This activity encourages campers to explore their own leadership qualities through a discussion about the Israeli army. By reading a story about a young commander in the IDF, campers will reflect on their own capabilities to be a leader at camp and in their communities by discovering similarities between their own leadership qualities and the commander's leadership qualities.
Campers use boats to re-enact the "illegal" immigration of Jews to pre-State Israel in the 1930s and 1940s. As they try to evade "British officers" (staff) and reach the Promised Land, they will gain understanding of the obstacles faced by early pioneers who wanted nothing more than to settle Palestine and help create the Jewish state.
Your staff doesn't need to be fans of Mad Men in order to enjoy the process of creating a fake ad for an audience of parents who care about Israel education as one of their core reasons for sending their kid to your camp. While you can use this activity with campers, this is a particularly good program for staff to play with the questions of why Israel is important to them and to their camp.
Content Card Poker is played from a ‘playing’ pack of 52 Goodman Content cards. The cards are ranked (from high to low) Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace. (Ace can be high or low, but is usually high). There are four suits (spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs); however, no suit is higher than another. All poker hands contain five cards, the highest hand wins. So, how do you bet? In Content Card Poker, we use shekels! Not real shekels of course, but paper copies of shekels. This will help participants learn Israeli money.
This activity is the re-enactment of the quest for votes that effectively created the State of Israel. Campers will have to do Israel-related activities and challenges in order to collect the necessary "votes" such that the United Nations votes in favor of the Partition Plan.
Campers use Israel's Declaration of Independence as a jumping off point for discussing the kinds of values that they want in their communities, including their cabins, tents, and units.
Based on the hit TV show 'Shark Tank,' campers compete in front of a panel of judges on behalf of different Israeli personalities and heroes.
Note that this is the same program format as "Old vs. New, Which City is for You?" and "What Would Better Look Like."
