It all started with some delicious cheesy eggs waiting in the pan for all the participants to pounce. We played a new game at breakfast where someone would put empty cups on a tray and walk up to people and pretend to spill it to see their reactions (Avi Glazer). Next we hopped on our busses. For a five minute drive to the MIM, musical instruments museum. Don’t be fooled by the word museum because it was still really fun. Coincidentally we have a participant named Mim who without fail bought out the entire gift shop.♪Mim is going to the Mim is going to the Mim is going to the Mim, Mim, Mim, Mim…♫ In this magical music museum we discovered a room that held every instrument imaginable for anyone to play. It also included a bongo section (AKA Jake and Harrison heaven) where we all had a jam out session singing and having dance parties as always. It was a great experience. Then we sat in a beautiful courtyard and ate some delicious lunch, asalways. Then a surprise trip to Walmart was announced and the crowd went wild. We took the bus to Walmart and wiped the shelves clean. On the way back to the hotel every participant was assigned another participant to write a Shabbat-o-gram to. When we got back to the hotel we got ready for Shabbat and took an awesome YBY picture. Then we headed into a beautiful davening and welcomed Dr. Lichtman as our Shabbat guest. The theme of Shabbat was introduced: Connections and an SY Shabbat. We split into our learning groups and played an activity where we threw a piece of yarn to someone and said what we learned from that person this summer. We created a web of yarn that represented how much we learn from each other every moment on this amazing trip. Max taught us many new songs with his Syrian accent (Ha-kel ha’irah ur’eh!…Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn’t really fuzzy, was he?) and we ended the night with a delicious dinner, singing, and of course a good chill. On Shabbat morning we had a beautiful davening and heard Dr. Lichtman give an empowering D’var Torah. After Kiddush, Yisrael introduced his learning program- Café Dilemma. In our groups we had the opportunity to discuss some controversial but pressing topics concerning the state of Israel today. We all learned a lot from listening to our peers. We relaxed and had a wonderful and meaningful Shabbat, ending with our famous Sha-Sha-Shavua Tov! That night we played Human Anagrams. The game got pretty heated and our letter spelling speed was tested. There was even some sabotaging going on, but it was all in good fun. The staff then performed their own “Yom Chanich presentation”- from High School Musical! WE LOVE OUR STAFF! Can’t wait for the coming up week!

-Bracha