Counselor Sydney's Memory of Magic Mountain

Hi, my name is Sydney Spiegel. This year, being my 4th summer as a counselor at Camp Mahanayim, I have watched the growth of both the camp and all the campers. This camp gives the campers a fun day and leaves them with life long friendships with other campers and their counselors. At camp, the staff’s goal is to make every camper have a great time, and encourage them find it in themselves to do things they never thought they could. A story about camp that I think about often was a couple summer ago when the camp went to Magic Mountain. As most of you know, Magic Mountain is a roller coaster park, with some slow, medium, and extreme levels of rides. Naturally, every camper had their own preference in what level they were most comfortable in, and we place them into groups accordingly so that everyone will have fun! I was leading the medium level group that day, and we went on many roller coasters and water rides. The very last ride of the day was the most extreme that we had been on.

The appearance of the ride scared a couple of campers, so since they had been on all the medium rides, and enjoyed them, I encouraged them to try this last ride, because I would never take them somewhere that was too extreme. Even though they at first were unsure if they could do it, they trusted me as their counselor to protect them. By the end of that ride, every single one of them wanted to go on the ride again and realized that it was not extreme at all! It was interesting, because the groups were made up of campers from grades 3-6. Even though I was only the 4th grade counselor at the time, they all treated me and trusted me like I was their own counselor. Today, they still come up to me both during the school year, and camp and we still talk about that day; the day that they conquered their fears and realized that they could all do anything they put their minds too.

Share a fun or memorable story from your campers experience in the comment section.

So many weeks! So little time?

Worried about choosing your weeks so far in advance? It’s not even Passover and you are trying to schedule the whole summer! That is why you can change your weeks with no penalty up until May 1st! Remember you can only switch or add weeks that have availability. Registration never closes, but camp fills up quickly, so make sure you choose at least your minimum of four weeks soon! You can always add another week with no penalty later on.

Use our calendars to help you choose weeks that your camper will enjoy! Remember to sign up before March 31 to receive the Early-Bird discount!

Click here to register.

Mahanayim Superstar-Abby Reifman, Our Camp Director!

This will be Abby Reifman’s ninth summer working at Camp Mahanayim and her second as Camp Director. Abby has held the position of Counselor-in-Training, Co-Counselor, Head Counselor, Unit Head, and Assistant Director. She has also had the pleasure of running the 56 Club (youth program for Grades 5 &6) at Stephen S. Wise Temple and works in the Hevre program at the Religious School. Aside from camp, Abby has received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History and a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Human Development from the University of California, Davis. She completed her teaching credential in Special Education from California State University at Northridge and is the Resource Specialist at Lanai Road Elementary in Encino. During her free time Abby enjoys doing lots of yoga, watching Dodger games, hiking, waterskiing, and being in the sun. Most of all, Abby looks forward to reconnecting with Mahanayim’s campers and staff members. Mahanayim is so lucky to have such a superstar!

One weekly rate for everyone is more than just easy...

As you know, many changes have taken place for the upcoming summer. One change which you may have noticed is our weekly rates have become consistent across all grade levels. In the past, our upper grade campers were charged a higher price due to field trips twice a week, while our younger campers stayed at camp or went on one field trip a week. While our field trip schedules are staying the same we have focused a great deal of energy into our camp programming to ensure our younger campers are having as many exciting opportunities as our older campers while on campus. We ensure this occurs through guests, hiring specialists, and for our kindergartners having licensed teachers as group leaders. We feel that all grade levels are provided with programming that suits their particular ages appropriately and engaging campers in a variety of manners to aid them in developing relationships and living camp life to the absolute fullest!