Shabbat Shalom, Camp Louise!

As we gathered together for the last Shabbat of Summer 2024, I look out at the community that I absolutely love and am so proud to be a part of – the hundreds of campers who have passed through our gates this summer….some timid, some excited, some not knowing what to expect and some returning for a 2nd, 5th or 11th summer eager to soak it all in! And the staff who flew here from literally all over the world with similar feelings.

Whatever everyone’s background, experiences and practices at home, we come together on Shabbat, and as our prayer book says:

We thank you for the ordinary days of the week, for work and play and growth. We thank you for this special day of Shabbat that brings us together in this hour of worship. We come as a family – the family of Camp Louise – campers, counselors, staff and guests – to share in these moments of rest and quiet that are part of our day of Shabbat Shalom – Sabbath peace.

This resonates so much, especially this week – our last Shabbat of Summer 2024. Each Saturday night after our CAs lead us in Havdallah services, we watch a slide show with pictures from the week. Last night’s Havdallah service and slide show were especially teary as people reflected on their time at camp and started to think about the fact that next week, we are back home – not surrounded by our camp family, not singing the Goodnight song together each night, not walking hand in hand around camp.

Another part of our service that I have been thinking a lot about is this:

We do many things together in this family of Camp Louise. We live together, eat and play together, create and fashion things of beauty together, sing and dance together. On Shabbat, we pray together.

It is so simple – all of the things we do together at camp….living in bunks, eating in the dining hall, playing at activities, and the list goes on!

How lucky are we all to be able to experience being a part of the Camp Louise community – whether it is this summer through the eyes of our campers (your children and ours) or being here and living and breathing it ourselves?

This Friday night, I was proud to call up 19 campers (WOW!) to light candles with me. Those campers were nominated by their peers and counselors for demonstrating the Middah of the Week – friendship/yedidut. What a perfect way to end the summer! After all, that’s what it is all about!

So now we start to ease back into our lives at home, and we begin to think about celebrating Shabbat next week – with our camp family in spirit… and we remember what we sing at camp:

As we hold this cup of wine, let us praise G-d
With this symbol of joy
And thank G-d for life and strength
For home and love
…and friendship

And for those of you who know it and are singing along right now – the “and friendship” part is my favorite – it is when the entire camp joins in and sings that part together. It’s pretty powerful! Ask your kids to sing it for you at home!

Signing off for Summer 2024…..

Alicia