Session 1 – Day 2 – Summer 2026 is here!!!
Welcome to the summer of 2026!
We are off and running…
Normally, I’d be sending this post late at night, but since we started on a Thursday and are heading into Shabbat, I thought I’d give you a midday welcome, a little heads-up and tee-up for what’s to come.
Every night, well almost every night, because I don’t do this on Fridays for Shabbat, and every once in a while I actually take a night off (though that’s rare because I still want to be here and I get a little FOMO when I’m not) I put together something we call “Ted Talk.” Yes, it’s a play on Theodore Herzl and the ever-popular TED Talks, so please don’t tell the intellectual property attorneys.
Each night, I’ll try to give you a glimpse of what’s happening at camp that day…what we worked on, what we experienced, what we noticed, what made us laugh, what made us proud, and what camp feels like through the eyes of a Jewish camp professional, Herzl Alum, a camp parent…or through the eyes of a total Northwoods nature nerd. I reference eagles, loons, sunsets, and random animal sightings probably far too often, but I think that’s part of the magic of this place. Being up here in the Northwoods, away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and, most notably, away from technology! It is part of what makes camp so powerful.
These nightly posts will always come straight from the heart and straight from the moment. And I promise you this, I never use AI to write them. You’ll know that because my grammar will occasionally be questionable and my spelling will sometimes be werse. Though, to be fair, computers pretty much fix that stuff now anyway. Remember spelling tests and vocabulary quizzes? I’m not sure kids even do those anymore. They also can’t read cursive, which I sincerely hope makes a comeback…..
I digress.
The summer of 2026 is officially underway.
We have a lot of first-time campers here this session, and many of them looked a little like deer in headlights when they first walked into the Ulam (auditorium – a sacred place here at Camp that’s been welcoming campers since it was built in 1949) and saw a sea of staff and Ozrim in baby blue shirts dancing, singing Jewish song, jumping up and down, and genuinely celebrating their arrival.
First session is typically a little smaller in population, which actually makes it a wonderful introduction to camp life. It gives campers a chance to settle in, build confidence, and begin to understand what this place is all about.
I heard staff all day long (myself included) talking with campers who were nervous, earning their trust, reassuring them, and telling them some version of the same thing:
“I promise… in 10 days, you’re not going to want to go home.”
And honestly, that’s the magic starting to happen already.
The energy here is thick. The excitement is everywhere. You can almost see it floating off people.
As I’m typing this, campers are just about to head off to their first Chugim (which are activities). They get three of them a day and a whole bunch of other very structured things that I’ll get deeper into as the session goes on. But their first Tochnit (program) after breakfast this morning was making Challah for Shabbat.
I’m really excited for these campers first Shabat. It’s where we start instilling that Jewish pride, that love for Israel…although our Israeli staff taught them how to sing Hatikva for those who didn’t know it this morning at Flag Circle (as we do every day!).
One quick logistical note, today I’ll send this through the Campanion app as a push notification, just so everyone knows what this is. After tonight, I’ll simply post these whenever I finish them (usually pretty late at night) without a push notification, so your phone doesn’t buzz and wake you up …not everyone keeps camp hours, I realize.
So, we’re off and running.
I’ll check back in tomorrow night after our first Herzl Camp Shabbat of 2026.
All is well, safely rest!
. שבת שלום!
Tommy