Called to Serve

(Mark 10:45)

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The Gilgal Gazette is published by Camp Gilgal campers for Camp Gilgal campers and their families and friends!

Tribes:

Tribe of Issachar: Avishai S., David M., Jacob Z., Levi H., Micah M., Cyclops

Tribe of Judah: Daphne N., Hannah D., Johannah C., Ketzia B.,  Leelle S., Liza C., Rebecca T., Sarah M., Heinz, Chickpea

Tribe of Dan: Ana G., Anaelle S., Dana C., Daniela R., Esther C., Maria K., Tatiana P., Sketch, Reptar

Tribe of Manasseh: Chloe N., Nastasya P., Rachel S., Rena B., Simone P., Violetta M., Cynthia R., Eureka

Out-of-Cabin Staff: Blewish, Tauros, Strings, Twister

Our Camp Gilgal Family

Johannah C., Age 13
Tribe of Judah

Chickpea has been at Camp Gilgal for six years and her favorite year at camp was 2005. She knew about Camp Gilgal through some family friends, but her parents also worked for Jews for Jesus for a while. Her favorite teen camp activity is the Decathalon. Her name is Chickpea because she says it suits her. She feels it’s a “superhero identity” for her. She had family at camp with her this year (one cousin at junior camp and five at teen camp!) and she really enjoyed it. She said it was “interesting,” especially since some of them were in her cabin! She loves teen camp the most, and she loved this year at camp because she learned a lot from campers as well as staff.

Her favorite Bible verse is Jeremiah 29:11 (“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”), and her favorite book of the Bible is James. If she were
on a deserted island and it flipped over and became a restaurant she said it would be some Thai place that had a healthier kind of pad thai waiting for her. I asked her what was with Strudel, and she said that Strudel wasn’t really her
word, but “Strudel is Strudel.”

Simone P., Age 15
Tribe of Manasseh

(This article was written under very angry circumstances)

I don’t like Strings. She is very mean. You might be wondering what Strings has done that makes her so mean. I can answer that. Strings is making me write this article. Writing is not fun. I do not like to write and Strings is making me write, therefore I don’t like Strings. I am going to hurry up and finish this article so I can go back to my cabin and FOB. YAY! By the way: on particular normal days with normal circumstances and when I am not being deprived from my sleep or forced to write, Strings is awesome!

Simone: My Least Favorite Campers

Strings
Out-of-Cabin Staff

[DISCLAIMER: This article was written under emotional duress as a rebuttal to Simone. It is personal.]

Simone is my least favorite camper. The first time we met, she was a cute seven year-old at WWW and she was in my cabin the next year at camp. But that has all changed. Now, she’s been to camp so many times, she thinks she knows everything! She likes to roll her eyes at me and tell me weird things. She might even be an ATL next year! WOW! She’s old!            

Just kidding! Simone is awesome and I love hanging out with her. We’ll see about next year…

Anaelle S., Age 14
Tribe of Dan

I got to interview one of my tribe leaders, Sketch, this year. Sketch came to camp this year because God worked it out for her to only be at teen camp, so she was able to get time off from work to do so. She told me she loves teen camp so she was really glad she could come. Sketch loves to be a tribe leader because it is always fun to be able to share her life with the campers. She said that her campers are cool and hilarious and she loves having the opportunity to help them in their walk with God. She also told me she loves the food!

I also asked Sketch if she liked her cabin this year. Her answer was clear. “The girls were very funny, entertaining, and smart. I had a cabin full of super models who all dressed so well. They taught me how to be cool.” Sketch only drinks
coffee, so I decided to ask her why. She said she drinks coffee because she wants to stunt her growth! She also likes to be awake…all the time!  

I closed the interview by asking Sketch about her favorite activity. She liked all the activities she led: “Supermodeling was deep and profoundly emotional. Superhero/Villan was epic: we battled, used catch-phrases, defeated tentsville
and ate soup.” She also really enjoyed the Bible topics and said she was stumped by us several times, but it was good because she thought about things she had never thought about before. I really liked getting to be in Sketch’s cabin!

David M., Age 15
Tribe of Issachar

On the night of the campout, the boys of camp (there are five of us and three male guy staff) were thinking of how to prank the girls. And we came up with the idea of unhooking the sticks that hold the tent up. So then the tent would collapse on the girls inside. So the plan was set and we waited till we knew all the girls were asleep. And once they fell asleep, we sneaked up quietly to the first tent and started unhooking the sticks off the tents and then we watched it collapse. All the guys ran away and started laughing hysterically. We then moved on to the rest of the tents and watched them all collapse. Then the girls began to scream because they had no idea what was going on. Some were upset, some were impressed about the prank. But the guys and I were really proud. Guys 3, Girls 0. My point – GUYS CABIN RULES!

Cyndi R., Age 15
Tribe of Manasseh 

Everyone knows that Counselor Hunt is played at junior camp, but this year it was played at teen camp. It was a very interesting experience, and it hurt my arms very much. This is because Eureka was convinced she was Gollum and obviously, the ring had to be in the opposite direction of the fire pit (where we needed to bring tribe leaders to end the game.) Chickpea was a “hippy-potomus” that was protesting the war; which war, I do not know. Cyclops was a sloth up in a tree that threw twigs and finally threw his watch. We had to carry all three.

The more annoying counselors/animals were…Twister: a mocking-bird; Strings: a copycat; and Reptar: a fainting goat that collapsed at loud noises. Other less annoying ones were Heinz as a bunny that was afraid of open spaces, Tauros as a penguin (don’t ask me), and Sketch who was posing as her 17-year-old cat, Goldstar. I must admit, it was a very nice flashback to junior camp, when Detour had a staring contest with a spider.

Leele S., Age 12
Tribe of Judah

Teen camp Scream-O was awesome. It was my first time playing, and I got scared by Heinz and Ana because they were so competitive. They rolled the dice so slowly, but yelled if you weren’t moving fast.

The game is stressful but fun. The point of the game is to get rid of all your numbers. You have a partner, and you play against the other team. You roll the dice, and whatever number comes up, you flip that number card over. If you roll the same number twice, then your partner (if he or she hasn’t rolled it yet,) flips over their number card. If your partner already has it flipped, you pass the dice to the other team. The moment both team members have all their cards flipped over, you both shout “Scream-O!” If your group hasn’t finished the game, you add up the total number of points left and whoever’s is lower gets to move up a table toward the number one spot.

The game is very chaotic, fast, and if you are slow then you are ALWAYS yelled at. When I played Scream-O I enjoyed it very much. I got very into the game and screamed, but NEVER as loud as Ana and Heinz – they almost killed people! But don’t get offended – it’s only a game!

Esther C., Age 15
Tribe of Dan

On Wednesday, we went camping. The car ride was really long, but really fun. When we got to the campsite, it was pouring rain outside so we had a dance party in our van. After the rain stopped, we put up all the tents and played mafia before dinner. Later, after dinner, we all had s’mores, and then a campfire, and then we went to bed. In the middle of the night, Dana and I woke up with our tent in our faces and since it had rained about three times that day, the tent was wet. We heard all the boys outside laughing so we went out in the cold, wet field and found out the boys took down all the girls’ tents as a prank. So we put up our tent and yelled at the boys for a couple minutes because they were standing around telling us to be quiet. I went to my tent after that and tried to go back to sleep. All in all, the campout was a lot of fun, even with the prank.

Sarah M., Age 13
Tribe of Judah

Paintball was awesome! The only downside was getting painful welts on Shabbat. But it was really, really fun being able to go paintballing. The first game we played was some people’s first time playing, but it was still incredibly intense. The second game was very much like the first one. Then we played Capture the Degel. We had to strategize and provide cover for the person trying to capture the actual degel.

Paintball is all about stealth, daring, aim and power. At the end of the activity, there was not one person who had not either shot someone or been shot.

Avi S., Age 16
Tribe of Issachar

Archery is fun but there are a few problems. There is a net at the back of the range to keep arrows from going into the woods, but it is thin so arrows pass right through it. There are a lot of arrows lost in the woods behind the range, and when we lose arrows for awhile and then find them again, they are usually either broken, bent or misshapen. The other problem is that the bows aren’t strong enough for me.

There are also good things though. You don’t rip your skin when you shoot – it’s because the bows aren’t too intense, the targets are good, and I once got to shoot three arrows in one shot from the bow. When I shot all three at once, I got them all on the target.

Daphne N., Age 12
Tribe of Judah

During camp, we do a lot of camp activities. These activities are always fun, exciting and sometimes very unique and weird. These activities always take place right after breakfast and there are always at least three of them. The choice is always yours on which activity you want to pick, but one of those three activities must be a Bible activity, and that’s also a really good choice.

Some of these awesome activities include Newcomb, How to Be a Supermodel, Kickball, and How to Be Manly (which was for girls only.) Everyone really enjoyed every activity there was, and we all had a great time participating in all of them. Doing these activities gave us campers a big opportunity to bond with other campers and tribe leaders, while having fun at the same time. I really enjoyed the choice of activities this year and I really hope to continue them next year.

Rebecca T., Age 13
Tribe of Judah

This year at teen camp we all did a Gilgal tradition. It was called the 2011 Decathalon* and our team was called Summer Techno Jewstep. We traveled by van to each activity. One of the activities was a donut-eating contest. I ate two and a half! Another event was the one-foot contest. We each had to stand on one foot without falling or putting the second foot on the ground. After 10 minutes, whoever had the most people left on just one foot won. We lost D: One of the other activities was root beer chugging. That was the most painful/disgusting activity because we had to drink sugar-free weight watchers root beer until all 12 cans were empty. After that we had to stack them all up. We lost but there were still other events left to complete. Another activity was making a rap for our team with our team name in it. We lost that one as well. The last two events were making a sombrero out of duct tape in the van, and then catching fireflies. WE TOTALLY WON WITH OUR SOMBRERO. And then we won catching fireflies as well! Even though we lost the decathalon, we all had an awesome time!

*The decathalon actually became a septathalon.

Jacob Z., Age 15
Tribe of Issachar

A few days ago, Levi, the rest of camp and I went white water rafting. It was fun! We had to go for 15 miles, so when we got to the end it felt very nice. A lot of people on my raft went to sleep before the end. The water was cold; I found out by getting pulled in. We were going over level 4 rapids and it was scary when we had to duck down – I thought for sure I would fall out. Our tour guide was really cool too. His name was Marty and he had a way with his words, especially when there were a lot of bugs. It was one of my favorite parts of camp, but after the trip, my butt and feet were sore. The whole trip was fun!

White Water Rafting

Ketzia B., Age 13
Tribe of Judah

Hey! My name is Ketzia and I am going to tell you about white water rafting. Every year at teen camp, we go on the same field trip and it’s a white water rafting trip. The night before that, we camp out at a campsite about two hours away from Camp Gilgal. The next day, we drive to the rafting place.  

I have to admit that at first I was really scared! I was shaking. When I got on the raft though, it was so much fun! Riding the rapids was so much fun and it was crazy! Paddling was also fun but so exhausting! In the calm water, we “fell out” and went for a swim! It was a totally awesome trip. It was awesome because our raft was great and worked together well. The rapids were so fun and crazy to ride! Swimming in the water was really fun, but the water was really gross. We did this thing called surfing in the raft and we all got so wet! I was so tired that I fell fast asleep when we came back.

Levi H., Age 15
Tribe of Issachar

This was my first year at Camp Gilgal East; usually I go to Midwest. At Midwest, we didn’t do too much pranking, but here, my cabin spent a lot of time planning pranks, preparing for pranks, or doing pranks. The first prank we did was on the night of the big campout. We were planning on dragging the tents around with the girls in them while they slept, but it ended up being impossible due to weight. Instead, I had the idea to take out the girls’ tent stakes and collapse the wet tents on them as they slept.

Dana C., Age 14
Tribe of Dan

On Shabbat, one of the available activities was High Tea. In this activity, we got dressed up in fancy clothing. We sat around a table with a dressy tablecloth and drank sweet tea with our pinkies up! We also had some cookies, biscotti and chips to nibble on. Every woman there looked dashing and glamorous. We all had a lot of fun fooling and joking around, while talking in funny accents and telling jokes. Fellow campers stopped by our activity to share some food and give their opinions on our activity.

Later in the hour, we were taking pictures and acting silly. Camp Gilgal is a time for all of the campers and staff to grow close to God and learn and grow closer to Him while having so much fun and participating in silly activities. Next time
you go to Gilgal, partake in High Tea and have a blast at all the activities!

Nastasya P., Age 15
Tribe of Manasseh

So it’s my first and last year of camp because I’m 15 years old. On the way to the campout, I picked the blue 15-passenger van because it’s a cool color and Tauros and Chickpea were in that van. Reptar’s van was the wanna-be party van. They only danced whenever they saw us.

Anyways, in the “Real” party van, we listened to Dubstep and we jammed out to other cool music. And we took like fifty million random pictures. And on the way there we played the waving game.

The REAL Party Van

Masha K., Age 14
Tribe of Dan

You probably read the article by Nastasya. Well, it’s a lie. Strings’ and Reptar’s van was the REAL party van. All the other vans just slept and listened to junk. We listened to awesome music off of Reptar’s iPod the whole way. The music was blasting and we were dancing to cool music. OUR van was the REAL party van. It was really fun.

Don’t believe Nastasya!

Tatiana P., Age 13
Tribe of Dan

This was my first year at teen camp and it was so fun! One of my favorite activities was the Decathalon. A Decathalon is when you have different activities you drive off-camp to do and you have to try to win as many activities as you can to beat the other team. My team was STB (Shakin’ Turkey Bacon.) The first competition was to find all the letters of the alphabet on the road. Then after that we had a race where we all had to eat at least one doughnut and we lost because of me. Then we had more activities to do, like making a rap with our name in it. Our rap won! We were the best and the other teams stunk! GO SHAKIN’ TURKEY BACON!

Camp Gilgal Quirks

Cynthia R., Age 13
Tribe of Manasseh

This year at Teen Camp, Austin, Joy and I went to an activity called “How to Be a Hypochondriac with Red Sox.” We thought of symptoms and went through a book that Red Sox got from Speedy. It’s called “The Complete Manual of Things That Might Kill You.” If you have a cough then you might have asbestosis. If your eyes are red then you might have leptospirosis. And if you have discolored feet, then you might have carotenemia. We also made up some diseases. For example, the rapid aging of the nose is tachypaleorhinitis and the slow greening of the ears is bradyavrichlontis. During our stay at Camp Gilgal, Twister contracted tachycubitolysis, which is the rapid destruction of the elbow. Get well soon, Twister!

Micah M., Age 15
Tribe of Issachar 

Tribe time was fun this year because we had a tribe of five campers. We went “flower picking” on multiple occasions and I picked some flowers. The first time we went I picked a total of 18 flowers. It was very fun. When we got back to camp, we told all the girls that we’d gone flower picking, but they didn’t believe us. The reason why we went out on such an awesome tribe time trip is because we had an epic tribe leader, Cyclops. He is cool and awesome – as are all of the tribe leaders.

By the way: flower picking is actually LAZER TAG.

Chloe N., Age 15
Tribe of Manasseh 

Every year, Camp Gilgal is always the highlight of my summer. I look forward to all the activities, seeing all my friends, and especially reconnecting with God. The reason I say “reconnecting” with God is because throughout this last year, I basically ignored God. I rarely opened my Bible, never prayed, and all I cared about was my social life and friends. I went to a congregation as much as possible, but I never really paid attention and forgot everything I learned. However, this summer, when I came to camp, everything the tribe leaders taught hit me, and I really understood. I learned a lot about Jesus, and to follow God’s path because He does have something planned no matter how shaky your future looks. Also, I learned that we should put aside all worldly values and try to live to please God. I’m positive that this lesson will guide me through life and down God’s path.

Violetta M., Age 15
Tribe of Manasseh

My last year of teen camp was awesome. We’ve done so many things…we went to so many places: the campout, the septathalon, paintball, white water rafting, and hiking. It was so much fun and I had the best last year of teen camp ever! I will most definitely miss everyone. Knowing everyone here makes it feel like a second home. We have people from everywhere: New York, Florida, New Jersey, Michigan, and Canada. It’s really cool to see people from half way across the country come to this amazing camp. And hopefully people will still be coming =D

I’ll miss everyone!

Rena B., Age 15
Tribe of Manasseh

There are many rules to Strudel. The first is if Thou has nothing Strudel to say, don’t say Strudel at all. The second is Thou shall not eat from The Strudel of Knowledge. The third is Thou shall only say “Strudel” five times a day. The fourth is Thou is allowed to say “Strudel” more than five times a day if Thou are explaining the Strudel Commandments. The fifth commandment is Thou is only allowed to explain The Strudel Commandments if Thou are Tauros or Cyclops. The sixth is Thou shall keep the Strudel Passover holy. The seventh rule is if you say “Strudel” more than five times a day, Thou shall feel the wrath of The Strudel Creator. The eighth is that the origin of Strudel is a mystery. The ninth is that Strudel doesn’t need a ninth commandment.

The final commandment is Strudel is Strudel.

Hannah D., Age 13
Tribe of Judah

Tabernacle is awesome! It’s a time every day just before dinner when we can be with God. I really enjoy the worship. I love the messages that Twister has been giving too. We’ve been going through the book of Mark.

I never realized how truly human Jesus was. This book was written by one of Y’shua’s close friends. Y’shua made a HUGE sacrifice for us. He healed so many people and I truly learned the concept of “The first shall be last and the last shall be first.” Tabernacle is an amazing part of camp. Whoopie!

Liza C., Age 14
Tribe of Judah

Teen camp is a place where you can have a lot of fun but still be in a godly environment and grow in your relationship with Him. A normally scheduled day at teen camp would go like this: lineup, breakfast, three activities in the morning. Then lunch, swimming, tribe time, chill time, dinner, some mystery activity, then campfire, devotions and lights out. Tribe time is when you get to spend time with only your cabin and in chill time you can hang out with other cabins. During the campfire, we sing and a staff person gives a sort of message. This happens every night.

Our irregular days, however, were so much different. One day, we went out on a campout after lunch. The next day, we went white water rafting for most of the day. When we were camping, the boys pranked us by taking the poles out of our tents. My tent, however, did not get touched. After the rafting trip, we went back to camp, watched a movie, and went to sleep. The next day was Friday, the night of our Shabbat service.

All in all, teen camp was, as Tauros would say, “Totally Strudel!”

Dani R., Age 13
Tribe of Dan

Going to camp for the first time can be nerve-wracking for some, but overwhelmingly exciting for others. For me, it was a mixture of both. Since camp is super far from where I live, being away from my parents for the first time was something I wasn’t sure how to feel about. But then again, I thought and still think it’s awesome to be able to meet a whole new group of believers that are also Jewish!

At camp we do awesome activities that make Camp Gilgal super unique. I would never have thought you could learn to be manly and learn about Messianic prophecy all in two hours! At teen camp, we get a lot of freedom, and it makes me feel trusted. The people you meet here are amazing and I love spending time with them. On top of that, we can always count on an uber good meal. One of the best parts of camp though, is being able to get closer to God through it all.

Masha K., Age 14
Tribe of Dan

This year at teen camp we had FOB. FOB stands for Flat On Bunk. It’s usually in the middle of the day when all the campers and staff have nap time. Sometimes campers aren’t tired during FOB so they can write letters or do something else as long as they stay in bed and stay quiet. We don’t usually have FOB during teen camp because it’s more of a junior camp thing, but this year everyone was really tired so we did it once on Saturday. FOB usually lasts for an hour at junior camp, and happens after lunch and swimming. At teen camp, it was about an hour after lunch and Gilgal Gazette time. The junior campers don’t appreciate FOB but once it’s gone, they’ll want it back. During junior camp I thought FOB was boring and a waste of time. Now I still think it’s boring, but I understand that some campers really need it.

Ana G., Age 14
Tribe of Dan

Shabbat is an awesome time of the week because it is a time for us to refocus ourselves and focus fully on God. We also have the boys serve the girls water during dinner and clean the tables. It’s a time we can all relax and take it easy. The girls also get to take shower and wear skirts and do our hair in pretty ways. After dinner, we have a worship service when we do liturgy, which is another way we can grow closer to God. After the liturgy, Twister shared a Shabbat message with us. This year, it was from the book of Mark. Before the end of Shabbat, we walked up to Sunset (our campfire ring) and Twister told us to contemplate what Jesus had to do to die for us. Once we were at the top of Sunset, we prayed and the staff said the Aaronic Benediction so that we could go in peace.