Introducing YAGILU Wilderness

I am very happy to announce the program that I am opening up this summer. I found a camp that will give its full support to my amazing program and make the campers feel a first rate priority.

I am teaming up with Camp Morasha at Lake Como, PA. I am directing and opening up the premiere Survival camp for boys. It will be located in the forest area of the all boys Morasha Kollel campus. We will have brand new facilities that express their care for the campers, and a fresh forest just begging for us to make it our new home.

All of the veteran and experienced senior members of the staff from Yaalozu are moving to the wilderness camp under my direction named "Yagilu." As the one who ran Yaalozu for the last ten years, I am bringing all my expertise with me. The 3 types of groups, beginners, moderate, and advanced of Y1 Y2 and Y3 will be offered by me at Camp Morasha for summer 2014. Y2 and Y3 will not be offered anywhere else.

Featuring:

- A HUGE lake for water survival training. You can even swim in the lake, its not green or radioactive.

- Horseback riding

- Y2: 10 day hike in the Catskills

- Y3 Bushwhack up to the peak of 6 mountains

- Learn how to keep Shabbos in the great outdoors

- Access to world class Roshei Yeshiva led by Rav Mordechai Willig of the Morasha Kollel and other Rabbanim at camp during the summer

- Inspirational Shabbos Kodesh

- survival skills, fire making, using a knife, hiking, building, farming,

- Amazing friendships

- Staff with who have current experience, who know the secrets of the forest..

- 2 full 4 week programs. Monday June 30 – Monday July 28 and Monday July 28 – Sunday August 24

I invite you to join me in this high level adventure, fun and growth that will be unmatched surrounded by a true Torah environment at Camp Morasha's Kollel location. Sign up now and make sure you have a spot at campmorasha.com for Yagilu!

Rule The Forest!

Tani Prero

847-773-7606

Taking the next step: Leaving Yaalozu and CDG

Taking the next step. We do it all the time on hikes. We encourage each other to grow, to take just one more step. One of my favorite lines of advice to give campers is, "Just keep taking one more step until you can't anymore. And then just take one more." Many campers have reached goals they never thought possible, just by following this advice.

The time has come for me to take one more step. Yaalozu has been amazing, and the time has come to step forward, to grow, to better. I am leaving Yaalozu in CDG after many good years. I am taking an exciting step forward, to better, bigger, and more exciting and fun summer survival program.

To all my campers, follow me. Together we will step forward to the next level in our exploration. I invite you to take the challenge together with me. Be in touch for the details. They are coming soon.

We will have an amazing summer!

Hi guys! Due to my first post (thanks Tani!!) and the evident demand for my work I feel impelled to add another few of my poems. maybe if I write enough someone else will look at them, too (no offense, Tani, existence- acknowledgment much appreciated :). So here are two that I wrote as I was leaving Ya'alozu 2 now 2 summers ago (August 22nd, 2011). Regarding the first, I heard someone say the last line just before leaving campus and went, "whoa, that should so be the end of a poem". Hence, yeah, my poem. The second I needed to get out there for reasons evident enough in the words themselves, based on our experience of taking apart our shelters the previous day. Enjoy (all of you people in the plural)!

Y2E Closer #1

Though our dear summer must come to a close,

How it flew by, no one knows,

Though we may now be apart from our friends,

The summer has come to an end,

Though brutally short our past month has been cut,

Despite our despair, all our ifs ands and buts,

Lodged in our throats, a word jumble has grown,

Unspeakable still, in a realm of their own,

Based on the network of trust that we made,

Lifelong companionship frameworks we laid,

Unbreakable bonds, formed and inforced,

Leading us on an inseperable course,

Though to our summer we must say adieu,

How it flew by, no one knew,

Though we may find oursleves farther apart,

The summer lives on in our hearts.

(How someone was feeling cheesy enough to use that in conversational modern English is beyond me but hey, we all get weird and emotional on the last day, don't we? Never mind the intense lack of sleep. onward!)

Y2E Closer #2

As we transported our shelters together

A few of you may have picked up on the weather;

Kind of upsetting, like, "What? Dude, c'mon!,

There's no need for torture, the summer is done!"

And yet I find meaning in that dreaded rain,

The misty surroundings, the swampy terrain,

The slosh in our socks and the slop in our shoes,

Our Camouflaged tee-shirts all soaked through and through,

The ache in our arms , the mud and the bark,

The things in between we can't (thank G-d) see in the dark,

Determination that flooded our face,

Swagger that shouted we owned the whole place.

Strength beyond mind, beyond body or measure,

Deep satisfaction in deeper displeasure,

In all this a message I find clear as day:

Prepare, world: 15 Y2 guys are headed your way.

hey guys figured i should be the first one to break the ice and write down a recipe. 

                                                                            French Toast(Yaalozu Style)

5 pieces of (Ari's, Aaron's and whoever else made it) awesome bread 

2 eggs

cinnamon and sugar

oil

slice bread into 2 even pieces. dip each piece individually into the whisked eggs and put in frying pan with a bit of oil. fry till golden, take out ,add some cinnamon and sugar and of course some natural flavorings(LOL),and enjoy.

Bon appetite ובתאבון

made by daniel gordon and yaakov stern

p.s somebody please post recipe for bread

serves 2 because you'll probably want to eat at least 5 pieces 

     Hi Ya'alozu! So I'm so glad this new blog exists because I wrote a poem which I wouldn't be so eager to share except that when I wrote it, I felt so much like a simple kli (vessel) of Hakadosh baruch Hu- it came straight from heaven to my pen & paper, with barely any of my thought process involved. I don't even know if Tani ever heard it; I'm glad it can be properly displayed a little more publicly. It was one of those really intense, where-is-my-life-going kind of contemplative nights in Ya'alozu, and before I knew it, I had this scribbled in front of me. Good pre-Yom Kippur poem, incidentally, I suppose.
     I have a few others to share, but I think I'll save the next one for a slightly more godly hour than 1:30 A.M. For now, enjoy, and please contribute your own poems, songs, stories etc. etc. to the blog because (as a selfish request, forgive me) I love hearing/seeing other people's creations within the arts & humanities and whatnot. Gmar Chasima Tova and a a Gut Gabentched Yar to all, and of course, RTF!!!!!!!

Tefillah

The day is still young, so far as to see,

Nothing of where in ten years I may be.

But as I lay pondering, void of soothe-sayer,

The one thing I know to rely on is prayer.

May it be the will of the Mighty above,

That all of us here may be showered in love

By the Creator, and our close ones alike,

And may the dear Torah infinite strike

A hole through our souls, like a shot, target driven,

And may we be glad with the lot we are given.

May we learn from the past to prepare for thus coming,

And may our hearts always be constantly strumming

Along to a rhythm of purpose and drive

And may we be glad we are simply alive.

And may our lives always get brighter, not grayer,

In a vast world uncertain, there will always be prayer.

What's That Over There?

Welcome to Yaalozu's blog. Here you can write your Yaalozu reflections, stories, poems, recipes, and songs. If you have something to ad to our recorded history, post it!

For our grand opening, I want to share this year's bear story. On the Mt Minsi hike, which is known for its bear sightings, we had an interesting scare. Before the hike, I warned and prepared the campers about how to deal with a bear on the mountain. For better or worse, we did not see any bears during the entire first half of the hike. Most of us kinda wanted to see a bear, but you cant make them just come out when we call them.

I set up for my speech at the viewpoint overlooking the Delaware River and the surrounding valley. The view is stunning, and I like to think my speech is too. I am very particular that everyone sit and pay attention and look in my direction during this speech.

In the middle of the speech, Yaakov and a camper interrupt the speech -- "Bear!" the famous one word exclamation that always stops us in our tracks no matter what we are doing. As the campers got up to look, I ordered them to return to their seats. Issue number one when you see a bear is to keep the group under control and out of panic mode. Once they are in panic mode, even an imaginary bear will cause damage. Panic will cause people to do harmful things accidentally to themselves and to each other.

I checked out the bear sighting. I saw trees rustling, but I decided even if it is a bear, its better to avoid panic now and continue with my speech. if it is a bear, Ill tell everyone what to do when the time comes. After all, I know bears dont just jump out of the trees and attack. They are curious. They like to see what's going on first before they act.

I continued with my speech. Suddenly, the rustling noise returns, and with it the sound of rushing paw-stomps. I turned around right on time to see 2 advancing Y3 campers, roaring like amateur bears. They certainly surprised us.

How did they get there in the first place?