The First Shabbat

Shabbat at camp is always a special time.  There's lots of time to hang out with friends, study, read, relax.  Everyone wears nice clothes, and things generally move slower than they do during the rest of the week.  The whole camp comes together for Friday evening services and the sound of everyone's voices joining together to welcome Shabbat is an experience that stays with you.

On Saturday, each eidah holds its own services and then spends time studying and doing other activities in the afternoons.  Shabbat at camp ends with the beautiful songs of Havdalah.

Miranda S. (Shoafim):  Shabbat is different at camp because I usually don't go to services on Friday nights and it's really cool.  I learned a lot more prayers.

Rachael G. (Shoafim):  Shabbat is different at camp because we're all together as a big community and there are a lot of different tunes here and it is such a welcoming community.  It's a lot more fun here.  In our discussion groups we learned about being a community and did an activity where we all jumped up in the air.  We were all in the air at the same time and it felt like a community throughout our eidah.

Sarah V. (Nivonim):  Shabbat is different here because when you walk around you just know it's Shabbat.  It's so special here.  Everyone is sitting on the kikar and wearing Shabbat clothes.  There isn't loud music playing and there are no distractions.  It's just Shabbat.

Hannah M. (Nivonim):  Our theme for the whole summer that we really focused on this Shabbat is how small things can make changes in your life and your lifestyle.  We divided up into pairs and we each had to tell a story about something small that affected our lives.  It was really interesting to hear other people's stories.  We've been with a lot of these people for almost six years now and we just learned things about them that we didn't know before, about how they got to where they are and who they are.

Ally R. (Bogrim):  On Shabbat I hung out with all my friends and we had services.  We read Torah in the morning and the afternoon.  Shabbat is different at camp than it is at home because here you really come together as a community.  Even when you go to synagogue at home you don't always feel the same kind of sense of community that you do at camp.

Dana L. (Solelim):  This Shabbat we talked about what's different between Shabbat at camp and Shabbat at home and what Shabbat at camp means to us.  One difference between camp and home is that at camp you have a lot more time to relax and it's not such a hectic schedule.

Brooke L. (Solelim):  I like Shabbat here at Ramah because I get to hang out with my friends all the time.  It's a lot more fun and I have a good time.

Sophie (Solelim):  On Shabbat all my friends and I got together and we played sports and just hung out and had fun.  During Shabbat at camp we're all a big community and everyone is together.

Marissa R (Solelim):  On Shabbat I usually play sports and hang out at camp.  During our discussion groups we talked about the difference between Shabbat at home and Shabbat at camp and we said that at home we don't go to services as often but at camp we do and at camp we're a big community.

Aaron Z. (Shoafim):  Over Shabbat I played around a lot and played Frisbee and basketball and did a lot of other stuff.  We had discussion groups that were really good.  They were basically about building a community and getting to know each other because it was the first week.

Aaron S. (Shoafim):  Over Shabbat we basically hung out and I learned to play several board games.  At camp you get to be with your friends on Shabbat and you get a combination of how observant people are so you get to see different things that people do on Shabbat.

Mike B. (Atzmayim):  On Shabbat we had discussion groups about the Torah reading.  We learned about the spies, how the 10 that said bad things were not allowed to go into Israel.  Having Shabbat at camp is different because everyone is doing it.  At home you're sometimes the only one there doing and you feel alone doing it.  Here everyone observes Shabbat and everyone understands why we do it.