Shabbat Chukat 2018

Dear Families,

The core of camp is community.

It’s been a great first week and our camp community has already started to grow together. There are many moments that stand out: from playing on the basketball court, to singing at song session, to a cabin night program around a camp fire. There were a few instances that stood out to me this week, reinforcing what community means at camp.

On Monday, we started the session by coming together as one community to kick off the summer. While together, our madrichim (counselors) held tallitot (prayer shawls) over the campers to symbolize the sheltering community we strive for at camp. We tasted apples and honey to symbolize the sweet start to a new summer and joined together in shecheyanu (the prayer to celebrate special occasions) to thank God for bringing us to this season. In this moment I watched our community, over 600 people strong, share in a ritual and celebrate the start of something special together.

Our youngest campers in Kallah and Tzofim are learning about the book of Genesis this session. They had a great limud (study) session this week where they learned the story of Abraham and Sarah who opened their tent up to three strangers. Campers had the chance to create a special handshake to greet each other and welcome friends from other cabins and tents into their community. I was at one of the staff meetings where our faculty and counselors were planning this program and was inspired to hear them talk about how important it was to role model what a welcoming community looked like for their campers.

Yesterday, at a Chalutzim sicha (discussion group) focused on leadership, the campers talked about how powerful it was to them to have a break from social media for the summer. They shared that at camp their friendships feel different, explaining that when they are at OSRUI they feel it is a safe place to be themselves instead of being forced to create an “ideal” version of themselves for social media. One of the campers said that she felt lucky to be at camp because it is a place where people take the Jewish values of kindness and tikkun olam (repairing the world) to heart.

Right now, we are preparing for Shabbat, when we pause from the busy schedule of the week.  The excitement around camp is palpable, as everyone prepares for this special time together.  After Kabbalat Shabbat services in each unit, we will come together as one camp community, to celebrate Shabbat with a delicious meal and Shabbat Shira, when everyone will raise their voices in song together.  Our returning campers can’t wait, and we are so excited for our new campers to experience their first Shabbat at OSRUI.

Shabbat shalom,

Solly