Note to Self #1
I got this idea from a friend of mine, and I’m going to see if it works…the idea is to basically make a list of small, tangible goals that you want to accomplish over the next week, see how many you do, and repost them with the accomplishments checked off, and a new set of goals to be done.
Here goes –
a) Daven the full Shacharis at least once
b) Eat breakfast every day
c) Be asleep by 1
d) Start studying for Polisci so it’s not overwhelming
e) Run an awesome NCSY event this Shabbos — without going crazy!
Well, C is shot for today, but let’s see how it goes! Wish me luck!
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Dare to Care
Around fifteen years ago, Rav Ruderman, Z”TL, of Yeshivas Ner Yisroel of Baltimore was sitting in his Beis Medrash at 2:00 AM, learning with his few top students. All of a sudden, a boy walks into the Beis Medrash, dressed in jeans, a tshirt and a backwards baseball hat. He walks up to the Ark, kisses it, and turns to leave.
Rav Ruderman calls out to the boy, and asks him where he is going.
“Rebbe, I’m sorry, but I am leaving yeshiva.”
Rav Ruderman looks at him. “Well, of course, I understand if you want to move on…but can you tell me why?”
The boy shifts uncomfortably.
“Well, I’m just not so into learning anymore…it’s really not my thing….”
Rav Ruderman smiles, “That’s ok, we all burn out some times, everyone is entitled to a break. But you don’t have to leave yeshiva!”
“No Rebbe, you don’t understand…I haven’t been in shiur for 5 months.”
“That’s ok, we really can work with that, but you shouldn’t leave, we love having you!”
“No no, Rebbe…I haven’t even been to davening!”
“That’s fine! We all have trouble with it! You can start building up again, but you shouldn’t leave!”
The boy’s eyes start to tear and he starts to shift.
“No, Rebbe! You don’t understand! I haven’t kept Shabbos! I haven’t kept Kosher!”
Rav Ruderman becomes more adamant. “Listen, it’s really ok, stay and we can work on it! It doesn’t mean you have to leave yeshiva!”
The boy is crying harder now.
“No, Rebbe! You don’t understand! I can’t stay! I just came from my girlfriend’s apartment! Where do you think I was until 2 AM?”
“So? That still doesn’t mean you should leave yeshiva, we love having you here!”
Finally the boy breaks down and sobs, “Rebbe, she’s not even my girlfriend! She wasn’t even Jewish! She’s just a girl from the street! I can’t stay in yeshiva!”
Rav Ruderman puts his arms around this boy and looks him straight in the eye and says, “You are the best student in the entire yeshiva.”
The boy looks at him like he is crazy. “What are you talking about? I did all these horrible things! How can I be the best student? How could you say that?”
Rav Ruderman says, “Everybody makes mistakes. Everybody falls. Everybody sins. But only you are crying about it. That is what makes you the best boy in the entire yeshiva. Because you feel.”
This story was told by my boss this past shabbos on a regional Shabbaton for the kiruv organization I work for. He then challanged the kids to care about something. To cry about something. To feel about something. He dared them to care about one little thing, just one…and through that, they will inspire themselves, others, and the entire Jewish future.
This past weekend, my co-worker and I were given the honor of being presented with Chapter Advisor of the Year awards. It came as a complete shock — but the reason that the administration gave when presenting our awards (in front of around 250 people!) was that my co-worker and I care. We spend every waking minute thinking and focusing about our kids, and how we can enrich and inspire their lives further, and make their lives better. Baruch Hashem, we have been fortunate enough to have seen so much growth with our town, our kids, and ourselves, as people and advisors and I am truly awed that the region felt it necessary to notice this. I have extreme hakaras hatov for our administration, for my partner, who is a tzaddik and a role model for all ages, as well as for every single one of our kids.
Also, on a personal note, I am the youngest advisor to recieve this award in many years. Very few people my age even get this job to begin with –but, due to chasdei Hashem, a lot of support and hatzlocha, I feel that I was able to do my job as best as I could…and I hope to, I”YH do it even better next year, as I continue. I am truly blessed to have an amazing, inspirational and incredible staff and to be part of such a Kiddush Hashem.
The world we live in is a cold world, a world of unfeelingness, a numb world. People are afraid to feel. However, being numb is worse than feeling pain. I thank Hashem every day for my ability to feel, and I wish that everybody had the ability and the tools to do so.
So, like my boss challenged my kids, I challenge you. I challenge you to cry. I challenge you to feel. I dare you, I dare you to care.
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I can’t stop yawning!
And yet, I’m blogging! Silly me.
Ok, so the past few days have been a major emotional roller coaster. I’m not going into details but hopefully, Please God, everything should work out for the best. I’m drained, I’m hurt but I also still have a calming “Don’t worry, it’s aaaalllll good!” voice in the back of my head, which makes me feel better. I have confidence in the other person involved, I have confidence in myself and most of all — I have FULL confidence in Hashem. He will make sure everything works out. And Hashem always does and will make sure that everything is “aaaaallll good!” 
Anyways.
So today was the first day of second half of camp. I now have new jobs; besides for being a general head, I am Arts and Crafts Counselor, Music Counselor, Aerobics Counselor (HAHA.), Main Activity Head and next week I get promoted AGAIN and will become Assistant Director on top of everything else!
YEEK.
Today I had 4 bunks for A&C, plus another for Aerobics. In art, for the younger bunks, I made Torah Puppets!
As I was making the puppets with the youngest boys bunk, they got really into it and were screaming “I LOVE TORAH!” and everything like that. However, I feel like some of them kind of missed the point…because as I was cleaning up, I heard the boys discussing their puppets and one of them said:
“MY Torah’s name is Bobby!”
Dear Lord. I have taught them sacrelige.
So granted, I could have done a better job explaining but I was running FOUR simultaneous activities!
Aerobics was fun though, I taught the girls whatever Kung Fu I remembered from seminary. Oh yeah, and we did jumping jacks.
Anyways, I am in desperate need of sleep. Hashem has been so good to me for the past few days; He’s gonna help with everything. EVERYTHING will be ok, I know it.
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48 Ways to Wisdom – Way 3
Ok, no more moping. I’m back with today’s Way of the Day: Say It Out Loud
R’ Noach stresses how verbalizing something is key in remembering it and internalizing it. He points out that we come from a “quiet learning society” but within the quiet, it’s very easy to get lost and distracted. By saying anything out loud (Reading out loud, studying out loud, just verbalizing any idea) it makes it stick with you better.
I know that personally this works very well for me with studying for tests. Before a test, I would take my notes, come into school (This is back in high school because I didn’t need to study in seminary that much, but the technique is the same hehe) and annoy the heck out of anyone who’d listen by re-teaching the class from my notes. If you are not able to re-teach what you have learned, whether it be Biology or Hilchos Shabbos, you clearly do not understand. I personally like to teach it TOO people because I feel like a dork talking to myself and it makes me more likely to remember the material, but saying it out loud by yourself (providing you, unlike me, can get over feeling stupid about it ) works far better than reading the notes a zillion times.
I mean, come on, we’ve all been “studying” only to find out that we’ve been rereading the same page four times and don’t remember a thing.
But this doesn’t only apply to Study Skills 101. Besides for studying, verbalization also can help us concertize our live goals. By saying out loud “I am living for (insert purpose here)” it makes it far more real to us. With so many ideas bouncing around in our heads, even if we mean well, it’s hard to organize them and hard to pull them apart from one another. However, if you just state them it makes them much more realistic and into attainable goals as opposed to just thoughts.
Also, R’ Noach talks about having a dialogue with yourself which I thought was a really smart idea. I’ve caught myself doing it a couple times (especially over these past few days) and I never realized how much it really helps.
Suppose you make a certain decision, but find yourself resisting. Talk yourself into it. Challenge yourself. Play your own devil’s advocate.
“I’ll work on my project later.”
“I don’t believe you. Convince me. The last time you said that, you didn’t get to the project in the end.”
“That’s because I got too tired.”
“So stop with the excuses! Get working on the project now, or you’ll end up skipping it altogether!”
Nudge yourself with words. When you wake up in the morning and don’t feel like getting out of bed, tell yourself: “Go ahead, put one foot down. It won’t hurt.” When your emotions are down, lift yourself out of it. If you’re angry, calm the raging beast. If you’re complaining, ease the pain. Use whatever method it takes to turn things around.
Why is saying it out loud an ingredient in gaining wisdom?
- * “Saying it out loud” helps you clarify fuzzy ideas.
- * Articulation is objectivity.
- * The more senses you involve, the more of an impression it leaves on you.
- * What you speak is an expression of who you are.
- * Everyone needs a sounding board, a feedback system. Do it yourself!
- * Never say, “I can’t.” Because then you won’t, even if you could.
- * Language is the bridge where body meets the soul.
- * Talking aloud keeps you from falling asleep and day-dreaming.
- * Words are reality. “To say is to be!”
I bolded the point I feel is the most important one on the list. NEVER say “I can’t!” What you think and feel about yourself, is what you’ll do! NEVER SAY I CAN’T! Come on, say it with me! (Out loud!) Never. Say. I. Can’t.
You know how everyone with a cellphone now has a Bluetooth (Guilty.) and they walk around looking like they’re talking to themselves? (Guilty again, but only in the car.) Well, I always used to joke with my friend’s on the subway that at least they’re talking to somebody and they’re not crazy! But if they WE’RE talking to themselves WITHOUT an earpiece, we’d run away! However, maybe people who mutter to themselves really aren’t nuts, they’re just learning R’ Noach’s 48 Ways and they are trying to improve their lives!
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48 Ways to Wisdom – Way 2
Today’s Way of the Day is Listen Effectively
R’ Noach writes about the importance of actually listening to somebody else, not just hearing what they are saying. He then goes deeper and talks about how we have to be very clear with our definitions of terms and what they mean to us. Otherwise, there will be a miscommunication and therefore, there WAS no effective listening taking place.
Effective listening means:
- Hearing the words.
- Understanding the message.
- Putting it into action.
Hearing the words is in itself difficult. As much as I try to be there for my friends and have been unofficially appointed by many as the go-to girl to solve all of life’s problems, there are some individuals who call me constantly and babble on FOREVER about completely nonsensical and inane subjects. As much as I’d LIKE to give them my full attention, sometimes I find myself spacing out, doing other things while murmuring the occassional “Mmhmm.” and “Right.” to make it sound like I am not completely dead and at the end of the convo, I just say something obscure and feel-goodish and they thank me and hang up.
Don’t get me wrong — I love to help people and really try to do my best to listen and be a good friend. But, sometimes, it’s really hard to put up with senseless yammering for hours on end.
Understanding the message is also very hard. You can HEAR someone, but if you don’t translate the same words the same way, you aren’t able to listen to what they are saying because you don’t understand. I’ve learned a lot about mistranslation in the past few weeks. Many fights and disagreements could be avoided once people understand each other. However on the flipside, once people DO understand each other and realize that a word or a concept for one person does not necessarily mean the same to the next. There is no use in arguing if you don’t know what you’re arguing about.
R’ Noach expounds on this idea with a story that happened to him:
He was once talking to a tourist on his first visit to Israel, and he wasn’t very enamored or inspired by what he saw.
“They call this the Holy Land,” he said. “But I’ve been up north, down south, to Jerusalem, Masada, all over — and there’s nothing holy about this place!”
So R’ Noach asked him: “Tell me, are you a bafoofstik?”
“What’s that?”
“Just answer the question: Are you a bafoofstik or not?”
“How can I answer when I don’t even know what you’re talking about?!”
“Aha,” He stopped him. “So what is holiness? Is it angels flapping their wings down the street, in rainbows of color and light, swirling in and out of rocks?”
(Honestly, I really just like the word “Bafoofstik” I take that to mean somebody who argues for no reason without listening to what you are saying and ultimately makes a gigantic fool of himself.)
Don’t pass judgment on something if you don’t understand what it is. You need to KNOW something to disagree with it.
And finally, putting it into action means not only hearing and understanding, but now that you know what’s being said, you gotta know what to do with it. Otherwise, you’ll be running in circles and wasting time. (See yesterday’s Way of the Day!) You need to be able to effectively listen to everything that happens in life, and only then can you take the most out of it. You wont know what actions to take if you don’t listen to the directive.
Make sure you get the picture straight; explore all angles of a story. Make sure you’re understanding correctly everything that you hear. Do not jump to conclusions. But most of all, don’t be a bafoofstik!
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48 Ways to Wisdom – Way 1
Pirkei Avot list in Perek 6, Mishna 6 the 48 ways by which man can aquire Torah.
“6. Torah is greater than the priesthood or sovereignty, for sovereignty is acquired with thirty virtues, the priesthood with twenty-four, and Torah is acquired with forty-eight qualities. These are: study, listening, verbalizing, comprehension of the heart, awe, fear, humility, joy, purity, serving the sages, companionship with one’s contemporaries, debating with one’s students, tranquility, study of the scriptures, study of the Mishnah, minimizing engagement in business, minimizing socialization, minimizing pleasure, minimizing sleep, minimizing talk, minimizing gaiety, slowness to anger, good heartedness, faith in the sages, acceptance of suffering, knowing one’s place, satisfaction with one’s lot, qualifying one’s words, not taking credit for oneself, likableness, love of G-d, love of humanity, love of charity, love of justice, love of rebuke, fleeing from honor, lack of arrogance in learning, reluctance to hand down rulings, participating in the burden of one’s fellow, judging him to the side of merit, correcting him, bringing him to a peaceful resolution [of his disputes], deliberation in study, asking and answering, listening and illuminating, learning in order to teach, learning in order to observe, wising one’s teacher, exactness in conveying a teaching, and saying something in the name of its speaker. Thus we have learned: One who says something in the name of its speaker brings redemption to the world, as is stated (Esther 2:22), “And Esther told the king in the name of Mordechai.”" (Avot, 6:6)
I had this class in seminary with my favorite teacher of all time, the dean of my school whom I was extremely close with, and he taught it according to Rabbi Noach Weinberg of Aish, who enumerates and details in a very concise and clear way how to not only aquire Torah, but to live your life fuller and better as a Jew. I just discovered (because I am slow…*doink*) that his shiurim and the articles about this that he has written are online and I just subscribed to the email. I remember really getting a lot out of my Rabbi’s classes (let’s call him Rabbi B.) and I feel like the style of R’ Weinberg speaks to me very well. I am going to TRY to do a Way a Day (or Every Other Day Because I Am Lazy), write an idea of R’ Weinberg’s and add in my own thoughts and what I am trying to do with my own life.
Today was Way 1: Be Aware of Every Moment.
R’ Noach talks about the importance of living each moment to it’s fullest, being a constant thinker and doer. Do not get caught up in the frivolities of life; do NOT space out, and do NOT waste time. Rather, make your existence a purposeful one so that every activity you do (even in relaxing or sleeping) now has a point, and is a step in accomplishing a goal as opposed to an isolated action.
I have realized for myself just how often I have been spacing out or daydreaming when I should be doing something else; or even if not! I’m a doer by nature. I go crazy if I’m not doing actions. However, I also do not want my actions to serve no purpose. R’ Noach writes that we are all thinking beings and should pride ourselves of that as well as IDENTIFY ourselves as such: we are people of thinking, understanding, and doing. It’s one thing to “know a lot” and it’s quite another, more daunting task to have less knowledge and know what to do with it. THAT is true power.
R’ Noach writes these 10 suggestions that can be done to help an individual change their life and appreciate the value of time:
1) Plan out what you want to accomplish. If you know what you’re after, you’ll pursue it with more vitality.
2) Plan in the evening how you’ll get up in the morning. Don’t let the snooze button control your life.
3) To start off on the right foot, get up 10 minutes early and say the Shema.
4) Review your day. See what the obstacles were. Strategize how to avoid them in the future. Review what you learned in the past 24 hours.
5) Catch yourself day dreaming at least once a day and examine: “What am I doing right now, and how could I use this moment more effectively?”
6) Become a student of life. Study wherever you are. Have books, thoughts, etc. ready to keep your mind growing. (No staring out the window like a zombie.)
7) Memorize pieces of wisdom. It will give you something to learn as you walk down the street or wait in line at the supermarket.
8) Pick appealing catch-phrases, to inspire yourself on the spot, and to wake yourself up when you feel like drifting off.
9) Frequently ponder the question: What is the purpose of life? What am I doing on this planet?
10) Plan ahead now. What do you want to study? What do you need to realize your ambitions? How do you want to grow?
While all of these are important, I’d like just to emphasize the first and how necessary it is for us to understand this to live fuller lives.
If you have a set plan, you know what you need to do to get it done. For instance, if you’re making a cake, you have a recipe. You need to know the steps in order to get the final result; you cannot just go from having a bunch of ingredients to having a finished cake. You need to know what goes in when, how, for how long, etc. But once you have a recipe and know how to follow it, the steps seem smaller and easier to manage, and ultimately result in your creating a finished product that you can be proud of.
The clearer you are of your directives, the better off you’ll be. For instance, if you were baking a cake, there are many ways to do it. If you know you want a CHOCOLATE cake, you’ll understand more clearly what kind of recipe to search for and that you will definitely need certain key ingredients to make it. If you only have a hazy image of where you are heading or where you WANT to head, you will wander aimlessly. Rather, you should spend time THINKING, deciding and learning where that goal is and by not spacing out, you will have a clearer goal that will be easier to reach.
Also, when you divide situations into steps, or small pieces, it makes them easier to deal with. If your room is a mess, the sight of the messy room itself is intimidating enough for you to give up before you even begin. You’ll “just live with it” because you are too scared to put in the effort. However, if you see not a whole messy room, but parts — laundry to put away, clothes on the floor, close the drawers, make the bed etc. — it makes the task easier to tackle. Same is true with spiritual growth — you need to take small steps, review them and know them well so you can integrate them and move forward with your life.
Anyways, that’s just what I thought of, I’m really just talking to myself as I type so I apologize for the many run-on sentences (such as this one haha) and I hopefully will be posting these daily or bi-daily.
As Rabbi B.’s classes become relevant, I will be throwing out ideas I got from him too. Today was merely my own speculation.
Thank you!
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Ugghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
These past few days at camp have been SO. FLIPPING. HARD.
The boys bunk was absolutely awful on Thursday; I was in charge of the worst ones. I took them out (on orders, I promise) as a seperate bunk that called themselves the “Cool Club” so that they would hopefully behave.
Well, not only did they not behave, they had a whole dramatic fight in between all of them, and then all 4 of them ganged up on a Down’s Syndrome girl and called her “retard” and cursed her out and hit her. Then, they hit another kid who also had some sort of mental retardation and cursed HIM out, and then they pushed another girl with some sort of disability off a slide. It was baaaaaad.
The other boys all also got into fights, two of which ended in blood. That was not good.
Then today, the “Cool Club” started up with every counselor, nearly pushed one off a cliff (IM NOT KIDDING.) and just wreaked overall mayhem and havok in the camp. And yet, the director still gave them “responsibility” that looked like a reward! What IS this?
Now, the boys counselor is at her wits end, and it’s threatening to quit if the camp doesn’t kick those boys out. It’s just not fair to the rest of the bunk, OR the counselors. I feel horrible; I don’t want them to be lost because they’re difficult but at the same time, there are 68 other campers to deal with and we can’t focus completely on these boys and their destructive behaviors.
Whatever, I’m just tired out but I’m not gonna quit, no matter what. The campers need me too much, despite the fact that the camp is understaffed and disorganized.
It was really bad…today coming home I was so wiped that I felt myself starting to snooze at the wheel WHICH IS NOT GOOD. I woke myself up immediately, Baruch Hashem, but it was still scary.
Today I taught shiur to 3 bunks, and actually, the boys bunk was surprisingly good. I taught about Tzedaka to all of them and told the story of Rabbi Akiva’s daughter killing the snake with her hairpin, after giving a man food. Then we played “Snake” with the jumprope and we brainstormed what we would like to give as Tzedaka. (I got answers ranging from “A penny!” to “PLAYSTATION 3!!!” Generous kids 
)
They kids seemed to really enjoy it! Anther counselor actually came up to me afterwards and said “Did you teach Bunk Aleph about Tzedaka today?” and when I answered yes, she said that she was sitting with one of the little campers and the camper started to babble on about a story she heard in shiur about a bride killing a snake and that we should give Tzedaka because Hashem wants us too. It was sooooo cute!
Speaking of cute, there is my favorite camper, Nataniel. He’s the 6 year old camper who said “I wish it were Shabbos every day!”
That kid always manages to get me to smile. Today, I was speaking with him and I said “Nataniel, you know that you’re cute, right?” and he answered with a smile “Yeah! And I also have a calculator in my head!”
This kid knows math better than I do, no joke. I’m thinking of kidnapping him and having him take my college math placement test instead of me. Is that wrong?
Anyways, so he cheered me up but overall, camp was really hard today. It didn’t help that I didn’t sleep last night but still.
I am actually going to collapse any second. Good night, all.
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I really should be working.
I am home sick. I feel like a truck has run over my face; stupid sinuses. I’m going to the doctor later, so therefore could not go to camp today. I am really annoyed about that, but it’s probably safer because I’m a little too woozy and high on sinus drugs (that aren’t working, mind you.) to operate a vehicle without causing extensive injury to myself and others.
I’ve been working on a webdesign job for 2 hours now, but I really don’t have the patience to do anymore with it. I finished 3/5 illustrations and now it’s just a matter of spending another 2 hours on the last 2, and then laying it out. All in all, a fairly simple 4 hour job.
However, I took a break to play around with Adobe Ilustrator CS3 (when I went to Israel, CS2 had JUST come out so I’m excited!!) and I realized how much the added and how out of practice I am. I managed to doodle something fairly cool, a work in progress, but nonethaless here it is:
I took a picture of myself, made me into some sort of bizarre sillhouette (I did a sloppy job, but ssshh don’t tell!) and played around with some brushes and background stuff. It took me about 15 minutes, but I think it’s pretty funky. I always use pictures of myself when experimenting with my designs because I feel bad subjecting anyone else to the possibility of me making them ugly, or minus a nose or something. I’m weird, I know. If this were an actual job I would have put in effort, but I just think it’s fun (and my sillouhette is making a funny face. =P)
Anyways…uggghhhh I feel so gross. I wasn’t feeling so great over the weekend, but I did actually accomplish something big yesterday, so I’m really glad that everything is ok now. I never realized how much work it was to actually communicate effectively with somebody, especially somebody tremendously close to you. People take for granted that if you consider somebody close that they will automatically always understand you, but it’s not the case. Even people who seem like that can read each others minds or finish each others sentences have to take great care to make sure that they are not being misunderstood. I learned a lot about myself yesterday, but I’m really glad that at the end, I was finally able to communicate effectively (I hope…haha) and I think a lot of good will come out of it.
I can’t really go into specifics, for obvious reasons, (Read: The person I was inneffectively comuncating with reads this blog :-p) but, to sum it up in much more simpler terms: “Phew… and WHOOO!!!!!!”
To add to that chorus of strange sounds, I would also like to chip in a resounding “GAH!”
Though it is fun to make silly noises (I’m not even making them, I’m typing them, how lame.) I really should attempt to get something into my system before I collapse, despite the feeling that trying to eat is not such a good idea.
I know, this was a fairly useless post but I’m ging stir-crazy and sick-crazy. I’ll try to post something of substance later.
Tootles.
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Sabbatical Salutations
For the record, I HATE TRUCKS. Whoever invented them should DIE, and if whoever invented them is dead already, he should be brought back to life and then cut up into little pieces, trampled by stampeding rhinoceri, eaten by a pack of vultures and regurgitated into a vat of acid. First off, a truck was in the Car lane of the NJ Turnpike and he had the gall to tailgate me for 4 miles, and then honk at me as I got off at my exit. Then, ANOTHER truck kept on running me into the side of the Goethals Bridge and driving in between the lines, and of course never bothering to signal. When I honked at him for the third time to keep him from knocking me into the water, he gave me the finger. And then, when I was finally ALMOST HOME, it took me 20 minutes ALONE to cut across from off the NJ Turnpike to my exit (about 500 feet?) and stupid trucks kept on cutting me off. I HATE TRUCKS!!!!!
*ahem*
Anyways, so besides for my passionate hatred of trucks, today wasn’t so bad. I felt a little useless – it takes me 35 -40 minutes each way to work and I was at work for maybe 2 hours, basically sitting around and munching on Shabbos Party snacks. (Counselors get donuts – whoo!!!)
During the actual Shabbos Party, I just told a story, the one about a non-Jewish King who comes to a Jewish village on Shabbos, and is presented with a feast. He loves the food and demands to know the secret, and the rabbi of the town answered “The spice of Shabbos.” The king then demands where to get this spice, and the Rabbi says it only tastes good because it is the Jewish special day of rest, but the king doesn’t listen so he is given the recipes anyway. He tries to recreate them, fails and gets really mad at the town, but the Rabbi assures him that it is indeed the inherent holiness of the day that makes the food taste better, and invites him for the next Shabbos meal. The king agrees and finally understands the specialness and the true “spice” of Shabbos.
Then, I added my own version of the story to prove that it’s true: When I was younger, my father always used to eat challah and mayonaisse every Friday night. When I was around 6 or 7, I began to ask for bites and soon began to really like it and had a ton of challah and mayonaisse every week. I loved it.
Then, one day, when my mother asked me what I wanted for lunch I answered “Challah and mayonaisse!”
She looked at me like I was crazy and tried to get me to eat something else, but I insisted, and she gave in.
I got to camp that day and I was really excited for my sandwich, despite the chorus of “Ewww!” and “That’s so gross!”
I took a bite, and promptly spit it out.
It was disgusting. Who eats MAYONAISSE plain?!! (I actually do know someone who would probably lick mayo straight off a spoon. For his next birthday his friend offered to get him one of those Cosco-size giant mayo buckets. He’s a little nuts. )
But anyways, so I got home, hungry and confused because hadn’t I JUST eaten it on Shabbos and it tasted fine? I went to my father and he explained to me that it was Shabbos that was making it taste so good. I was at the point of swearing off mayo for the rest of my life, but my father convinced me to eat it again the following Shabbos. And it was great.
So, I said this story twice (and got the appropriate response of “Eeeeewwwwwwhhh!!!!” at the mayo bit) and it went really well. Then we gave out Camper of the Week awards, and then we all went home.
The cutest thing EVER happened as I was leaving. One of the youngest boys named Nataniel came over to me and said this:
“Morah Chana, you know…I really like the Shabbos party!”
“Oh yeah? That’s great! So you like Shabbos too?”
“Yeah! I love Shabbos! I wish we could do this every day!”
Me too, kiddo. Me too.
Have a great Shabbos!!!!
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Go Seek Hashem!
Ergh, I have had a perpetual headache for the past two days. I am most definitely looking forward to Shabbos. No kiddiepoos, no screaming, no driving….aaahhh, geshmak.
Anyways, so today happened to be an exceptionally great day. I gave shiur to three bunks in the morning, and it was UNBELIEVABLE!!!! They were SO attentive and asked a lot of questions (for good prizes as well!) and they’re just so darn cute.
Today I talked about Hashem, who He is and about how He created the world (fitting into our summer theme of Six Days of Creation). I reviewed what was created on each day (and got some ridiculous, albeit adorable answers, such as on Day Three, Hashem created gravity. ) and then, after the kids figured out that Hashem is EVERYWHERE, we played “Hide and Seek”, which is what we have to do to find Hashem! He may not always be obvious, but we have to SEEK His presence…and then we find Him! (Ok, it’s a bit of a stretch, but I thought it was cute…and it’s my opinion that counts anyway, ‘cuz I’m the shiur counselor so deal. )
Anyways, so with the younger bunks, I also sang with them “Hashem is here, Hashem is there, Hashem is truly everywhere!” which was positively heart melting! They got so excited to point everywhere I directed them (“Is Hashem HERE?” “Yeah!” “Is He HERE?” “Yeaaahh!!!” “Is Hashem HERE??!!” “YEAAHH!!!!”) and then as I was leaving I asked them “Who do we love? – HASHEM!” and they all shouted and it was really cute.
I felt like a bit of a brainwashy cult leader also, but whatever. Such is kiruv ketanim. =P
With one of the older boys bunks, I also had a really unique experience. There is one boy named Vlad, who tells everyone that he is Christian. (I’m assuming he has a Jewish mother, otherwise he wouldn’t be in the camp.) However, the fact that he doesn’t believe he is Jewish presents a problem when we talk about the “goyim who destroyed our Beis HaMikdash” or how proud we are to be Jews…because he doesn’t see himself as one and gets offended.
So today, he had no clue who Hashem is, but once I explained to him that Hashem is God, and He created the world, Vlad asked me “So who really created the world, Hashem or scientists?”
I answered him Hashem, of course. He nodded and then said “I guess that makes sense because if Hashem created people, scientists are people so they couldn’t have created the world.”
Then, he proceeded to ask me REALLY deep questions (the kid is all of 7!) like why did Hashem create the world in six days, is the world only for Jews or non-Jews too, and, how can Hashem really want one person to connect to Him if He is so big.
I answered him as best as I could on the fly, but told him I couldn’t answer everything now because it wasn’t fair to the other kids. (They looked so clueless, I felt really bad taking up their Hide and Seek time!) But then, we went for a walk and Vlad and I had a chat and he said that “Oh, this Hashem thing makes sense, and that’s really cool.”
Score one for the shiur counselor!
But in reality, just speaking with him about Hashem is such seemingly simple terms helped me realize how much the concept of Hashem DOES make sense. Talking with these kids strengthens my emunah every day. Somehow, everything does work out.
Then, after I had their bunk, I got into a discussion with their counselors who also come from irreligious backgrounds and they were asking me if somebody gets punished for doing something wrong if they don’t know any better. I explained to them that Judaism gives credit where credit is due and nobody is expected to be perfect, especially overnight and especially if they never knew any different. We had a really good talk and I realized also how some of the counselors are just as needy for a competent Jewish role model as the kids.
Then, during lunch, for the first time all summer we had MUSIC!!! 
Another counselor and I managed to get the stereo working and we started to blast simcha music all over our camp area. We both got really excited so we started to dance like crazy and started pulling people into a circle…we just let go and gave it our all, it was SO much fun. The kids thought we were wacko, but that was pretty much the point. It was so much fun and it set a great tone for the camp. But, the funny thing was, the kids weren’t more hyper and wild because of it, rather, they behaved a lot better. I have no clue why, but I am more than happy to riverdance and do the 6-Step every day at lunch. It’s good excersize–and it’s fun!
Then I spent the rest of the day with Bunk Vav, the oldest boys. They’re tough, but at the same time, they are positively CRYING out for attention and warmth. I threatened one of the really bad kids with a call home to his parents today, and he instantly pulled me aside and got serious and begged me not to call them. That kid is terrified of his parents, and for the rest of the day, he behaved pretty well.
Every day I keep on getting re-inspired and more determined to give this camp my all. No matter how tired I am, no matter how obnixious the kids are, when I come home, I know I’m doing something great. I’ve basically become the camp guidance counselor, for kids and JC’s alike, and it feels good to be able to have the means and resources to be able to help — it’s not about me, it’s about them, and I will give them everything I can.
On a completely unrelated and random note, I just made KILLER spaghetti and meatballs. I. Rock.
My head still hurts, I think it’s allergies. I’m gonna go lie down.
Tootles!
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