Jenny Ferentz, a counselor at Camp JRF, reflects on what makes the celebration of Shabbat at camp so special…
Shabbat at Camp JRF is an experience that brings our community together—something we all look forward to and miss throughout the year. In preparing for Friday evening, we make an effort to clean up camp all together, we take a little longer with our showers, we dress up in our best clothes and we getA writ of divorce. Traditionally, only a man can grant his wife a get. Liberal Jews have amended this tradition, making divorce more egalitarian. ready to be cleansed over the next day. After completing this camp version of a mikvahThe ritual bath. The waters of the mikveh symbolically purify – they are seen as waters of rebirth. A convert immerses in the mikveh as part of conversion. Many Orthodox married women go to the mikveh following their period and before resuming sexual relations. Couples go to the mikveh before being married. Many, including some men, immerse before Yom Kippur; some go every Friday before Shabbat., we gather for prayers that welcome in Shabbat. We then eat dinner family style and, after boisterous thanks for our food, we dance and sing the songs we will know for the rest of our lives. We wake up on Saturday morning ready for services in our beautiful outdoor beit tefillahLit. Prayer (sanctuary)—one of my favorite places to be—and then spend the day relaxing and having fun in the pool, the lake, the sun, and the camp grounds. After dinner we have Shabbat Unplugged (our version of a talent show), havdalahLit. Separation A ceremony performed on Saturday night to mark the end of Shabbat and the beginning of the week, using wine, a braided candle, and sweet-smelling spices., and medurah (campfire) singing. At Camp JRF, everybody loves Saturday night!
It is hard to put into words what makes Shabbat so special for us. For me, it is not just the dancing, the food, or the much-needed extra sleep, but the holy way in which we observe the sacred time of Shabbat. When I stand in our all-camp spiral for havdalah, surrounded by people I love so much, I close my eyes and breathe. I breathe in the calm I try so desperately to keep during the week, the sense of security I fight to carry with me during the year, and, finally, the feeling of belonging that has shaped the person I am today.
Jenny Ferentz is a junior at The Johns Hopkins University and a Cornerstone Fellow at Camp JRF.
