Shabbos At Camp

[debka_notion]

Shabbat at camp was much nicer than I expected- I had time to rest (I slept a Lot), and got to sit down for parts of dinner and lunch (and probably could have for Seudat SHlishit if I'd really wanted to), and things in the kitchen were generally pretty calm- much easier going and calm than during the week. So it did feel like shabbos, and I got to daven actually at shul with a minyan this morning through the end of the torah service, and again for ma'ariv. I was told I ought to go daven kabbalat shabbat wtih them too, and I did, but I felt funny, because I felt like I was supposed to be in the kitchen, and I felt guilty for not being there, and very conscious of time, because I knew I ought to get back. So- next time maybe I'll figure things out a little bit differently. In general, folks in the kitchen have been turning out to be very nice. (You would have heard a different story from me a few days ago- I was pretty grumpy on Thursday for some reason. There was a lot of talk among the kitchen staff who don't live at camp about who was going to come in to work dinner which day, and in general having time off, and as far as I know, I'm on pretty much every meal, and I was just feeling sort of jealous. On the other hand, I can decide on my own schedule during work to some extent, and sit down for some meals- something that our kitchen steward doesn't seem to get to do- or thinks he can't do. I want to swap off with him or something, but he insists that this is why they pay him (not like they don't pay me too), etc.

Over Shabbos, we had someone else come in who is often the mashgiach for the kitchen when they have weekend groups in before or after camp, and he was running things more as chef or whatnot- but I was also on, of course. It was sort of odd for him, who knows the kitchen like the back of his hand, and knows the camp and the people and whatnot, to be asking me questions about what I was ok with- could he tear tinfoil to cover things over shabbos, if the camp staff was making shabbos early, could he keep on working until real candlelighting time, etc. It felt weird, but it made me feel actually useful and like I know something, etc.

And then this evening, I got a phone call from jakal88, which was very nice- I didn't have so much else for plans, although a lot of people were going out, and none of it quite interested me, and I don't know the people enough to want to go and just hang out, so I hung out here, and then getting a call was great. But well, I'm working breakfast tomorrow, at least briefly, so off I go.

Comments

[hotshot2000.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're finding things working out better than you thought!

Should a mashgiah already know those sorts of things and/or shouldn't the camp kitchen have standards for them?

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

One would think- but I guess he wanted to make sure that my standards weren't stricter than the ones the camp usually has? I really don't know- the communication around here isn't so wonderful...

[hotshot2000.livejournal.com]

Ugh, that's so frustrating and problematic. A mashgiah should be a person hired to enforce third-party-established standards, period. If the mashgiah's practice is more stringent that's fine (as long as it doesn't seriously impede his or her job performance), but it shouldn't be up to the mashgiah to establish standards, either le-humra or le-kula. Bad Camp Ramah, bad!

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

Camp ramah may have standards- no one has told me what they are yet though. And well, if I don't know, I can always ask the camp rabbi- but it's his first summer in the job, and sometimes he just asks me what's been done before. Go know. The thing is, there was supposed to be some training session with Rabbi Roth, but they decided not to have one this year. Grr.

[hotshot2000.livejournal.com]

Grr indeed. My sympathies. It's fortunate that you're an honest person who actually cares about kashrut. Imagine the damage someone whose general attitude was "fuck it" could do in your position!

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

So far, I think only one thing that I've seen would be a major issue bediavad, and that's something we're still dealing with, but basically right now we're treating it like it's basically treif that we need to deal with... Thank G-d, most of the people in the kitchen are Jewish, most keep kosher in their own homes at least to some extent (a lot of them are personally ok with unhechshered cheese, say), and they all get it- that isn't the issue. It's just being there and keeping people honest, to a significant extent.