JOIN THE CAMP SPIRIT IN
Camp Keren Hayeled
The theme song is blasting!
The staff is unrolling the best summer yet!
It’s rejuvenating. It’s relaxing. It’s carefree.
Camp in Keren Hayeled has begun!
Hodaya: “Summertime used to be the worst months of my year. I’d sit and do nothing, having nowhere to go and nothing to do. Since I arrived in Keren Hayeled, summertime is my favorite time of year!”
And it should be. Every child needs a carefree and structured summer to help them unwind from the school year and prepare for the next.
Ortal: “Camp Keren Hayeled brings out a new side of me, someone I never thought I could be.”
Because when the schedule is healthy, fun, and social, the children’s hearts open up and we reach them in a way we never dreamed was possible.
Chana: “My school friends say their summer camp themes are silly and fun, but our themes are actually real and meaningful. I don’t want to tell them that because I don’t want to make them jealous!”
Each year, our dedicated staff choose a central theme in our children’s lives that will be given over in a fun and playful way.
Avital: “I never want the summertime to end, but I can see how I’ve grown and I am hesitant but ready to greet the school year ahead.”
That’s the ultimate goal of our summer camp. If they feel good enough to embrace whatever will come their way, then we have triumphed!
Our best kept secret is out!
This year, our camp theme is based on the Israeli chain store, MAX. Encouraging them to “Give it their MAX!” is this summer’s angle of encouraging our girls to take responsibility for their life’s choices, thus enabling them to open the doors for their successful futures.
In their first activity where they decorated the dining room thematically, they hung up pictures of themselves along with statements that reflected in which areas they are determined to begin “giving their MAX”. Many phrases were eye-opening and meaningful, as some girls chose real goals like:
- To appreciate my parents
- To listen to myself
- To take responsibility for myself
- To keep Shabbat / To dress in Shabbat clothing
- To identify as a Jewish girl
- To be organized
We also place significance on other less introspective dreams because we believe that once they begin dreaming, they’ll get somewhere real. Some wanted to:
- Invent a new food
- Be entered into the Guinness World Records
- Become a millionaire!
- Save the animals
- Graduate
Each of our children’s dreams are real. Time will tell whether or not they achieve them now or in a few years, or if their dreams shift as they grow.
One thing is certain: A person with dreams and goals will do their MAX to make their life meaningful.
We have hit the ground running in Camp Keren Hayeled 2025 and it’s about time you’ve heard about it!
Our best kept secret, the theme of this summer, has been let out, and along with it, the girls have received camp T-shirts and have already decorated their camp headquarters in the Dining Room.
After all the challenges the Jewish People have endured, isn’t it time to say “Dai” (enough) and do something about it?!
You guessed it — following the upheaval of the recent war in Israel, the theme of “Dai,” is the theme we are instilling in our children this summer!
As you know, our goal each summer is to utilize the carefree environment that camp offers us to build our children internally so that they will face the upcoming year as well as their individual challenges with increased emotional fortitude.
Although their challenges are many, none of them have to feel so unsurmountable. This summer, we will give our children the tools and confidence to say “Dai — enough” to every challenge they face or will experience! Not everything in their life has to feel so unsurmountable.
Through the carefree, exciting activities, trips, and treats our dedicated staff have prepared for them, our girls who arrived at Keren Hayeled, once emotionally burdened by the less-than-ideal life circumstances they had experienced up until then, will now say “Dai — enough!” to those challenges.
At last, they will find freedom in learning how to handle and take full responsibility for whatever life sends their way.
It’s summer-time, and the children are enveloped in colorful and vibrant summer camp vibes!
Camp is in full swing, the theme this year being: “Yesh Li Hakol: I Have It All!”
What a critical message for our children to internalize and focus on this summer. When the world around them cannot provide their basic needs, they are developing the incredibly powerful skill of looking within themselves. They are finding strengths they didn’t know they had, and focusing on everything they DO have: a home at Keren Hayeled, friends, and most importantly — they have themselves.
What better way to empower our children to handle the challenges life throws at them!
Utilizing the beautiful carefree environment that summer camp offers, and building off it with a carefully and lovingly designed schedule, we will be working with the children on this ever-important message: I have everything I need within me.
We’ve chosen the theme “Yesh Li HaKol” (I have everything!). The theme is a play off of the big supermarket chain called “Yesh”. Through playful activities and creative games within the dormitory, as well as exciting trips to water parks and other still-secret outings (shhh!), the girls at Keren Hayeled are internalizing this beautiful, and critical message: I have everything I need within me.
This summer, we chose the theme (קק”ל) KK”L, which stands for Israel’s landscaping agency. This summer, however, we changed the acronym to “קול קורא לך” which means, “A voice is calling you!”
Through the fun and structured activities the girls enjoyed, including overnights, projects, Challah baking, and more, the girls learned to discern what is behind the choices they make.
As the camp song goes (translated),
So say KK”L,
What’s this voice inside of me?
Is it really real?
What is driving me?
So say KK”L
Hashem is guiding me
And He is calling me!
Since the girls come from various painful backgrounds, in Keren Hayeled, we teach them how to embrace their pasts and take responsibility for their futures.
This was our goal in Summer 2023 and what a success it was!
