What did YOU do last weekend?

I have no clue about you, but I do know how about 150 college students and young adults spent the weekend at the 2nd Annual Camp Jewlicious at the Brandeis Bardin Institute in Simi Valley, CA. They swam, rode mountain bikes, climbed walls, rappelled, rode horses, tie dyed t-shirts, enjoyed Shabbat, had some great conversations, enjoyed some excellent speakers, made candles, baked challah, enjoyed some great music and generally partied like rock stars. Well, I mean if rock stars partied on lush 3000 acre properties amongst pheasants, squirrels, lizards and coyotes.

Camp Jewlicious was fun, meaningful and a great experience all around. Big ups go out to our entertainers: Rav Shmuel, Natan Winkler, Mikey Pauker, Josh Kramon, Hyim and DJ Shachar; Big ups also to our staff and volunteers as well as the staff at Brandeis Bardin. But mostly, a big thanks to our participants. OK, I know that’s kind of odd. I mean we worked hard and they reaped the benefits by simply showing up and enjoying the program, so why thank them? I guess it’s because we work hard for them, and when they show up and enjoy themselves, it’s like instant validation, a direct shot of dopamine to our collective cerebral cortex.

But yeah, don’t take my word for it. Check out all the photos on Flickr below. People seem to be having a good time, right? Right!

www.flickr.com

Jewlicious' Camp Jewlicious 2011 photoset Jewlicious’ Camp Jewlicious 2011 photoset

Special thanks to our sponsors without whom none of this would be possible. These are The Jewish Community Foundation Los Angeles and the Valley Alliance Of The Jewish Federation Of Great Los Angeles, Stanley and Joyce Black, Adam and Gila Milstein, The Israel Leadership Council. Further support came from JConnectLA, MASA Israel, Birthright NEXT LA, Birthrigh Israel, Jews For Judaism, San Diego Jewish Federation, Nefesh B’ Nefesh, and Jimena.

Follow me

About the author

ck

Founder and Publisher of Jewlicious, David Abitbol lives in Jerusalem with his wife, newborn daughter and toddler son. Blogging as "ck" he's been blocked on twitter by the right and the left, so he's doing something right.