By Jacob Kraus, Head Songleader

Hi everyone! I’m Jacob Kraus, this summer’s Head Songleader. I’ll be putting together camp’s singing program, planning Roll Call in the morning, all of our post-meal song sessions, and working with the T’filah specialist on our daily services. I’m overjoyed to be singing with camp again — no other group sounds as beautiful, passionate and energetic.

I got to camp this year after spending five days at another URJ camp, Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute in Wisconsin, for a program called Hava Nashira (Hebrew for “let us sing together”). Hava Nashira exists to help everyone in the world of Jewish music – songleaders, cantors, educators, composers, soloists and many more – learn new music and new skills from one another. I was there along with five other GUCI staff members, most of whom were in a special track of programming for songleaders working at URJ and Ramah camps this summer. We had the opportunity to learn from experienced songleaders such as Dan Nichols, Alan Goodis and Cantor Rosalie Boxt (all GUCI alumni). Over long, harmonious days of programming, we grew closer as a team and laid the groundwork for an excellent summer of singing.

I left Hava Nashira with more than just a list of new songs that I’m looking forward to sharing with camp. I was able to work on my skills as a songleader in front of a large group, share best practices with other camp songleaders, and think deeply about camp’s singing program and what can make it even more outstanding. It was also personally inspiring for me to see so many people with close ties to GUCI, whether they were alumni on the faculty, participants who grew up at camp, or our current staff members at Hava Nashira. They are all a testament to how important singing is here at camp and to how singing can make a lasting impact on someone’s life and connection to Judaism.

Spending five days with songleaders from Jewish camps around North America and other attendees all invested in bringing their communities together through song gave me a great deal of creative energy. Hava Nashira’s atmosphere was ripe with opportunity: for songs we could sing in the Chadar Ochel, ways to add meaning to our T’filah, and techniques to work on with my fellow songleaders. The five days I spent in Wisconsin helped me get ready for the summer, and made me even more excited to sing here at GUCI!