As we head into Shabbat, we celebrate the accomplishments of the first two weeks at camp. The first accomplishment was our very successful Staff Orientation week, where our staff, faculty and senior leadership worked tirelessly preparing for Opening Day. As I said to our staff on our first night together, and throughout our training, creating the magic of camp is not easy. It’s very hard work that requires sustained effort, dedication and commitment. We trained on a wide variety of important subjects, including cultural and social program planning, child development, gender sensitivity and sexuality, problem solving and dealing with conflict in the cabin, homesickness, working with children with special needs, how to handle behavioral challenges, campus security etc. We provided our counselors with all of the tools they would need to accomplish our primary and most important responsibility: creating a safe and nurturing environment for our campers.

We also talked a lot about building unity in the cabin and throughout our community. We believe in leadership by example. One reason our counselors are having so much success already this summer is that they do not ask their campers to do things they would not do themselves. Our counselors do not tell campers simply to get into the pool. We encourage our staff to be the first in the pool. If we want our campers to be excited about our program, we need to ourselves be excited about and show enthusiasm for our programs. If we want our campers to treat each other with respect and be tolerant of others beliefs and practices, we too need to show them that we do the same. Our staff has really embraced this concept, and they are realizing the potential of their cabins and our community.

The second accomplishment thus far was welcoming over 200 excited and enthusiastic campers into camp, and starting to set the building blocks for creating the vibrant Reform Jewish community our families, campers and alumni have grown accustom to. Opening Day was a blast. Once again, I have to acknowledge our staff, faculty and Avodah for facilitating an extremely smooth process. We are starting to see the benefits and results of enthusiastic team effort.

It’s been a fantastic first five days of Kallah Aleph! Our campers are excited, and are feeding off of our counselors’ positive lead-by-example styles. Our homesickness is resolving and our young campers and first-time campers are showing lots of excitement and smiles. With a new softball field, basketball goals, sports equipment and over 100 gifts from our Amazon Gift Registry, our athletic field is constantly active, our arts, drama, music and dance programs are thriving, and the campers and staff are having a great time. It feels fantastic!

I hope you have a wonderful Shabbat filled with joy and happiness.

Shabbat Shalom,

Jeremy Klotz
Camp Director