by Vanessa Ehrlich, Kallah Segel (Faculty)

I just got back from OSRUI and I had a wonderful time with the eidah (unit) I was in, Kallah Gimmel. Over 15% of our students attend OSRUI and I have included two pictures which do not include ALL of our students attending over the 8 week summer but do include our 2 staff members. When people ask me what I do at OSRUI, I don’t know where to begin. I led brief t’filot (services) for our group of 77 campers and 12 staff every morning with Cantor Arik Luck from Beth Emet in Evanston, Illinois. After that we launched into our informal education session, which this summer focused on Middot, values or virtues. We taught our campers through puppets, skits and songs about different important middot.

After swimming we had our informal Hebrew session, which culminated in a carnival of Hebrew games in which our campers could show us the skills they had learned in modern Hebrew language through 6 different games – from gaga (played with a ball) and Shimon Omer (Simon says) to Red light Green Light, all done in Hebrew. In the afternoon I sat with campers and staff to prepare their evening t’filah and just hang out. Staff meetings were held late into the night, ok for me that it was past 10:00 pm, with a fond exchange of what had happened during the day.

Although the tasks kept me busy, whether it was finding the right story to act out on Friday night or a lights out program for a 10-year-old boys’ cabin, the parts of the summer I cherish are the relationships I made with campers and staff alike. I love talking to campers about their favorite reading material, which many times I have read myself. I love to bring a special treat for the many late night staff meetings to encourage the staff as they work long and hard hours. This is the reason I come back to camp every year; I have been on faculty twice as long as I was ever a camper.

One staff member, who is thinking about going to Hebrew Union College to become a Hebrew professional, this summer asked if I could stay on at OSRUI as faculty until she had graduated college, done a gap year program, found some employment, then went to HUC and came back to OSRUI so we could faculty together. You know what Libby, I am seriously thinking about it; I’ll keep my end of the bargain if you keep yours.

Vanessa Ehrlich is the Educational Director at Lakeside Congregation in Highland Park, Illinois, and served as one of the faculty members in Kallah Gimmel. This piece was originally posted in the Lakeside Congregation Weekly Email Update.