{"id":40462,"date":"2023-01-13T01:33:45","date_gmt":"2023-01-13T09:33:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=40462"},"modified":"2023-01-11T15:44:08","modified_gmt":"2023-01-11T23:44:08","slug":"campers-share-their-thoughts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2023\/01\/13\/campers-share-their-thoughts\/","title":{"rendered":"Campers share their thoughts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Making friends and challenging oneself are just two of the things kids love about summer camp. (photo from Camp Solomon Schechter)<\/em><\/p>\n

Jewish camping can be an integral part of children\u2019s lives and their development. Involving them in Jewish summer camps leads to brighter Jewish futures and a stronger Jewish community as a whole. Camp helps Jewish youth feel proud of their heritage and can lead to stronger friendships and relationships, campers finding their true passions, and discovering the joy in\u00a0Jewish life. We spoke to several Camp Solomon Schechter campers about what camp means to them and how it\u2019s made an impact on their lives.<\/p>\n

Ruby Lipsky (1st year)<\/strong>: \u201c[Camp friends are special] because you can just do whatever you want with them and they make you feel like [you\u2019re] home and, if you\u2019re sad, they help you and it\u2019s just nice to have somebody here to be with you. You\u2019re living with some new people in your cabin that you\u2019ve never met before and I made very good friends with them because I treated them nicely. If you treat them how you want to be treated, then it just makes camp so much more fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Izzy Drazin (2nd year)<\/strong>: \u201cYou\u2019re just welcome to anything you want to do. I feel like I\u2019ve been more excited whenever I come to camp. Instantly something clicks in my head to be happy, have fun, try new things. I want to bring back some of the energy that I have here, some of the ruach<\/em>, happiness, and this new sense of self.\u201d<\/p>\n

Orli Kalman (7th year)<\/strong>: \u201cOut of camp I have learned so many new values of kindness and working with others. It\u2019s a really great opportunity because you\u2019re constantly surrounded by people and sometimes that\u2019s a lot, but you deal with it and learn how to prioritize yourself and take time for yourself when you need it. Then, you can go back and make friendships and value the time that you get to spend with others.\u201d<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

\u201cMy friendships at camp are the most important thing to me and that is one of the main reasons that I come back to camp. I get to see the same people every year that I love and that I get to grow with and learn more about every summer. We have so many similarities but at the same time so many differences, I\u2019m constantly learning new things about my friends. It\u2019s great that we are able to start right back where we left off and just keep growing these friendships and making them stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
(photo from Camp Solomon Schechter)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bella Robinson (8th year)<\/strong>: \u201cAt home, I have a few Jewish friends but going to camp, where everyone is Jewish, is such a magical thing. All the aspects of my life tie into me being Jewish and, at home, I find that I may not relate to my other non-Jewish friends because they don\u2019t share some of the same aspects of their culture or religion or keeping Shabbat and they may not know about some of the traditions I keep close to my heart. When I\u2019m at camp, constantly practising Judaism and I\u2019m with all my Jewish friends, those friendships are just so much stronger than any other ones at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Josh Kittay (15th year, counselor)<\/strong>: \u201cThe biggest thing about camp that makes it so special is those memories for me. I love to tell stories and, when I go home, I get to tell all my family and friends those stories that happened, whether it\u2019s your new friend you made or something really funny you did on the aqua park or an amazing shot you made on the basketball court. You get to really find out who you are here and you get to be that person you want to be, whether you\u2019re extra goofy here or you wanna change a little bit who you see yourself as. You get to do that here \u2019cause no one\u2019s gonna judge you.\u201d<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so important to be somewhere that is so inclusive. We are judged as a Jewish community, we are judged for just being Jewish, and being able to not only be Jewish here with tons of other Jews \u2026 you also get to be how you want to be and you better come up with your own story about who you wanna become. You don\u2019t have to go along with the rules, go along with the set laws of what we call the \u2018real world.\u2019 You get to be who you wanna be, you get to choose who that person is. What we like to say is you get to try on new clothes. If you wanna become someone else, go for it. This is the place where no one is gonna judge you, everyone wants to do the same thing, so find out who you are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 Courtesy Camp Solomon Schechter<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Making friends and challenging oneself are just two of the things kids love about summer camp. (photo from Camp Solomon Schechter) Jewish camping can be an integral part of children\u2019s lives and their development. Involving them in Jewish summer camps leads to brighter Jewish futures and a stronger Jewish community as a whole. Camp helps […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40464,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5218,5914,5127,5126,6153],"class_list":["post-40462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-camp-solomon-schechter","tag-identity","tag-jewish-camp","tag-overnight-camp","tag-summer-camp"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}