Session 1 – Day 5 …It kind of choked me up

Well, folks Shabat number one with campers that Herzl Camp summer 2025 is in the books.

Like I said before a day here at camp is so packed up with stuff that can feel like a week and you can hardly remember what you did in the morning versus what you did in the afternoon Caravan last night. I’m not gonna lie to you…it kind of choked me up. If you’ve read any of the stuff I’ve put out about our thoughts and themes on the summer, we are helping kids be unapologetically Jewish. Nothing displays that better than Shabbat Caravan.

For those of you who are new to the Herzl community, Shabbat caravan is an age tradition that probably started when Herzl started in 1946 or not too far behind it. We lineup at the beginning of the road around camp with the Torah, some guitar players, and we start marching along in song and stride singing Shabbat songs all dressed in white. As we march down the road, we go by each cabin and collect that group until we’ve made it all the way around camp and the entire camp is walking in one long caravan (hence the name) all the way to the flag circle. My favorite part is when reach down toward the north end of camp the road starts curving around back to the south and since I’m usually toward the front of the caravan (because it starts right by my house), I look back and I see this long train of hundreds of Jewish people dressed in white welcoming Shabbat. It’s a beautiful site and it brings me abundant pride and joy.

Last night‘s song session (which is right after dinner of course) our Shira team made a very good camp, Jewish, and age-appropriate sing-along. We had a little bit of James Taylor a little bit of Yerushalim Shel S’hav and even a Disney song from Moana that got every kid in the Chadar swaying and singing….oh,  and a little bit of Bob Zimmerman…

Shabbat services on Saturday morning were filled with some fun new songs to go along with prayer and Torah lesson. We have a unique opportunity here and that’s to teach Judaism through the lens of fun. And our teachers are our fantastic counselors, who happen to be their hero’s. It makes for a great recipe!

Shabbat rotations (areas that are open for activity) were very swayed by the heat. Though we never actually hit 90, the heat and humidity kept our waterfront bustling! We were at capacity both rotations and the chorus of laughter and play muted any…commentary…about the heat. As a matter of fact, we were talking with a group of staff after Pajama Havdallah (which I’ll talk about in next) and they were all commenting on how surprised they were that hardly a camper made any comment about the heat.  In short, we keep water bottles filled and have stations of ice and water with staff promoting it like a carnival attraction….gotta make it campy!

Havdallah is my favorite service of the week! We did it in the AC of the Chadar tonight as a pajama party, in one circle, singing the best prayer medley of the week, with the whole camp arm in arm…it kind of choked me up.

Thanks for sending your kid to Herzl Camp!

All is well, safely rest.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                   ‏לילה טוב

                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Tommy