By: Emily Berner

On Sunday afternoon May 21, myself, Henry Weltman, Josh Altman, Julia Schultz, Debra Feldman, and Amy Sharer arrived at capital camps for a five day conference with about 70 other Jewish camps from across America. We had the wonderful opportunity to sit in on multiple sessions with talented educators, who were enthusiastic about sharing their knowledge and ideas with us. Everyday we had a specialty track, mine was Israeli Dance, and two or three electives.

All of us were fortunate enough to learn about a whole range of topics and how to connect them to Judaism and work them into everyday activities for our campers. Some of these topics includ Israeli Geography, Sports and Soul, Young Campers, Rainy Day Activities, Games, Prayer, Campfires, Body Image, and so much more. Throughout each session, we were able to speak to other camp counselors and cornerstone fellows about how they incorporate Judaism into their daily schedule, and we told them a little bit about our own culture at Perlman Camp. For a couple of hours at the end of each day we were given the opportunity to reconvene with our camp and bring some new and amazing ideas to the table from all of the different things that we had learned throughout the day.

We have so many great ideas for camp and a bunch of programs planned for this summer. Anyone excited for some new Israeli dances and catchy songs for song session? What about brand new evening activities? Maybe some fun new games? How about the PJ Library? I know I am! We can’t wait to see everyone this summer and make it the best one yet! CORNERSTONE IS COOL!!!

See you soon,
Emily Berner