Shabbat Shalom from Camp Airy where our 1st week (or 5th week for staff and CITs) is drawing to a close. Each week dating back to orientation, camp has had a value focus (“middah” in Hebrew). Perseverance has been this week – following a summer progression of: hospitality, teamwork, humility, leadership and loyalty.

Staff and campers submit nominations for their peers who demonstrated perseverance throughout the week – these folks are recognized as a “mensch” during our Saturday Shabbat service and receive a certificate, a bracelet and of course the group picture with the Mensch doll.

Perseverance is sometimes referred to as “grit” or “sticktoitiveness” … it’s pushing through something that might be challenging or hard to achieve. For some people, the obstacle might be coming to a new camp or a new country for the first time. We can all relate to this fact – making new friends can sometimes be hard. For others, it’s facing a deep water test, a campout or a zipline. Camp is a great place to practice and apply perseverance in all of these areas.

In clinics, our campers select activities of personal interest where they are getting more instruction or coaching than a regular bunk period. Campers on a daily basis are persevering to achieve the new skill or level of mastery – a jump at the skatepark; a specific design in the woodshop; getting a new rock band on the same beat.

Across the whole community, we share in persevering though unexpected events – rain affects the schedule; hot days require us to alter plans; an unexpected arrival of a food delivery truck brings out staff from all parts of camp to lend a hand. For campers and staff who were with us in Summer 2022, we all worked together and persevered after the dining hall fire. That was a challenge, and as camp people often do, we rose to the occasion as a team.

Whether you are with us in 21788 this session or not, we hope that you are enjoying this Shabbat and taking time to rest, recharge and relax.

Marty