Strengthening Our Jewish Identity at Beber Camp - Jewish Life at Beber Camp

This month, we thought we’d share how we help our campers and staff daily to strengthen their sense of Jewish identity. We start every morning at Degel (flagpole), where we raise the American flag, the Beber Camp flag, and the Israeli flag. We sing HaTikvah (The Hope), Israel’s national anthem, and head to breakfast after singing a morning cheer that is in Hebrew and English. We begin every meal with a Hebrew cheer that leads us into singing HaMotzi, the blessing over bread. After each meal, we enthusiastically sing Birkat Hamazon, the blessing after the meal. We teach our campers and staff the words so everyone feels included and comfortable participating.

Shabbat at Beber is a very special time for us. On Friday afternoon, we change our schedule to allow extra time to clean ourselves up and prepare for Shabbat. We dress ourselves up (one Shabbat each session; our first Shabbat a “white Shabbat,” where we dress in white clothes (it can be as simple as a white shirt or white Kippah or as elaborate as getting all decked out in white) for Friday evening, while on the other two Fridays, we clean ourselves up and dress nicely. For some campers that means a clean t-shirt and shorts, while others will put on a special dress, or khakis and a button-down top - everyone dresses as they feel most comfortable.) We gather together to bless all the children on Hobby Wheel Field, and then we walk in a procession, led by guitars and singing Shabbat songs, to dinner and then to services. After services, we head to Israeli Dancing (EVERYONE gets into Israeli dancing, and we teach campers all the dances before the first Shabbat), and then conclude the evening with a massive camp song session!

On Shabbat morning, we sleep in and have breakfast on the island before heading to services, lunch, and an afternoon of free swim, games, and Shabbat programming. We conclude Shabbat in the amphitheater with a beautiful and meaningful Havdalah service (Havdalah means “separation,”) as we separate from the specialness of Shabbat to our daily routines the rest of the week. These are just some of the ways in which we develop our Jewish identity at Beber.