By Sam Pollak, Judaic Education Specialist

This session, our study theme is “Jewish Character and Characters.” We are learning about middot, characteristics that Jews value, through figures from the Hebrew Bible and Jewish history. Some of our middot include Shmiat HaOzen (Being a Good Listener), Anavah (Humility), and Hachnasat Orchim (Welcoming Guests), and some of our characters include Abraham, Maimonides, and Betty Friedan. Cultivating middot is a lifelong journey, one that can be neither failed nor finished, and we are learning to recognize middot in others and in our community so that we can recognize and grow them in ourselves.

Our educational program is centered around one program each day for every camper: shiur (lesson) for Garin, Shoresh, and Geza, and limmud (study) for Anaf. These educational programs are planned and run by our creative counselors, in conjunction with their unit heads, visiting Faculty rabbis, cantors, and educators, and Judaic Studies Director Sam Pollak. Throughout the session, we also have three all-camp shiurim, which are led by Sam and other staff members.

In our all-camp shiurim, we have been joined by two characters, Captain Chutzpah (played by Sam) and Dr. Dilemma (played by Rabbi Mark Covitz, Camp Director). At each event, Dr. Dilemma puts GUCI in some sort of conundrum that requires camp to give up or lose its values, and Captain Chutzpah enlists the GUCI community to help save the day! Our campers are excited about this superhero and super villain duo, and they frequently ask Sam and Mark about their characters.

In our first all-camp shiur, which introduced our campers to the session’s study theme, Dr. Dilemma stole the voice of Jacob Kraus, head songleader, and with it GUCI’s musical joy. Moreover, he buried it beneath the sign at the entrance to camp, which welcomes everyone to our community. If Captain Chutzpah were to dig up Jacob’s voice and rescue GUCI’s joy, he would be destroying GUCI’s ability to welcome guests! It was quite a dilemma. Captain Chutzpah asked each cabin to develop an original superhero that would be beneficial to camp, since he needed help fending off Dr. Dilemma. This activity was designed to help our campers understand what it means to think about the good characteristics of other people, the characteristics which they might want to emulate. Units selected one of their many heroes to represent them on Captain Chutzpah’s Supercouncil of Righteous Acquaintances, and at the end of the morning, the newly formed Supercouncil was able to restore Jacob’s voice without compromising the value of welcoming guests.

In our second all-camp shiur, which took place just last Friday, Dr. Dilemma struck again. This time, he stole the keys to the laundry room, the dishwashing machine, and two of the three Avodah unit heads, who help keep camp clean. He did this in order to take away GUCI’s godliness, since everyone knows cleanliness is next to godliness—an idea that comes from the Talmud. Dr. Dilemma even stole camp dog Rosie’s doody bags, making camp covered in dogliness instead! In response, Captain Chutzpah challenged campers to find the godliness on camp that existed despite Dr. Dilemma’s deeds, and they did this by going around to different locations on camp and learning about characteristics that one might ascribe to God in order to find them at GUCI. The purpose of this activity was to recognize the holy attributes of GUCI’s community, just as we are recognizing the the holy attributes (middot) of other characters all session. In the end, the camp regrouped to sing “Kehillah Kedoshah” (A Holy Community), a song written by our very own Dan Nichols. But instead of singing the written words, each cabin wrote half a line to the song that described one holy characteristic of GUCI that they could recognize. You can find the newly written lyrics and a video of the song below. With the power of their voices, GUCI was able to banish Dr. Dilemma and force him to return GUCI’s cleanliness, since the godliness was there all along anyway.

…Stay tuned for next week’s dramatic conclusion to the saga of Dr. Dilemma and Captain Chutzpah!

“Kehillah Kedoshah”

-original words and music by Dan Nichols

-rewritten by GUCI 2014

If you are “atem,” then we’re “nitzavim.”

We stand here to day and remember the dream.

Kehillah kedoshah. Kehillah kedoshah.

Lai dai, dai…

Each one of us must lead the camp,      Each one of us must be a friend,

Each one of us must clean the world,     Each one of us must open a door,

Each one of us must mend the world,     Each one of us must find our path,

Each one of us,     Each one of us!

Kehillah kedoshah. Kehillah kedoshah.

Each one of us must clean the earth,  Each one of us must show our pride,

Each one of us must start to learn,      Each one of us is a link to God,

Each one of us must gather as one,    Each one of us must be a friend,

Each one of us,     Each one of us!

Kehillah kedoshah. Kehillah kedoshah.

Each one of us must work as one,               Each one of us must help each other,

Each one of us must take a chance,            Each one of us must be mature,

Each one of us must show our strength,      Each one of us must show respect,

Each one of us,     Each one of us!

Kehillah kedoshah. Kehillah kedoshah.

All Camp Shiur, Kallah Aleph 6/20/14 from URJ GUCI on Vimeo.