Friday, Shabbos, Etc

Friday was a very long workday- I went in at 6:40 when I saw that I'd missed the truck going by somehow- it must have gone by very early, when I was still in the bathroom brushing my teeth or some such. Luckily, there were no kashrut problems with what we got in (and if there were, it wouldn't be the end of the world: we'd just send it back another day). And I didn't leave until 5:20ish pm. I did take a few breaks in there, but it was still a very long day, and I was resenting needing to be here this shabbos, and for a while we were worried that one of the folks who was supposed to be here wouldn't be able to stay (they forgot to find him housing at camp when he told them he was staying this shabbos, and then they had to find something last minute- they put him in the beds in the nurses' office), and another staff member wasn't sure he was staying, and it was nearly just the chef, the kitchen steward and I. But both other folks ended up here, so we had enough people, even though, because it was Shabbat Israel, there was Tons of food to prep. (The Israelis came in and did a few things to help, but not all that much compared to the added work involved.)

And then, as I was in the kitchen getting ready for Shabbat dinner, our director came in, said she had just talked to her husband (the camp rabbi) and was appalled that I wasn't finding meaning in camp life outside the kitchen, and that she wanted me in shul, and to sit down for all of dinner, and that they'd try to find someone to do hashgachah for a few days so I could see the rest of camp. I don't know that I believe the latter stuff, and I felt bad about leaving the kitchen, especially about not being there to deal with getting everything set at candle-lighting, so I said I'd stay in the kitchen until candlelighting, and then go to Ma'ariv. It worked out pretty well, and then just being at dinner felt sort of weird and a bit guilty- but it was very nice to be able to have a shabbos meal that wasn't rushed. So at both lunch and seudah shlishit, once food was out and things seemed quiet, I went and sat down (as I usually do at lunch), and just stayed at the meal, rather than running back to the kitchen. It was a very nice change, and very needed, especially since the crew in the kitchen this shabbos wasn't a very frum one (out of the potential people there), and I was just dreading being the only one, or close to it, with a real sense of shabbos- because that would never have made the right atmosphere, through the whole of all three meals. For a bit it works, but the whole time? never.

Then the "limud" time was taken up with a set of talks from the Israelis about the history of the 6 Day War, and another about the morality of that war, the "ownership" of Jerusalem, what makes a capital special and how Jerusalem is different from a regular national capital. It felt a little odd, even though I think that the information was interesting, and most of it was presented in very nice ways (some of it got a little dull, and some felt rather biased, and leaning towards the propaganda side of the spectrum). Somehow it troubles me that so often the limud time is given to primarily secular issues, rather than more religious materials, even if the subjects were to be fundamentally the same. A lot of the staff here seems very uneducated, even after years here, in this much touted religious environment, and that seems odd to me, and rather unfortunate. Maybe I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, but- it feels strange, and detrimental in the long run. (Also, I may be reacting to the fact that the people who were sitting next to me at shul this morning weren't davening, some of them didn't even have their siddurim open, and they didn't want chumashim to follow along with the Torah reading, and it wasn't because their Hebrew was so good that they just wanted to listen.)

Friday, Shabbos, Etc

Friday was a very long workday- I went in at 6:40 when I saw that I'd missed the truck going by somehow- it must have gone by very early, when I was still in the bathroom brushing my teeth or some such. Luckily, there were no kashrut problems with what we got in (and if there were, it wouldn't be the end of the world: we'd just send it back another day). And I didn't leave until 5:20ish pm. I did take a few breaks in there, but it was still a very long day, and I was resenting needing to be here this shabbos, and for a while we were worried that one of the folks who was supposed to be here wouldn't be able to stay (they forgot to find him housing at camp when he told them he was staying this shabbos, and then they had to find something last minute- they put him in the beds in the nurses' office), and another staff member wasn't sure he was staying, and it was nearly just the chef, the kitchen steward and I. But both other folks ended up here, so we had enough people, even though, because it was Shabbat Israel, there was Tons of food to prep. (The Israelis came in and did a few things to help, but not all that much compared to the added work involved.)

And then, as I was in the kitchen getting ready for Shabbat dinner, our director came in, said she had just talked to her husband (the camp rabbi) and was appalled that I wasn't finding meaning in camp life outside the kitchen, and that she wanted me in shul, and to sit down for all of dinner, and that they'd try to find someone to do hashgachah for a few days so I could see the rest of camp. I don't know that I believe the latter stuff, and I felt bad about leaving the kitchen, especially about not being there to deal with getting everything set at candle-lighting, so I said I'd stay in the kitchen until candlelighting, and then go to Ma'ariv. It worked out pretty well, and then just being at dinner felt sort of weird and a bit guilty- but it was very nice to be able to have a shabbos meal that wasn't rushed. So at both lunch and seudah shlishit, once food was out and things seemed quiet, I went and sat down (as I usually do at lunch), and just stayed at the meal, rather than running back to the kitchen. It was a very nice change, and very needed, especially since the crew in the kitchen this shabbos wasn't a very frum one (out of the potential people there), and I was just dreading being the only one, or close to it, with a real sense of shabbos- because that would never have made the right atmosphere, through the whole of all three meals. For a bit it works, but the whole time? never.

Then the "limud" time was taken up with a set of talks from the Israelis about the history of the 6 Day War, and another about the morality of that war, the "ownership" of Jerusalem, what makes a capital special and how Jerusalem is different from a regular national capital. It felt a little odd, even though I think that the information was interesting, and most of it was presented in very nice ways (some of it got a little dull, and some felt rather biased, and leaning towards the propaganda side of the spectrum). Somehow it troubles me that so often the limud time is given to primarily secular issues, rather than more religious materials, even if the subjects were to be fundamentally the same. A lot of the staff here seems very uneducated, even after years here, in this much touted religious environment, and that seems odd to me, and rather unfortunate. Maybe I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, but- it feels strange, and detrimental in the long run. (Also, I may be reacting to the fact that the people who were sitting next to me at shul this morning weren't davening, some of them didn't even have their siddurim open, and they didn't want chumashim to follow along with the Torah reading, and it wasn't because their Hebrew was so good that they just wanted to listen.)