The work of the winter camp for girls, “Girls Winter Day Camp Gan Yisroel Dnipro 5786,” continues in the Dnipro Jewish Community. Traditionally held during the winter holidays, this year’s main theme is “The Five Senses” – touch, smell, sight, hearing, and speech – through which a person learns to serve Hashem, appreciating the value of every gift bestowed upon body and soul.
From the very first day, the opening day, the girls were divided into groups, got to know each other, learned the camp’s song and dance, and immersed themselves in an atmosphere of warmth, joy, and unity. The first topic was the sense of sight – participants discussed the importance of being able to see the good in another person, to notice their strengths and inner light. Through games and symbolic tasks, the girls felt how sight is not just a physical ability but a true instrument of the soul. The day concluded with a creative workshop where participants decorated mirrors and wrote compliments to each other, learning to look at themselves and their surroundings with love and respect.
On one of the following camp days, preceding Shabbos, attention was given to the sense of touch. The girls discussed how through movement, touch, and active deeds one can perform mitzvahs, help others, and be useful. The practical part of the day took the form of off-site activities: one group went to an ice rink, while another visited the FlyKids play center. There, the day’s theme was experienced not only in words but through action – movement, balance, and interaction with space.
A particularly warm and “tasty” day was dedicated to the sense of taste. The conversation revolved not only about the taste of food but also about the “taste of words,” the power of speech, blessings, and the responsibility for every spoken word. The practical continuation was a culinary workshop where the girls prepared chocolate milk candies, choosing the filling according to their own taste and filling the day with joy, creativity, and conscious pleasure.
Another intense and profound day was dedicated to the sense of hearing. The girls talked about the importance of being able to hear prayers, kind words, and guidance, as well as listening to their own inner voice. Through a role-playing game where participants faced a choice between the good and the evil inclination (yetzer tov and yetzer hara), as well as through special tasks and a creative workshop, the theme of hearing was revealed as an exceptionally precious gift that should not be taken for granted.
“Each day of the camp, we try not just to tell the girls about mitzvahs and values, but to help them experience these themes through feelings, experience, and personal discovery,” says the camp director, Leah Lazareva. “Together with the wonderful madrichot, we strive to make every day bright, unusual, and memorable, so that the girls retain not only the enjoyment they receive at camp but also its lessons, its principles, and knowledge about themselves and the world. The camp is running at a very high level, fully accomplishing its task, and we are happy to successfully fulfill the mission entrusted to us by our dear Dnipro Jewish Community under the leadership of its Chief Rabbi, Shmuel Kaminezki.”
