At camp, kids get a chance to learn about themselves, be part of a community and have fun.  But one camper taught me yesterday that camp is also about cracking codes.  People often remark to me that their children come back different, somehow older or wiser, from their time at OSRUI.  But cracking codes? The code that campers get to crack at camp is a Jewish code.  In this special place, they feel free to experiment and express themselves. They try on different ways to pray. They sing out joyfully, they close their eyes, they stretch and move, they are loud and they take quiet moments.  They discuss prayer.  They feel prayer. They lead prayer. Yesterday, in daily camper-led t’filot (prayer services), one camper shared her own code-cracking solution.

What’s the difference between a blessing and a prayer?  I’ve always wondered about this question and I think I’ve cracked the code: a blessing is something we’re thankful for.  A prayer is either asking for something or saying a blessing.  Maybe prayer is voluntary, like something you choose to do, whereas you are “mandated” to say a blessing or your own idea of a blessing.  I guess I’ve cracked the code for me; you still have to answer it.

For me, the biggest blessing of camp is seeing our young people confident, inquisitive and safe enough to try to crack the code. For some that code is about prayer and others it is Hebrew.  For some it happens through the daily programs and for others it is in experiencing Shabbat.  For some, as we heard in our morning program today, it was asking questions about counselors Israel experiences as they begin to figure out how they will connect to Israel. For others, it is the conversations and aha moments with the madrichim (counselors) during sports, in the lake, at the art studio or in survival chug. For me, however, the most powerful part of code-cracking at camp is that each camper gets to come up with their own solution, yet still be part of this incredible sacred community that quickly forms each summer at camp. As the camper taught in last night’s service, you have to answer how you would crack the code for yourself – not just about the difference between a blessing and a prayer, but how you express and feel about your Judaism. Camp is the place where that happens every day.

By Tzofim Aleph Segel Kathy Schwartz, Director of Lifelong Learning at Congregation Har HaShem in Boulder, CO, and Binah Wing, Rabbi at Temple Beth-El in Rockford, IL.