An Update from Camp

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is our first Shabbat at camp. We have been here since Sunday afternoon, and things have been going really well. A chilly start to our week but spirits are high and things are moving right along swimmingly.

The campers arrived on Monday for the beginning of Kallah and Tzofim Bet. These are the two youngest units on camp and they are here for 2 weeks at a time (some stay for both sessions). Kallah campers, with whom I work, live in cabins and Tzofim campers live in tents.

Starting right away, the campers get to know their counselors and the camp environment and they dove right into fun activities.

For me, this is a unique year. It's my sixth summer on faculty (I can't quite believe it!) and it's my son David's first year as a "day camper." This is a special designation for the kids of faculty and staff who are a tiny bit too young to be overnight campers (he's going into 2nd grade, the youngest campers right now are going into 4th grade) but old enough to "hold their own" with the bigger kids for daytime activities. He appears to be having a wonderful time but he's a) exhausted and b) wishing he could sleep in the cabin with the big kids! In fact, it seems to be a daily question from him...I have finally resorted to turning the question over to the unit heads. Why not let someone else say no for a while!?

I have many colleagues and friends who are up here with us. While we work hard, we also play hard together, a little bit like reunion week for us. Our kids are all up here, they play together, and we get a chance to reconnect and reunite. This is the most special part of camp for me, being able to share it with other rabbis. We usually end up sharing "war stories" and laughing a lot together!

I seem to be having trouble logging into Blogger (I think it might have something to do with camp's wi-fi connection, but I'm working on the problem) so I'm blogging from email...I have tons of great pictures to share, including from our interesting and creative educational programming and my middle child on a horse! We've been to the NEW pool and the lakefront, and spent a lot of time slapping mosquitoes away. The pictures will come....hopefully I'll get it cleared up before Shabbat because I also have video from the Rick Recht concert ( as well as a photo of me with Rick himself) that was here on Wednesday night.

As you can see, it's been busy and we're having a great time at Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute!!!