YOSS - Camelback

By S. Nussiav

A few days of vacation seems to be something of an accepted fact in our neighborhood. It’s known as “yeshiva week.” At the Yeshiva of South Shore, the midwinter break is truly a yeshiva week, as it is punctuated by a fabulous program called Yeshivas Bein HaZemanim. This wonderful program, geared to the talmidim of grades 1—8, gives the boys an opportunity to enjoy a respite from their daily grind of schoolwork, but within a yeshiva environment. Despite an official day off, the boys come to yeshiva, daven with a minyan, and then learn with yeshiva rebbeim in an informal setting.

After an exciting and geshmak period of learning, the boys and their rebbeim, together with some older talmidim from local high schools and bateimidrash, head out on an invigorating day trip under the direction of Rabbi Shlomo Drebin and supervised by his staff of experienced counselors. This year’s program was filled to capacity with many participants on every grade level. Over the course of the program, the boys went on two separate trips.

First, the famed CoCo Key Water Resort in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, was rented exclusively for the boys. Although it may have been 25 degrees outside, it was 85 degrees inside, with thousands of gallons of water to frolic in while enjoying water slides, water tubing, and other water activities, highlighted by swimming. It was a taste of summer in the middle of winter.

On another day of the fantastic program, winter reality set in as the talmidim headed to the largest tubing facility in the nation, the Camelback snow-tubing facility in Tannersville, Pennsylvania. That trip was also an exclusive experience for the talmidim, as Camelback allowed them to have the entire facility to themselves.

In both facilities, non-Jewish workers expressed amazement about how the students gathered so seriously to pray (when daveningMinchah) and behaved so delightfully while having so much fun.

It goes without saying that the boys acted with utmost derecheretz, prompting numerous compliments from the facilities’ staff members and even the bus driver.

The boys returned to yeshiva ready to resume learning, refreshed and invigorated by a winter break they will not soon forget.

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