I know you do it, because I do it too. In fact, before I arrived to work at Jewish overnight camp for two weeks at the end of the summer, I spent weeks refreshing my kids’ camp photo stream looking for positive signs of life, praying that AI would catch a glimpse of their faces. Is she happy? Is he participating and enjoying the activities? Are they making friends? Do they seem to be included? Is she brushing her hair? Is he changing his clothes?
Even if the photos could answer all of my questions, there’s much more to camp than can be captured in snapshots. I would even argue that the most important things cannot be captured through the lens of a camera. They are experienced and felt deep inside.
I have the incredible privilege of living and working at camp as a member of the “Jewish life faculty” for two weeks each summer. We as rabbis, cantors and educators lead informal learning programs throughout camp. We teach and explore using all of the modalities available to us at camp (art, music, sports). We support our campers becoming b’mitzvah, lend wisdom and ruach (spirit) to daily worship and prep campers to lead us creatively on Shabbat. Throughout the day, we join the bunks in activities all throughout camp: playing soccer where chesed (kindness) always wins, sitting on the beach at the lake for a round of “Ask the Rabbi” or making bracelets while discussing chaveirut (friendship) as the value of the week. What I witness is nothing short of wondrous. I wish I could bottle up these magical moments and bring them home for each and every parent to experience, but instead I’ll do my best to share a few.
This past week, a colleague and I led several learning sessions with “upper camp” on antisemitism and anti-Zionism. We took time to explore the definition, history and several examples of each term. The kids sorted through artifacts, news articles, pictures and media. When it came time to consider how much we witness antisemitism and anti-Zionism in our own lives, I was heartbroken to learn that every single camper checked off nearly 10 personal experiences. So we spent the rest of our time discussing how to respond to these events in our lives. After we finished the learning sessions, a 15-year-old came up to me and asked if she could take the class again. I asked her why. She said that this was the first time that she got to work through her worries and her fears and strengthen her own Jewish voice on this topic. She said she’d feel better if she could explore more before returning to her high school campus in the fall. Camp gives us extraordinary opportunities to dive deep within our vulnerable selves to lead from a place of passion. So, I invited her to serve as a madricha (teaching assistant) when I teach the younger teens next week. There is no picture that can capture the amount of pride the two of us will feel in this shared moment of learning together.
This week I also burst with pride in a quick conversation with my 10-year-old daughter. She found me at lunch with a friend to share some news. She had signed up with a bunkmate to travel to a neighboring camp for a sports tournament. This is my creative and artistic child who absolutely will not participate in sports at home. But here she was to report that she had not only raced in the 25-yard backstroke event, but completed it and won a third-place medal! Then she said, “I brought my friend along to tell you one very important piece of information.” “What’s that?” I asked. Her friend cheerfully replied, “There were only three participants.” We laughed and squealed with joy at her newfound interest and feat. There is no picture that can capture the gratitude she and I had for the opportunity camp gave her to take a risk and, with delight, accomplish something she’d never imagined.
And so, after you have finished scrolling through all those camp photos and your sweet, tired and dirty campers have returned home, I hope you will ask them not what they did or what sports they played or what they ate for lunch or if they lost their water bottle.
I hope you will ask them how camp made them feel.
Rabbi Rachel Saphire is the associate rabbi at Temple Beth Elohim in Wellesley. For two weeks in the summer, she serves on the faculty of URJ Crane Lake Camp, where her children attend as well.
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