Amitzim Play & Week One highlights

First, the bad news - unfortunately, I don't have any new pictures at this time, which I know is particularly frustrating since the camp's Internet is also down, limiting the number of pictures that they have been posting.  Thankfully, my decision to get a Palm Pre+ has paid off with its free Mobile Hotspot service, allowing me to hook up my laptop to the Internet through the phone.  I hope to take lots of pictures in the next few days and to post them immediately.

Now, on to the good news...

Tonight was the Amitzim play.  Amitzim is Camp Ramah's program for campers with developmental disabilities.  The Amitzim campers live in their own unit and have an incredibly dedicated staff (including our own Dory Fox) who work with them to ensure that they are able to appropriately participate in all aspects of camp life. Traditionally, all of the older units at camp put on a play (and this year, the younger units are doing so also) that the entire camp attends, and Amitizim does likewise.  Tonight's play, based on their study of the beginning of the book of Bereshit (Genesis), was a light-hearted re-telling of the story of the Flood, adapted to the setting of Camp Ramah, where God was sending a flood to destroy a fire-breathing dragon from Ware, MA (the next town over from Palmer).  The Amitzim campers used a combination of live performance, video clips, song and dance to tell the story of how they gathered together and saved all of the aspects of Camp Ramah that are important to them from the flood . 

I must admit to having mixed feelings at the outset of the play. Many of the Amitzim campers have speech disabilities and other physical and mental challenges that makes it hard for them to perform their parts in a way that can be understood by the audience. The staff compensates for this by projecting the script on a large screen so everyone could follow along,and indeed, the play was clever and the staff and campers were quite creative in presenting it to a large audience.  Still, I couldn't help feeling uncomfortable because, as I saw it, the play seemed to be putting their disabilities on display rather than their talents. I wondered if the applause and standing ovation at the end might be condescending.

In thinking about it later, however, I realized that I was focusing on the wrong thing.  The value of the play was not in its performance value for the audience, but rather in the value that performing it had on the Amitzim participants. These campers had worked hard and wanted the opportunity to share their creativity with the whole camp just like all the other campers are able to do. The excitement and joy that they felt at the end of the performance was palpable.  So too, I realized, the applause at the end by the rest of camp was not because they had witnessed a Tony-award production, nor was it gratuitous.  Rather, it was a genuine appreciation of the incredible effort that the Amitzim campers had put into preparing and performing their play.

The beauty of Amitzim is that it starts with the assumption that these campers can participate in all aspects of camp life, so long as everyone is willing to be creative and adapt the program to their needs. Tonight was a wonderful display of putting that theory into action.

A few other brief highlights of the first week:

• Most important, lots of smiling, happy children. It is hard for me to walk more than a few feet without running into campers from Ohr Kodesh, JPDS or other DC area families I know. For those of you with campers here, I am pleased to report that your children appear to be quite happy whenever I see them around camp. (If anyone wants specific information, please feel free to e-mail me and I will share whatever I can.)
• Shabbat. Shabbat is always a wonderful experience at camp. This week, even with an hour of torrential downpours, was no different.  Campers turned puddles into mudslides and had a wonderful time playing in the rain.  I had opportunities to spend time with several eidot (units), reading Torah for Cochavim and Ilanot (entering 3rd, 4th and 5th graders), giving a d'var Torah for the Tikvah village (special needs campers and staff), and facilitating a kavannah (pre-Havdallah discussion) for a bunk of Solelim (entering 6th grade) boys.  I also brought the Ohr Kodesh campers and staff a taste of home - fruit roll-ups as a Shabbat morning treat at the end of services!
• Re-connecting with all of the Voc-Ed and Post Voc-Ed staffers who Ohr Kodesh hosted for the Tikvah Reunion in Washington DC this past winter. This event, which was a wonderful experience for our community to host last January, clearly made a lasting impression for all the participants, as evidenced by the warm welcome I received from the participants when I arrived. Talk is already underway about another reunion this year.
• "Old home" week.  There were several Ohr Kodesh and JPDS families working and/or visiting this week.  Paula Shoyer arrived Wednesday and was joined by Andy for the weekend (more about Paula later), Aron Friedman is volunteering as a tennis instructor for 10 days, Dan Merenstein was the camp doctor (joined by Traci and the boys), and Evie Wolfson is working in the "Marp" (Mirpa'ah - Infirmary) and was joined by Joel and Gabriel for Shabbat.  Much to my children' and my delight, Abbey also joined us for Shabbat.

We are now heading into the 6th week of camp for those who attend full summer. To combat the "lull" that often accompanies this week (before the realization hits the following week that camp is almost over!), Camp Ramah has a program called Kishroniyah (experts) for the four oldest units (entering grade 8-11).  This program brings together a group of professionals to work with the campers, including our own pastry chef, Paula Shoyer, who teachers her craft to the delight of all.  Other "experts" include a variety of sports coaches, an engineer, a comic-strip writer, a bible-rapper, an Improv actor, silk-screening, a capella singing and modern dance.  Campers get to sign-up and improve their skills in an area of personal interest.  It also breaks the daily routine and hopefully helps dissipate any feelings of boredom that campers might be feeling at this time.

While I know that a picture is worth 1000 words, I hope that in lieu of pictures, these 1000 words have helped to paint a picture of life here at Ramah.