Published Articles

As you can imagine, the days leading up to 9 weeks of camp (staff week plus eight weeks) are exciting and action packed. I am entering my 10th year as the director of the 40 year old Tikvah Program, which offers overnight camping opportunities for nearly 50 children and young adults with a wide range of special needs. Our winter office is based in Boston and the camp itself is in Palmer, Massachusetts; and I have the distinction of being the only year round staff member who doesn’t work out of the camp office. For me, there is no period of packing up the office and moving to Palmer. So, when the office is in transition, my computer is still on and with me. And I receive many calls from Tikvah (and even non-Tikvah) families seeking information from an actual person about bus departures, luggage tags, etc. But, for the most part, I am sitting at home, working hard to put the finishing touches on the Tikvah Program and the Inclusion Programs for Kayitz, 2010. It is crunch time!

This week alone, I met with our rosh edah, sent out Tikvah bunking, interviewed an out of state Tikvah family (at an NYC kosher bagel and pizza store!), spoke with counselors, a newspaper reporter and a funder, did tons of paperwork, and wrote and answered hundreds of emails. You know it is countdown time when emails sent to my camp colleagues the director, assistant director, programming director, business manager and development director are routinely answered even when sent at 11 pm!

Yet, sometimes the best way to prepare for camp is to take a break from camp!

Today, it is a hot, sunny day in Manhattan. After a few hours of doing camp work and staring out at the beautiful weather, I decided to get away from camp by getting on my bike and heading over to Central Park. The park is closed to car traffic starting at 10 am. So, at 11:30 or so, I put on my biking clothes, grabbed my helmut, pumped up my tires and hit the park. The loop is six miles, and the runner and biker lanes were packed with others who had the same idea. The park was packed with school kids having picnics, color wars and attending the marionette show. And there were readers, tennis players and sunbathers galore.

I was at peace, almost in a dream state, as I neared Tavern on the Green on the West Side, in the 60s. All of a sudden, I thought I saw a t-shirt, identical to one I have and actually wear quite often a gray staff t-shirt with RAMAH in big orange letters on the front, and Tzevet (Staff) 2008 on the back. But I was relaxed and pedaling 22 miles an hour. Couldn’t be. Why would a pedicab (bike cab) driver in Central Park in New York City be wearing a shirt from my camp?! My curiosity got the better of me. I slowed and stopped in front of the cab and asked the driver where he got the shirt. Well, Ilya, the pedicab driver, was Ilya the kitchen worker two years ago at Camp Ramah in New England! Where are you from? I asked. Kazakhstan, he replied. He still eyed me a bit suspiciously. I asked, Oh, you worked with Meital and Randy? He smiled. I invited him to come visit. I reached in to my pouch and forked over the one piece of identification I had on my Camp Ramah in New England-Tikvah Director business card. Call me if I can be of help, I said. His smile got bigger. I got back on my bike and went back to dreaming this time of bike rides, in just a few weeks, with my many camp friends including my kitchen staff friends–to Quabbin Reservoir.

Read more

As you can imagine, the days leading up to camp are exciting and action packed.  For the Tikvah Director, who doesn’t work out of the camp office, there is no period of packing up the office and moving to Palmer. So, when the office is in transition, my computer is still on and with me. And I receive many calls from Tikvah (and even non-Tikvah) families seeking information from a person about bus departures, luggage tags, etc.  But, for the most part, I am putting finishing touches on the Tikvah Program and the Inclusion Programs for Kayitz, 2010. It is crunch time!

This week alone, I met with Ariella, our rosh edah, sent out Tikvah bunking, interviewed an out of state Tikvah family (at an NYC kosher bagel and pizza store!), spoke with counselors, a newspaper reporter and a funder, did tons of paper work, and wrote and answered hundreds of emails.  You know it is countdown time when emails sent to my camp colleagues Ed, Davey, Josh, Rhonda, Hagit, Erica, etc–are returned instantly even at 11 pm!

Read more

My English speaking students always laugh when they learn that being told DIE! is not a harsh curse; rather, it is the Hebrew word for enough. Dayenu, which we will all sing during the Magid section of our upcoming sedarim, literally means Enough for Us. It is a song which asks the important question of whether each miracle of the Pesach story, on its own, would have truly been enough.

Dayenu teaches the importance of being content with what we have. Most of us are fortunate to have enough in our lives. Recent earthquakes in Haiti and Chile remind us that shelter, food, water and our loved ones are the things which are truly important. Our laptops, our Blackberries, and our wallets are dear to us and hard to replace. Family photos and our children’s precious art work and tests posted on our refrigerators are sentimental. But they are just objects.

This Pesach, may we remember that we were once slaves, but now we are free. Free to appreciate and treasure all that is truly important in our lives.

Read more

Yes, Pesach is the time to celebrate freedom and redemption. But it is also a time of eating, eating and more eating. We will surely be spending a lot of time around our holiday table, sharing meals with family and friends. We have sure evolved from the days when Pesach meant simply matza, potatoes and gefilte fish. We can now enjoy such delicacies as quiche, pizza and tea rooms in fancy kosher hotels.

We should be proud of how far we’ve come but we shouldn’t be so content with or focused on the gourmet Kosher for Passover food that we forget the true connections between what we put in our mouths and the meaning of the Passover. We all know that matza reminds us of our hasty departure from Egypt, maror reminds us of the bitterness of slavery, and charoset the mortar used in brick making, etc. But the connections shouldn’t end there.

I was thinking of the importance of thinking what we put in our mouths after reading a recent JCarrot posting by Rabbi Eiav Bock, director of the new Ramah Outdoor Adventure Camp in the Rockies.

Here is an excerpt:

Our goal at Ramah Outdoor Adventure is to completely change the way that we approach food at a summer camp. We have budgeted much more money for food than typical camps. Although I have yet to hire our head chef, the question I have asked each applicant is to tell me how they can help make the food they are serving fit within the broader mission of the camp. Anyone who does not see a direct link between the program in the kitchen and the program on the ropes-course cannot be considered for the job. Admittedly, this has made hiring our head chef all the more challenging, because I am not only seeking someone who understands Kosher food, but also someone who understands the intersection between sustainable foods and wholesome cooking.

So what are some of the commitments we have made for 2010? Here are four:

1. Throughout the week, we will be engaging in programming about food during our meals. We will be adapting elements of the Hazon Min Ha’Aretz Curriculum for use at camp.

2. We will make an effort to buy no white carbohydrates. This means, whenever possible, we will purchase whole-wheat pasta, brown rice and whole-wheat bread. We realize that there will be exceptions and of course we are limited to what we are able to purchase with a Kosher symbol. Luckily Colorado is blessed with wonderful kosher organic whole-wheat bread and organic whole-wheat pasta that is certified by the OU.

3. We will serve mainly whole grain cereal and oatmeal for breakfast only on occasion serving typical camp breakfast foods like waffles and pancakes.

4. Campers will take an active role in preparing food at camp. This will enable everyone from the youngest camper to the oldest staff member to take ownership of the food that we will be eating. When the food is great, we will know who to thank. When the food is bad, we will know who is responsible.

Like Rabbi Bock at his new Ramah camp, we Jewish educators, parents and seder hosts have the opportunity to make the important connection between the true meaning of the Passover holiday and the foods we prepare and consume.


Read more