By Kallah Gimmel Segel (faculty) Rabbi Richard Prass and Rabbi Phyllis Sommer

The chanichim (campers) are doing great in Kallah Gimmel. They are energetic, flexible, and bring such great ruach (spirit). Even when the weather was extra-sticky, they enjoyed extra time at the agam (lake) and breycha (pool), and a little bit of air conditioning.

On Monday, as the weather broke into the perfect summer day, we continued our exploration of Jewish history in an awesome camp way. You might have heard that Kallah has a new beit tefillah (chapel) that we are very proud of. To show the kids what it must have felt like in 70 CE when the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, several of the madrichim, dressed as Roman soldiers, tipped over some of the benches and stumps (we use for seats) to “destroy” the Beit Tefillah. The campers were properly concerned and we then proceeded to discuss the historical moment, and more importantly, how we Jews adapted in the wake of the destruction of the Temple. We charged the chanichim to make their own synagogues using materials that they could find in teva-nature-teva (clap) in our area.

We were so pleased to see how engaged and creative they were as each tzrif (cabin) designed its own structure. Much to our pleasant surprise, the chanichim were so into it, that when we walked by them later, some of them were not only working on their structures, but continuing to imagine how they could be used Jewishly.

The group in Kallah Gimmel continues to play, pray, learn, grow, and create a wonderful kehillah (community) here at machaneh (camp) OSRUI.

Rabbi Richard Prass is the Rabbi-Educator at Congregation Beth Am in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. Rabbi Phyllis Sommer is the Director of Congregational Learning at Am Shalom in Glencoe, Illinois.