On the final Sunday of the summer campers and staff gathered to celebrate the achievements of all campers as part of their 17th annual MBP Award ceremony – the camp’s gift to the Rebbe.
The program began with the camp’s Learning Director Yisroel Benjaminson congratulating all campers and staff on their collective summer achievements: 4 full Mesechtos, 105 Perakim Mishnayos, 1,377 Mishnas, 9,515 lines of Mishnayos, 18 Perakim Tanya, 4,410 lines of Tanya, and 43,139 lines of general Torah knowledge from camp’s MBP handbook – a grand total of 57,064 lines of Torah memorized, KA”H!
This was followed by a video of the Rebbe highlighting just how much the Rebbe valued and appreciated such gifts.
Campers with the highest amount of points were then honored: 1st Place: Dovi Schrage; 2nd Place: Mendel Wolff; 3rd Place: Shea Korf.
Each camper was then called up to receive the sefer/seforim they ordered from the camp’s seforim catalog, based on their final point total. A multimedia presentation, displaying their name, total points, major learning achievements, and seforim they would receive, accompanied each camper as they made their way to the stage.
A special thank you was given to Rabbi Yossi Teleshevsky of chabadkid.com for continued support and for a second summer personalizing the use of his Mishnayos Be’Al Peh online system. This facilitated the process for testers to enter information and allow everyone, at any given moment, to know what each camper was tested on, his current point total and place within the entire camp.
A special hakorav hatov was given to Rabbi Dovid Zirkind of baalpeh.org whose database enabled the tracking of each camper’s progress throughout the camp’s first 15 summers.
At a camp banquet, camp director Rabbi Yossi Goldblatt was called up to take part in a tribute to his father, Reb Tzvi Goldblatt a”h, who passed away before summer. Campers Mendel Bortunk, Shea Korf, and Dovid Swissa recited Mishnas corresponding to his father’s name. A certificate was then presented to Rabbi Goldblatt, listing 36 campers who learned Mishnayos throughout the summer in his father’s memory.
Under the leadership of Rabbi Yossi Biston and Rabbi Yossi Goldblatt, the administration and camp staff of Camp Gan Israel Florida wish all campers increased success in their limudim in the upcoming school year. It is their hope that the campers’ accomplishments and achievements continue into the school year, give much nachas to the Rebbe, and as explained in the Rebbe’s Sichos, bring about the revelation of Moshiach Now, as it is written: אין כל הגלויות הללו מתכנסות אלא בזכות המשניות
During my years as a staff member, I learned alot from him; his demeanor, attitude, approach and mindset to everything and anything, ruchniyus and gashmiyus. I came into camp with big ideas and plans, especially with how I remember and knew camps ran from my years as a camper and staff in a previous camp. His grounded approach and outlook on how camp should operate was new and different from my experiences. However, once me and my fellow staff lived through it, we really started understanding and appreciating what he and CGI Florida is all about. He’s always around and… Read more »