOB is to stay on your bunk and be quiet. That might not sound like fun but you also have time to read, play with toys, sleep, and do things you can’t do during camp. I personally think FOB is a nice time to relax. Sometimes it's boring but sometimes it’s fun. In my cabin, the tribe of Naphtali, we usually laugh a lot, make bracelets, and other stuff. FOB is also a great quiet time. FOB is usually after lunch and it is about an hour long. But even though FOB might seem boring to some, it is really fun. Like I asked my friend TWIX what she likes and does not like about FOB and she said “Time to relax and the worst is you get bored easily.” So you see that sometimes you can get bored but sometimes you can relax. You also cannot go to other people’s bunks. Sometimes you have to lay down. So now you know what FOB is like. If you ever come to Camp Gilgal you will see for yourself.

Camp Gilgal Store

Josey
Age: 10
Tribe: Reuben

At the Camp Gilgal store you can buy snacks, fidgets, gum, and more! You can buy the stuff for very cheap prices. I got a stress ball. Then it popped! But don’t worry, I got a replacement. I got a stressball, two packs of gum, a black bandana, four worry rocks, one bag of chips, two starbursts, and one Motts gummy. If you’re wondering what a “worry rock” is, it is a rubber fidget that you can rub your thumbs against.

I interviewed my cousin Eden and she said, “I bought some snacks, also squishies and fidgets. I also bought stuff for camping. The camp store was nice. The quality was very good.” If you go to camp, you should buy something from the camp store.

Hebrew

Daniel
Age: 11
Tribe: Judah

Hi, I am Daniel. My favorite part of camp Gilgal is Hebrew. I like Hebrew because it’s my language. We also do a lot of games in Hebrew and it’s a lot of fun. One of the games we played was an obstacle course. The obstacle course was in Hebrew and my team won and we got fun toys and snacks. The words I learned are fun, sit, stand, run, jump, eat, and a ton more. Kayitz is the Hebrew teacher and she is very fun and amazing. She is from Israel and her name in Hebrew means summer. I learned a lot, so you should come to Camp Gilgal next year too.

Tribe of Simeon

Micah
Age: 13
Tribe: Simeon

Hello, my name is Micah and I am thirteen years old. I am going to tell you about my tribe. I am in the tribe of Simeon. I will tell you about my tribe. First, we have Spot on the helm of our tribe as our leader. Then we have Ethan, the smart one and strong one. Then Eliran, the Ultimate Frisbee King. Then me, the wild card. Our tribe symbol is the Sword. We picked this tribe because swords are tough. Eliran's favorite game is Ultimate Frisbee. Ethan’s favorite game is Capture the Degel. Spot’s favorite game is Water Balloon Volleyball. My favorite game is Capture the Degel. We are in the last cabin on the boys side. Our Degel is red as blood because swords draw blood. We made a revolutionary effect by putting the sword in the stone. We also have tribe time where we do whatever we want. We play the card game War during FOB. The food here is very good. We combined our boys tribes and made Jud-eon. Now it is time to say goodbye. This tribe was fun to be in. It was awesome.

S’moresy

Abigail
Age: 8
Tribe: Reuben

Hi, my name is Abigail. I love campfire! I will be introducing you to what you do at a campfire! First you have to make sure that it is night time so you can see the fire! Then if you want then you can put your hands next to the fire so they can be warm. You also sing songs and eat yummy s’mores!

One thing that makes campfire amazing is the songs sound great. The second reason why campfire is amazing is because people can tell stories about themselves! The third reason why campfire is amazing is because we connect with others! Another reason why I love campfire is because the s’mores are yummy! The Last reason is because of the songs that we sing! One song we sing is called 12 men and another is Baby Whale. I love Campfire. Campfire is one of my favorite parts of Camp Gilgal.

P.S. A counselor named S’mores roasted my yummy-yummy-in-my-tummy marshmallow!

Ultimate Frisbee

Eliran
Age: 13
Tribe: Simeon

Have you ever played Ultimate Frisbee? If you haven’t, keep reading because I’m about to tell you why I love it and how to play. Ok, so as a kid, I loved playing frisbee. It’s something I would always play in my free time whether it was with my siblings or with my friends. When I went to camp and saw that my good old counselor Spot brought with him a frisbee—and it wasn’t a normal one, it was a real professional frisbee—I was sooo ready to play. But Spot wasn’t just planning on passing it back and forth. No, we were going to play a real game of Frisbee, Ultimate Frisbee. At first, I thought, what is the real game Ultimate Frisbee? I didn’t know there was even such a thing. That made me very excited to play. So when we got to the field, Spot told us the rules. It goes like this. There are 7 people on each team. If you get stalled or if you drop the frisbee then it is a turn over. When you get a turn over, it means you cannot touch the frisbee. Instead, you must wait ‘til the other team comes and takes the frisbee. When you get passed the Frisbee, you must also not move. You have to stay exactly where you are and as soon as you throw the frisbee you can move. The way to win is by getting the frisbee on the other side of the team’s end zone. The first to do that 3 times wins the game of Ultimate Frisbee. Last but not least why I love the game is because in order to win you must work as a team, and that’s what makes it so fun. So if you ever want to come to camp, I’ll be waiting to play the game of Ultimate Frisbee. Thank you and bye.

The Pool

David
Age: 8
Tribe: Judah

My name is David. One of my favorite things at camp is the pool. At the pool area there is a splash pad and two pools. I also play frisbee there. We usually go to the pool after breakfast and tabernacle. We have to walk for 15 minutes to get to the pool, but it’s kind of worth it. I like that I get to play frisbee at the pool. We have water balls that can go in the pool and we all like to throw them and splash each other. I asked Ranger about his favorite part of the pool and he said he likes to do swim races.

At the splash pad there is a tall blue thing. When you press it the water starts to spray out - dun dun dun da! Like magic. I play in it all and run through it. I normally am the first one who gets in the pool. The pool is cold when you first get in, but it warms up pretty fast. Tuvel said his favorite part is also playing frisbee. I hope you come to Camp Gilgal.

My Tribe

Eden L.
Age: 10
Tribe: Reuben

If I were to describe my tribe in one word, it would be “amazing!” My name is Eden and my tribe is called Reuben. The people in my tribe are me, Josey, Eliyana, Hadassah, and Abigail. During all the activities we always try to have fun even if it’s not always fun. My tribe is really fun because I know most of the people and we can get to know them better. I hope we have a lot of fun in the future. My tribe’s symbol is a flower. We made a beautiful degel that has a flower on it. The counselors are Noodles and Twix, Our cabin is very small so we only have a little to clean during cabin clean up. The path to our cabin is really cute and covered in moss.

The Hunt for the Degel

Mielli
Age: 12
Tribe: Naphtali

One of my favorite sports and games in Camp Gilgal has to be Capture the Degel. But this one was like no other. Every other game there would be a player switch where players would switch teams but I really wanted to stay loyal to my team. The first game was intense. I got so close to the degel, but then Ranger got me and sadly I had to go to jail. Later on, Spot came and saved us. We won the first game. Then the second game was gonna start. We did some player trading (good thing I didn’t have to trade teams). Then, the second game started. I ran and my teammate passed me the ball. I ran and passed it to Caramel then I got tagged. Then I looked at Caramel and she did not catch the ball. It turns out that she didn’t hear me! I was devastated that the other team won the second match but we still had another game to play again. This game was the most important one because whoever won got bragging rights. Then after we lost and I had to switch teams, I was even more devastated because I couldn’t stay loyal to my team. But either way, I had to win. This game was the most intense one of them all. There was only one person on defense on the other team. This gave my team a huge advantage. I ran there and back so many times but, sadly, as soon as I got the degel in my hands I looked over to my team's side and all of the people that were in jail were there. I lost the ball and sadly the other team won. This is a great memory for me about Camp Gilgal and I hope that I can come again next year.

Bible Time!

Abigail
Age: 8
Tribe: Reuben

Hi, my name is Abigail. I will be introducing you to what you do in Tabernacle. First, get your Bible. Next, you read the Word of God, worship, and sing together. Now I will be telling you about how amazing Tabernacle is! The tabernacle is so amazing! Also, sometimes we even do a fun activity! Tabernacle makes you feel closer to God!

One reason why I love Tabernacle is because it makes me feel proud! Another reason is because I can read the Bible and talk about it with everyone. The last reason why I love tabernacle is because we can memorize Isaiah 9:2-7!

Usually Noodles led worship for us. Two songs that I love a lot are “One Thing Remains” and “Great Are You Lord.” Tabernacle is one of my favorite parts of Camp Gilgal! Tabernacle is so much fun. I love it so much and so should you! I hope you enjoyed reading BIBLE TIME!

Tribe of Naphtali

Eden C.
Age: 10
Tribe: Naphtali

My name is Eden. I’m 10 years old. I am in the tribe of Naphtali. A tribe is like a group of people that does activities together throughout camp. My tribe leaders are Alfredo and Caramel. The people in my cabin are Yael, Orley, Anga, Meora, Mielli, and me. So far my favorite part was the crazy hair day, but I’m really excited for MI which means Mission Impossible. It is where the counselors try to spot us with a flash light. It was really fun. After that, sadly two of my cabin member left. Meora and Orley left but I still have Yael, Anga, Mielli, and me. I think my favorite thing to do with my cabin is FOB because it’s so silent but everybody laughs. I think my least favorite thing is how far we have to walk to get to the pool. Another thing I love about camp is Short King because we have to clean our cabin and the Short King inspects them and each cabin gets their own score. Everybody knows that Short King really S’mores because for some strange reason they look very similar.

Eating is Fun!

Eliyana
Age: 10
Tribe: Reuben

The pizza was pretty good. The second day we had big fries, which were really good and so was the dessert. Today for lunch we had pretzel sandwiches and fries. They were pretty good. When we were waiting to be fed, my tribe sang a song called “Birds in the Wilderness” and did hand motions on the table. When you’re the first tribe to finish eating and cleaning your table you get to do special hand motions. At lunch time we do our Hebrew and English prayers. “Short King” also comes in and tells us if our cabins were clean or not.

One of the special nights at dinner was Stop and Go Night. That's when Snapple or S’mores blow the whistle and we have to stop eating and what we’re doing they will take our utensils away. Another special night is No/Know Night, which is when you say “no” or “know,” you get your clip taken away. At the end, whoever has the most clips wins. We had crazy hair nights and we put pipe cleaners in our hair like the little bows you put on presents because our tribe is like presents. For Bible Story Night we had to figure out what Bible Story to do. Twix was Moses and she parted the Red Sea so the Israelites (the campers) could walk.

Every day and any time we eat, we can ask out of cabin staff to sit with us, like Snapple, S’mores, Wallaby, or Kayitz. When we all line up at lunch time we all have to say something like “hello,” “good afternoon,” or “good evening, your majesty.”

The Great Search

Yael
Age: 10
Tribe: Naphtali

My name is Yael R. I am in the tribe of Naphtali and I’m 10 years old. One of my favorite things to play at Camp Gilgal is Counselor Hunt. It all started with everyone sitting down and then Snapple said, “WE ARE PLAYING COUNSELOR HUNT!!!”. After that, they explained the rules. The rules are that all the counselors have gone crazy and we have to figure out what is wrong with them, then somehow bring them back to the base/the dining room. Then we started.

I went right to Spot and he kept saying “look at this wave” and started going to the base. But he kept turning around so I left and went to Twix. I found out that she was a jelly fish that said “where are my friends” so we all said that we are the friends she was looking for and led her to the base. After Twix, I went to Kayitz and she was a baby that wanted a pacifier and her mom. I told her they were in the base and it worked. Once I was done with Kayitz, I did Alfi. She was a goat that wanted food and every time someone would scream, she would faint. After that, I went back to Spot and finally figured out that he wanted a lot of people as a wave. Then, everyone ran to Ranger and started mooing and the campers won. The end.

The Peanut Gallery

Meora
Age: 13
Tribe: Naphtali

My name is Meora and this is my third year of camp. In my two years, I have never experienced a game like ‘silent football.’ If you enjoy weird, hilarious games that are silent, this is the game for you.

The object of the game is to pass the imaginary ball around the circle using 2 motions: the thwaka (pronounced as Thw-ah-cka) and the zooma. These actions allow you to pass the ball to others, though they cannot be used more than three times in succession. To disable the actions, you can use the shrug; or the shmotum. The only rule is that you can shrug a shrug, you can shmotum a shmotum, but you can never, ever shrug a shomtum. It is a high disrespect to the peanut gallery and Mr. Commissioner.

The circle of people you play with are acknowledged as the peanut gallery and the person who initiates the games is known as “Mr. Commissioner”. Everyone who plays is always called “Mr.” and their name. Pronouns in the game are forbidden and will result in a penalty. When you are awarded 3 penalties, you are given a dare that is approved by the whole peanut gallery. In this game, you don’t try to win, your goal is to not lose. This game goes on forever, so be prepared. When you want to call out someone, you have to raise your hand, and wait for Mr. Commissioner to call on you, then you start the sentence with “Mr. Commissioner, Mr. _____ noticed that Mr. ______ did,” or something similar to that. I hope you enjoy this game as much as I do. If you would like to know more about silent football, you can look it up or ask Spot.