by Laura Perpinyal and Rabbi Jessica Barolsky, Kallah Segel (Faculty)

As segel (faculty) we are Rabbis, Cantors and Educators from across the country that spend 2 weeks immersed in an eidah (unit) on camp. We spend the entire day with our eidah from eating meals together, to learning together, even swimming and climbing the tower with the chanichim (campers)!

Everyday in Kallah we have the opportunity to explore stories from the Torah with the chanichim. At a recent evening program several madrichim (counselors) had trouble understanding each other – our chanichim noticed they weren’t listening to each other, they weren’t compromising and they were even speaking different languages. We compared this situation to the story of the Tower of Babel in the book of Genesis.

To dive deeper, we challenged our chanichim to work together and use these same ideas from the Tower of Babel to complete the “Marshmallow Challenge”. Groups of 3-4 chanichim were given a handful of dry spaghetti, several pieces of tape and a marshmallow. They were tasked with building the highest free-standing tower as possible with a marshmallow on top.

The results were incredible!! The towers were creative and innovative, the teamwork was inspiring and the fun was contagious!! One camper commented that it wasn’t “team work” but rather it was “team FUN”!

And since we were already using marshmallows, we just needed to end the program with s’mores!! We were joined by teva (nature) staff for the special nish noosh (snack) to round out a long, fulfilling day!

Laura Perpinyal is Director of Congregational Learning at Temple Chai in Long Grove, IL and
Rabbi Jessica Barolsky is School Rabbi at Milwaukee Jewish Day School.