Every year during the summer I go to a Jewish sleepaway camp called Camp Moshava. The camp is affiliated with the Zionist/socialist youth movement called Habonim Dror. During camp, we do fun traditional camp activities, as well as learn about important values such as our identity, Zionism, gender, and more. Every year I have so much fun, and this is why I keep coming back. This might also be due to something called Mosh magic, which is the magic and the fun that keeps us coming back.
This year was very different from when I have gone in the past. Last year, I had completed Bogrim, the oldest age group. After doing this, my age group participates in a program called MBI, where they go to Israel for 4 weeks. I decided not to go because I have never stayed at camp for a whole session. (this was my first sleepaway camp I had ever gone to) Instead, I got special permission to go back to camp and experience a full session. I was with a different group of kids than when I usually go, but I still made friends and had a lot of fun.
Mosh is a very welcoming and accepting community. You can tell this from the moment you step off the bus, as you walk through a tunnel of arms of people cheering about how happy they are that you are here. Also, everyone at camp is willing to help you if you are having a hard time or are feeling homesick, so you aren't alone.
Speaking of which, there is a lot of singing and cheering at this camp, and we have a cheer for almost anything at camp. We sing songs in Hebrew and in English, and some songs and cheers are for certain things. For example, we have a song that we sing while we wait for our food and a song we sing before we eat. These are not typical prayers, but songs that thank the people who used labor to get the food on our plates. Also, during meals, we do cheers and songs. There are special cheers for each age group, and anyone in the dining room can start a cheer. Usually, cheers start to happen after everyone has finished eating. Cheering is one way that we show ruach or spirit.
Mosh is also educational. This might turn some people away from the camp, but the activities that have educational elements are always fun. An example of this is Special Day, where the normal schedule is ditched for one day and we have, well, a special day. This year was about Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. We participated in fun activities throughout the day that involved candy and was related to the theme. We became Oompa Loompas in the factory and learned about the unfair working conditions that Willy Wonka gave them through a round robin of tedious jobs. Some of these were washing a car with toothbrushes, cutting grass with scissors so that it is all 3 inches, and harvesting gobstoppers but the boss "accidentally" spills them. At the end of the day, we learn about how to protest for our rights and we have a protest against Wonka, who eventually gives us our rights. This is one example of a fun way we learn at camp. We also have Pish every day, which is a part of the day where we have a conversation with our age group about important topics such as identity, gender/sexuality, and Zionism. Sometimes they are more than just conversations; we do interactive activities about these topics such as speed dating, 1-10 scales, and writing on paper to say if we agree with certain things. This isn't my favorite part of camp, but it can still be fun.
As well as educational activities, we have activities that are just pure fun. We do typical camp activities like swimming, tubing, going canoeing, art, and playing sports. We have dedicated times throughout the day when we can do these things. We also have chugim or interest groups that meet once a day. Some of the ones they had this year were dance, hiking, and movies. I really wanted to join the movie interest group, but because a lot of people signed up for it, only some were chosen. I ended up in dance, which I picked as my second choice because I wanted to learn some of the Israeli dances for Friday nights.
Another thing that we do every day is Avodah or work groups. We get to help clean camp during this time. This might not sound that fun, but the staff at camp make it fun. For example, my work group helps to clean the multipurpose room by sweeping, and we listen to music while we do it. Some other work groups include cleaning the bathrooms, chopping firewood, making art/decorations for Shabbat, (the Sabbath day) and helping out with breakfast in the dining hall. That last one is special because even if you don't sign up for that one, you will still have to do some helping out in the dining hall. Every day at lunch, certain people are called for toranut, where they have to help in the dining hall. Before meals, we put food on tables and eat before everyone else. During the meal, we refill food at people's tables when they raise their bowls. After the meal, we wash dishes, clean tables, and sweep the floor. This might sound like chores at home, but somehow Mosh magic makes it fun. We also go out on a community service field trip every session. This year we went to a garden on a vacant lot in Baltimore City and helped out there.
In the last paragraph, I mentioned Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath day. At camp, Shabbat is a very special time. On Friday, to kick things off, we have a special time where we sing Jewish songs. For dinner, we have chicken and soda, and this is the only time we have this meal. We then watch a performance. During the first week, my age group did a performance with the second-to-youngest age group, the Chotrim. There is always a skit, a modern dance, an Israeli dance, a song, and something random. I was involved in the song, where we sang "Photograph" by Ed Sheeran. The skit added some humor to the fact that lice were spreading around camp, which I liked. After the performance, we do Israeli dancing on the basketball court, which is a lot of fun. Even if you don't know the dances, you can follow along with other people. Saturday mornings are the only morning you can sleep in (you can sleep until 11), and there is an optional breakfast of bagels. If you sleep in too late you will miss this, so I usually wake up at 10, 2 hours later than the regular wake up time. We do some rejuvenation in the morning, which is usually a guided meditation, and then we have special activities. During these special activities, we have conversations about different things that the counselors want to talk about, and other fun activities that the counselors want to lead. Some of the activities that I chose to go to included reading a Jewish choose your own adventure book and going to see a special place at Mosh called the Serpentine. The counselors-in-training also lead activities. Then we get time to hang out with the people that live with us at camp, and we also get to see who lives near us in the real world during a separate time block. There is also a time block where we give suggestions on how to make camp better and what is wrong around camp. On Saturday night we celebrate Havdalah or the passing of Shabbat. Then we have a campfire, where we watch performances and sing songs. Shabbat is a very special time at camp, and I am always excited for it.
There are other kinds of special days we have. First, there is Revolution, aka Revo, where the counselors-in-training (Madatz) take over camp. When this happens, all the counselors run away as we throw water balloons at them. This session's theme was pretty strange: Wizards and Doors. How those two things go together is something I am not sure of. The theme came about because one person wanted to do a wizard theme, and someone else wanted something about portals and doors, and because those themes got a lot of votes by the other Madatz, they agreed to combine the themes. It was all about how the wizards went through a portal and ended up in "door land" and we did fun activities to help them escape. Some of these included a relay race, soap hockey, and blindfolded pillow fights. One of the most notable special days was Bocoup, where my age group, the Bogrim, gets to plan a special afternoon. It took us a long time, but we decided to make it Catan themed. (the board game, it's really popular at camp) We decided to make it a competition to get more victory points, like the real board game, but we dumbed it down a bit to make it less complicated. The kids had to do activities to get resource cards, and there was one activity for each resource. After this, there was a relay race to determine who would get the Longest Road achievement, and a game of Capture the Flag to see who would get the Largest Army achievement. Both of these were worth 2 victory points. We then introduce the robber, who steals the kids' settlements, and they have to play a game of Zap to get them back. In the end, we never announce winners because we didn't want to encourage competition. When it came to planning, we split up into groups and did different parts. I was involved with making the plot I just talked about. Some of the other groups made a theme song, decorations, the activities, and the way that Bocoup would be announced. Bocoup ended up being a huge success, even though some people didn't understand the theme.
At camp, we have a sharing system called the Kupa. It helps make things fairer with things like candy, or if someone loses something. If parents send their kids food, that food is given to the counselors and is shared with either their bunk or age group. The camp can also get food and choose who to share it with. But the Kupa isn't just about food. If someone loses one of their toiletries, they can use someone else's from the Kupa shelf in the bathroom. The Kupa is also used for the counselors to give us fun things, such as Kupa field trips and Kupa carnivals. There is always a Kupa trip one session and a carnival another session, and I happened to go the session that they had the carnival. At the carnival, they had a moon bounce, an inflatable slide, face painting, cotton candy, and sno cones. I wasn't there for this, but during the first session, the people at camp got to go to a sports game. The Kupa is important because it promotes the value of sharing.
The end of camp can be sad, but it is still fun. The last days of camp are during Shabbat, which is always fun, but there is one last party to be had. After the bonfire on Saturday, everyone goes to the dining hall, and we eat as much sugar as we possibly can. Then, we are told that we can stay up all night and party! I ended up talking to my friends and playing board games before I went to bed at 4 AM. I only got 4 hours of sleep, but it was okay because I was going home.
Even though I didn't go on MBI, I still had a great time. I made new friends, experienced Revo and Bocoup, and had lots of parties. Camp was so much fun, and I am excited to become a Madatz (counselor-in-training) next year.
This year was very different from when I have gone in the past. Last year, I had completed Bogrim, the oldest age group. After doing this, my age group participates in a program called MBI, where they go to Israel for 4 weeks. I decided not to go because I have never stayed at camp for a whole session. (this was my first sleepaway camp I had ever gone to) Instead, I got special permission to go back to camp and experience a full session. I was with a different group of kids than when I usually go, but I still made friends and had a lot of fun.
Mosh is a very welcoming and accepting community. You can tell this from the moment you step off the bus, as you walk through a tunnel of arms of people cheering about how happy they are that you are here. Also, everyone at camp is willing to help you if you are having a hard time or are feeling homesick, so you aren't alone.
Speaking of which, there is a lot of singing and cheering at this camp, and we have a cheer for almost anything at camp. We sing songs in Hebrew and in English, and some songs and cheers are for certain things. For example, we have a song that we sing while we wait for our food and a song we sing before we eat. These are not typical prayers, but songs that thank the people who used labor to get the food on our plates. Also, during meals, we do cheers and songs. There are special cheers for each age group, and anyone in the dining room can start a cheer. Usually, cheers start to happen after everyone has finished eating. Cheering is one way that we show ruach or spirit.
Mosh is also educational. This might turn some people away from the camp, but the activities that have educational elements are always fun. An example of this is Special Day, where the normal schedule is ditched for one day and we have, well, a special day. This year was about Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. We participated in fun activities throughout the day that involved candy and was related to the theme. We became Oompa Loompas in the factory and learned about the unfair working conditions that Willy Wonka gave them through a round robin of tedious jobs. Some of these were washing a car with toothbrushes, cutting grass with scissors so that it is all 3 inches, and harvesting gobstoppers but the boss "accidentally" spills them. At the end of the day, we learn about how to protest for our rights and we have a protest against Wonka, who eventually gives us our rights. This is one example of a fun way we learn at camp. We also have Pish every day, which is a part of the day where we have a conversation with our age group about important topics such as identity, gender/sexuality, and Zionism. Sometimes they are more than just conversations; we do interactive activities about these topics such as speed dating, 1-10 scales, and writing on paper to say if we agree with certain things. This isn't my favorite part of camp, but it can still be fun.
As well as educational activities, we have activities that are just pure fun. We do typical camp activities like swimming, tubing, going canoeing, art, and playing sports. We have dedicated times throughout the day when we can do these things. We also have chugim or interest groups that meet once a day. Some of the ones they had this year were dance, hiking, and movies. I really wanted to join the movie interest group, but because a lot of people signed up for it, only some were chosen. I ended up in dance, which I picked as my second choice because I wanted to learn some of the Israeli dances for Friday nights.
Another thing that we do every day is Avodah or work groups. We get to help clean camp during this time. This might not sound that fun, but the staff at camp make it fun. For example, my work group helps to clean the multipurpose room by sweeping, and we listen to music while we do it. Some other work groups include cleaning the bathrooms, chopping firewood, making art/decorations for Shabbat, (the Sabbath day) and helping out with breakfast in the dining hall. That last one is special because even if you don't sign up for that one, you will still have to do some helping out in the dining hall. Every day at lunch, certain people are called for toranut, where they have to help in the dining hall. Before meals, we put food on tables and eat before everyone else. During the meal, we refill food at people's tables when they raise their bowls. After the meal, we wash dishes, clean tables, and sweep the floor. This might sound like chores at home, but somehow Mosh magic makes it fun. We also go out on a community service field trip every session. This year we went to a garden on a vacant lot in Baltimore City and helped out there.
In the last paragraph, I mentioned Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath day. At camp, Shabbat is a very special time. On Friday, to kick things off, we have a special time where we sing Jewish songs. For dinner, we have chicken and soda, and this is the only time we have this meal. We then watch a performance. During the first week, my age group did a performance with the second-to-youngest age group, the Chotrim. There is always a skit, a modern dance, an Israeli dance, a song, and something random. I was involved in the song, where we sang "Photograph" by Ed Sheeran. The skit added some humor to the fact that lice were spreading around camp, which I liked. After the performance, we do Israeli dancing on the basketball court, which is a lot of fun. Even if you don't know the dances, you can follow along with other people. Saturday mornings are the only morning you can sleep in (you can sleep until 11), and there is an optional breakfast of bagels. If you sleep in too late you will miss this, so I usually wake up at 10, 2 hours later than the regular wake up time. We do some rejuvenation in the morning, which is usually a guided meditation, and then we have special activities. During these special activities, we have conversations about different things that the counselors want to talk about, and other fun activities that the counselors want to lead. Some of the activities that I chose to go to included reading a Jewish choose your own adventure book and going to see a special place at Mosh called the Serpentine. The counselors-in-training also lead activities. Then we get time to hang out with the people that live with us at camp, and we also get to see who lives near us in the real world during a separate time block. There is also a time block where we give suggestions on how to make camp better and what is wrong around camp. On Saturday night we celebrate Havdalah or the passing of Shabbat. Then we have a campfire, where we watch performances and sing songs. Shabbat is a very special time at camp, and I am always excited for it.
There are other kinds of special days we have. First, there is Revolution, aka Revo, where the counselors-in-training (Madatz) take over camp. When this happens, all the counselors run away as we throw water balloons at them. This session's theme was pretty strange: Wizards and Doors. How those two things go together is something I am not sure of. The theme came about because one person wanted to do a wizard theme, and someone else wanted something about portals and doors, and because those themes got a lot of votes by the other Madatz, they agreed to combine the themes. It was all about how the wizards went through a portal and ended up in "door land" and we did fun activities to help them escape. Some of these included a relay race, soap hockey, and blindfolded pillow fights. One of the most notable special days was Bocoup, where my age group, the Bogrim, gets to plan a special afternoon. It took us a long time, but we decided to make it Catan themed. (the board game, it's really popular at camp) We decided to make it a competition to get more victory points, like the real board game, but we dumbed it down a bit to make it less complicated. The kids had to do activities to get resource cards, and there was one activity for each resource. After this, there was a relay race to determine who would get the Longest Road achievement, and a game of Capture the Flag to see who would get the Largest Army achievement. Both of these were worth 2 victory points. We then introduce the robber, who steals the kids' settlements, and they have to play a game of Zap to get them back. In the end, we never announce winners because we didn't want to encourage competition. When it came to planning, we split up into groups and did different parts. I was involved with making the plot I just talked about. Some of the other groups made a theme song, decorations, the activities, and the way that Bocoup would be announced. Bocoup ended up being a huge success, even though some people didn't understand the theme.
At camp, we have a sharing system called the Kupa. It helps make things fairer with things like candy, or if someone loses something. If parents send their kids food, that food is given to the counselors and is shared with either their bunk or age group. The camp can also get food and choose who to share it with. But the Kupa isn't just about food. If someone loses one of their toiletries, they can use someone else's from the Kupa shelf in the bathroom. The Kupa is also used for the counselors to give us fun things, such as Kupa field trips and Kupa carnivals. There is always a Kupa trip one session and a carnival another session, and I happened to go the session that they had the carnival. At the carnival, they had a moon bounce, an inflatable slide, face painting, cotton candy, and sno cones. I wasn't there for this, but during the first session, the people at camp got to go to a sports game. The Kupa is important because it promotes the value of sharing.
The end of camp can be sad, but it is still fun. The last days of camp are during Shabbat, which is always fun, but there is one last party to be had. After the bonfire on Saturday, everyone goes to the dining hall, and we eat as much sugar as we possibly can. Then, we are told that we can stay up all night and party! I ended up talking to my friends and playing board games before I went to bed at 4 AM. I only got 4 hours of sleep, but it was okay because I was going home.
Even though I didn't go on MBI, I still had a great time. I made new friends, experienced Revo and Bocoup, and had lots of parties. Camp was so much fun, and I am excited to become a Madatz (counselor-in-training) next year.
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