On Thursday we had the honor and privilege of having esteemed speaker Rabbi Hanoch Teller in camp. Rabbi Teller arrived at Machaneh on Thursday in the early afternoon and left at 5 AM Friday morning to get back to Skokie by 9 AM! Although he was here for such a short time he managed to give three shiurim. He ran the night tochnit for the chanichim, then went on to speak to machal and then finally he spoke to tzevet.
Rabbi Teller, who hails all the way from Jerusalem, Israel is best known for his 27 best selling inspirational story books. He also serves as guide in the Yad Vashem Museum in Israel and is a resident teacher in numerous Yeshivot and Seminaries.
Thursday, the theme of the day was the Makot. The specific plague of focus at dinner was Choshech (Darkness). To drill the theme into the chanichim, dinner was blacked out. The lights went out at dessert and the kids had to eat in the pitch black. In the dark, Rabbi Teller shared a story about the plagues. The chanichim were then led to the hockey rink where they sat and listened to more stories and words of wisdom from the incredible speaker. The night ended with another skit depicting Hashem giving Moshe the first mitzvah of Rosh Chodesh and finally a spectacular fireworks show.
Rabbi Teller then spoke to Machal about the importance of human dignity and treating people with respect and its significance during this period of the three weeks. It was truly a spiritually enriching night for everyone who had the privilege to listen.
