by Leah Sherin, Tiferet Rosh Eidah

During our first week of Tiferet Aleph, chanichim (campers) participated in our many usual camp activities: sports, chugim (electives), swimming at the pool and going on boats in the lake, and learning Hebrew. In addition, they were able to participate in their Art Studios and Art Minors, an experience unique to Tiferet, where chanichim learn about many different kinds of art. When I think about the overall curriculum of Tiferet Aleph, it is all about exploration. Tiferet chanichim enter with various levels of experience in their art, but when they all come together, they are able to explore what being in an artistic community is like. They also learn about their own Jewish identity through art, all while also exploring the many different kinds of activities OSRUI has to offer.

As a madricha (counselor) in Tiferet the last few summers, I have seen that the arts curriculum provided in our art studios may be different from the kind of arts education that our chanichim have received in their middle school arts classes. The experience in Tiferet focuses on an exploration, where campers engage with many different kinds of creative applications through art and work with peers with different levels of experience. Special to learning here at camp, they are also connecting their work to our Jewish learning topic—this session, Sephardic Judaism—as well as to the physical space of camp around us.

For our evening program on opening night, we ran a program in which the chanichim started by moving to either side of the room based on their preferences for sweet or salty snacks, Sprite or Pepsi, and other either-or decisions. Each time they came to a side of the room the chanichim wrote down a question about anything they wanted to: Is a taco a sandwich? What is the meaning of life? We then asked them to choose a side of the room based on a question they wanted to answer, and they were able to talk with others about these complicated and silly questions, and make friends through conversation. Rather than connecting with others based on their answers, choosing sides based on a question allowed the chanichim to explore these questions together and connect with others even if they might have a different answer. This activity highlights what Tiferet is all about. The Jewish community of artists we seek to build is one that values asking questions and learning about camp, art, and Judaism in an exploratory way. My hope is that throughout this session, our chanichim can build community through the many exploratory experiences they participate in, and no matter what previous experiences they enter with, that they can learn and grow as artists and Jewish individuals.

Leah Sherin is so excited to be spending her 11th year at OSRUI as Tiferet Rosh Eidah! She just returned from a semester in Israel with The Nachshon Project, and will be returning to Brandeis University in the fall for her senior year.