Session 2 – Day 12: Real Influencers!
Hi Herzl Family!
It was another magical Shabbat here in paradise! There’s a gabillion things I could tell you about over the last two days. It still amazes me (and always will) the amount of things that happen in an hour, let alone a day! We have more than 525 people here on camp this session and each one of them, from the kitchen staff to the counselors, to the specialist (not to even mention the most important, the campers) could tell you a boatload of stories that fill their day. It fantastical!
The thing that stood out to me this Shabbat was the influence of the older campers on the younger campers. Second session’s uniqueness is that we have 16 year olds who are seasoned veterans of the Herzl magic walking the poad (the road around camp isn’t actually a road, or a path…it’s a poad) with 8 & 9 year old bright eyed novices.
The touching and cool part of this Shabbat (among the many, once again) was the gregarious B’yachad boys took front and center at the MerCaz last evening and got fully into Kabbalat Shabbat doing every song with gusto and every dance with full embrace. This is where the little ones actually learn the most (in my opinion) – they so want to be like these guys and I see them mimicking them back in the protective shield of their K’far or cabin.
That said, I’ve caught small groups of girls chanting Birkat Hamazon as they walk the poad trying to emulate the Ozo girls Birkat team (a group of 4-5 female Ozo’s that lead Birkat everyday and specialize in getting people engaged). Then what took the cake this morning, which prompted this evenings dribble, is that I saw a group of 11/12 year old girls jogging the poad this morning whilst on my morning stroll around camp with my dog Enzo (Herzl’s favorite mascot) and they were talking about the B’yachad girls they see jogging throughout that day saying “I think they do like 10 laps!” (The 11/12 year olds did 3 and the Yacher’s do MAYBE 4…but they’re hero’s to the younger ones…so let’s keep it at “like 10”).
It’s been a busy Shabbat and this camper needs some sleep tonight. There’s a heck of a week ahead! But, for now, know this…
All is well, safely rest.
Thanks for sending your kid to Herzl Camp
לילה טוב
Tommy