When campers and staff are asked why they love camp, a prevailing sentiment among responses is that “camp is home.” It is a home they create with their peer community, their first chavurah. They return summer after summer.
The idea of home transcends the physical space, even though campers report the sweet chills they feel as they enter Camp Newman’s gates and gaze up to the Star of David. The idea of home is how it makes one feel inside: warm, loving, joyful, accepted without condition. People can be themselves and live the Jewish value of betzelem elohim, that we are created in a divine image.
Our stories
Imagine sitting in the middle of camp and just listening: Laughter, music and singing abound. Listen carefully, especially during informal moments — at meals, in the cabin, at bedtime, walking from one place to another — and you will hear myriad stories. Children open up at camp; they tell their stories, create new ones and pass them on. Stories about growth, conflict, joy, redemption, happiness, sadness, dreams, successes, shortcomings, yearnings, aspirations. So much of camp’s richness comes from children and young adults being able to tell their stories and embrace the stories told by their friends.
At camp the notion of l’dor v’dor, from generation to generation, is ubiquitous. Young children grow up at camp, passing along traditions to those younger than themselves, and maybe eventually becoming staff members and passing the torch to the next generation. Many return as faculty, with their own families, perpetuating the chain.
In Midrash Rabba, Songs of Songs 1:4, God tells the Jewish people that they will not receive the Torah without reliable guarantors — those who care for and will pass along the Torah for generations to come. The Jewish people suggest several groups — parents, grandparents, prophets, shepherds — but none are acceptable to God. Only when children are presented as the guarantors does God hand over the Torah to the Jewish people.
The Talmud says: “By the breath of children God sustains the world.”
Camp celebrates the essence of childhood, bringing out the child and the best in us all. We come together to share the magical moments and miracles of Jewish community living 24/7 immersed in Jewish life.
Countdown to summer
As we count the Omer until Shavuot, May 26 this year, thousands of children, young adults, staff, parents and faculty are counting down the days to summer. Soon I will hear the ecstatic voices of “Haveinu Shalom Aleichem” echo through the hills as we welcome back our community. Camp will be full and overflowing with the laughter, singing and joy of 700 sweet souls.
Moments illustrating why campers yearn for the “outside camp” world to be like the “camp world” will soon come alive: the exuberant embrace of friendships; seemingly endless fun-filled activities; sacred and meaningful Jewish rituals; 8- to 88-year-olds sharing their awe, wonder and gratitude and learning lifelong skills to better ourselves and our world.
I can’t wait to hear children talk about being able to connect with God at our creek, vineyard, enchanted forrest, kibbutz, Shabbat service, at a meal or sitting with a friend. I can’t wait to walk at night, listening to the various siyyums (closing group circles) as children and young adults share their love and learnings of the day, gaze at the stars and say “thank you.”
Very soon, we will be celebrating Shabbat, camp style. In full appreciation of life’s blessings, we celebrate with prayer, delicious dining, ruach-filled singing, Israeli dancing, onegs and endless hugs in our beautiful outdoor amphitheater. It is a remarkable moment to watch, as the setting sun’s rays shine brightly on our children’s faces.
In just a few weeks, our staff will hold tallitot over their campers’ heads and recite the Shabbat blessing for one’s children — and henceforth preparing them as future Jewish parents.
The crescendo might be campers’ departing moments, when they run to embrace their parents and their parents say, “I missed you so much, you have grown so much, you look so happy!”
The children respond, “I love you — and I can’t wait to come back. This place is home”.
Ruben Arquilevich is senior director at URJ Camp Newman, year-round camp and Bay Area Jewish community retreat center.