Week 4 Newsletter
Dear Mesorah Family,
The week of Tisha B’Av often brings with it a whirlwind of emotion, reflection, and unity. This week was certainly all of those and more.
We started the week with FIFA Day, where our campers competed in a myriad of soccer-related competitions, highlighted by the entire camp coming together to watch the World Cup Final. The next day did not slow down as our campers donned their MFL gear and hit the day running with intensive football games throughout camp, culminating in incredible championship games late at night in front of their friends and staff. That night, our girls prepared their presentations and commercials for Mesorah’s rendition of Night at the Oscars, which was a true camper favorite.
The week was highlighted by our inaugural, much-anticipated Beasorah Games, featuring a virtual visit from Beast Games Season 1 champion Jeff Allen. Jeff shared his incredible life story about how Beast Games enabled him to help fight his son’s rare disease and how, although he won a generous sum of money ($10 million, to be exact), he has chosen not to buy himself a new house or car, but instead to put all of the money toward what he believes Hashem gave him this gift for, helping his son and many others who are in need. He continued to share with the campers how fortunate we are to be the Jewish people and how cherished our Torah is. The campers, while initially star-struck, soaked in his words and left inspired to take on their unique responsibility to be a light unto the world.
It was, of course, a fitting transition to a Tisha B’Av program that was referred to by many as the most meaningful Tisha B’Av of their lives. We began with the moving Mesorah torch-lighting march through the boys’ and girls’ campuses, respectively. The march concluded with the entire camp uniting in the Dome for inspiring words and the reading of Megillat Eicha. At the conclusion of the reading, everyone exited the Dome and surrounded the burning display of Zachor, joining together for a moving kumzitz of unity, arm in arm around the fire, with our minds focused on generations of destruction and our hearts firmly in Yerushalayim.
The night was followed by a Teens and Staff program that highlighted deeply moving and emotionally charged personal stories of individuals who were brave enough to share their own moments of personal challenge, as well as the stories of rebirth and inspiration that ensued, with some opting to stay and sing together until late into the night.
The following day was highlighted by thought-provoking and engaging activities, from the explanatory kinnot to the VR station, allowing all campers to take a virtual tour of the Beit HaMikdash. As we sat together in the Dining Room for an extra-special break-fast, groups of campers and staff kept approaching our team to thank them for a Tisha B’Av they won’t soon forget.
May we all be zocheh to carry these moments of meaning and inspiration with us, using them to build ourselves and, ultimately, the Third and Final Beit HaMikdash.
Shabbat Shalom,
Emunah and Rabbi Yahel Tsaidi
