This week in CDG was extra special, as everyone directed their hearts and souls to Am Yisroel in Eretz Yisroel.

After the second Shabbos, campers enjoyed an amazing Chef Yo melava malka before hearing their teams for the Olympic! This year the teams were named after the four holy cities in Eretz Yisroel—Tsfas, Teveria, Chevron and Yerushalayim. And, the Olympic games were renamed the Maccabiah games.

On Sunday morning, Maccabiah kicked off  with heavy competitions of Matball Madness, Nine Square/Basketball/Fifa tournaments and intense, divisional Capture the Flag. Monday featured a four-way dodgeball tournament, Best Athlete competition and staff basketball games. Each team also presented a brief dvar Torah expounding on the significance of its holy city.

Maccabiah/Olympics concluded with the medal presentations and a hilarious lip sync finale. The entire camp sang “Am Yisrael Chai” with incredible energy and intense emotions as 600 strong sang together. The blue team of Teveria carried the day in an unforgettable Olympics.

The rest of the week was back to the usual camp fun with playoffs, pickleball slam and a home run derby on Tuesday, along with part two of the play, “Trouble at the Tannery” at night.

On Wednesday, CDG had Yom Tzahal for the first time. The entire Tehillim was read after Shacharis, and campers helped pack well over 600 boots for soldiers. Letters/pictures thanking the chayalim for their selfless service on behalf of Am Yisroel were included with every pair of boots.

In the army boot camp challenge, campers competed to be their division’s strong man. They also heard from former camper and counselor Ben Antosofsky about his experiences as an IDF soldier.