By Omer Nisanov, Eisner’s Rosh Mishlachat

Shalom! My name is Omer, and this is my 5th summer at camp, and 4th as Rosh Mishlachat. As Rosh Mishlachat, I supervise and support our 42 Israeli staff members.

This summer, we are celebrating Israel’s 70th birthday! Last week, the Mishlachat planned and ran Erev Yisrael, an evening of programming and fun to teach our campers about Israel. Our goal was to share some information about different aspects of Israel, like animals, culture, the people of Israel, and more.

We started the evening with an Israeli-style T’filah led by the Mishlachat. In between prayers, we had Mishlachat members share stories with camp about their lives and childhoods in Israel. After a great T’filah that ended with HaTikvah, the national anthem of Israel, we all moved to the Beit Am for our Erev Yisrael program.

We started by creating our tie to Israel by choosing different colors of ribbon that each symbolized a different connection to Israel, and we tied them on a wall, spelling out, ‘70 ישראל׳. This way, campers were able to choose their favorite or most meaningful part of Israeli culture.

In Gematria, a mathematical system that assigns numerical value to letters, 70 is represented by the letter ע, Ayin, in Hebrew. In Hebrew script, this letter looks like a tie, and therefore symbolized each camper sharing their Israel story with us.

After that, we finished by playing Israel Kahoot (trivia) by bunks. The answers had been posted on the walls of the Chadar Ochel all week long!

It was such a terrific night, with a lot of fun and sharing stories!