TOSS (The Other Seminar) 2014 kicks off with A camp Newman Retreat-Cohort 17

Day 1-Friday 

We arrived in the late sweltering Santa Rosa afternoon at URJ Camp Newman.  After unloading our bags near the dining hall and getting some grub, we settled into our bunks.  They were very humble accommodations, but felt very homely.  We all caught up on our summers and anything that had occurred since last seeing one and other.  We set about to throwing a Frisbee or throwing around footballs.  We then were exposed to the Camp Newman Shabbat traditions.  It is Camp Newman tradition that all the CITs and staff play a game of Ultimate Frisbee, so we cowered in shady spots to watch the game.  We mingled and met some of the campers and staff that were about our age, and eventually after an intense game, the staff and CITs tied the game.  We then returned to our cabins.  Because we had been schvitzing so much, many of us opted for a nice cold shower.  After cleansing ourselves before Shabbat, we all put on some nice white clothes.  Soon the procession started, and a horde of hundreds of kids walked down the path all clad in nice white clothing. 

 Before sitting down for the Shabbat services, we made sure to take a beautiful picture of us.  We then sat in on a wonderful service.  After the service, we were ushered down to the dinning hall, or chadar ohel, where the ecstatic camp met their dinner.  Excited voices echoed throughout the chadar ohel for the whole meal.  We then went up to the basketball courts for Shabbat Shira, which is a giant campwide dance party.  Once we had danced to our delight, we went down to the field to start decompressing our feelings about what had happened to our trip.  We walked and thought.  Finally we circled up and conversed.  Gabi found some of the Israeli Mishlachat to talk to us; an extremely interesting conversation ensued.  We verbally probed and prodded about what it was like to be an Israeli in America during a military operation.  They talked of a little guilt, but the general consensus was that what they were doing was very important, and that educating was another very important.  At about twelve we noticed how exhausted we were and were sent to hit the hay.  

-Jerry Katz

Day 2-Saturday 

Waking up, following our cohort’s first Camp Newman Friday shabbat experience, we were all wonderfully serenaded by a fellows’ tefilla service. Following a shmooze and unstructured bonding time, we were brought together to prep a program (completely constructed by a group of fellows) to educate 5th-10th graders about Israel and the struggles many soldiers and Israeli civilians go through on a regular basis. Keeping the kids engaged, many of our groups lightened things up by ending the program off with a little skit. Later, we were brought together for a discussion focusing on our own Jewish summer camp experiences and sharing fun-loving, memorable stories. This was done with only our cohort to continue our steady learning about once another.

We were then lead to our meditation/ letting go Havdalah program led by Gabi, and beautifully we were accompanied by a breathtaking sunset. To end off the night, we all sat down in a much more secluded setting to express our feelings about the Israeli vs. Palestinian conflict. The whole day was a reminder that the reason we are all apart of diller is to model and display leadership, while still creating an unbreakable bond between our amazing cohort and making the people we present to part of our community, and for them to continue educating family and peers.       

-Caroline Rabinovitz

Day 3-Sunday

Today was our last day of our TOSS (The Other Summer Seminar) Camp Newman Shabbaton. We got up early, had breakfast with the younger Camp Newman campers, and started preparing our programming for Nitzanim (the 5th and 6th grade cabins) and Kesher (the 7th and 8th grade cabins). Noah and Katie adapted some of the programs from the Israeli summer camp visit during their Community Week day, so we could lead them at Camp Newman. We broke into small groups and led some activities with Nitzanim about the settlement of the Upper Galilee. The campers played a “minesweeper” type game where they have to navigate through a grid with obstacles to get to the other side and “settle the land.” We then broke up into a couple stations and led activities about communication. My group led a game with the campers called telephone that showed how easily messages can get jumbled around and misunderstood. 

After we finished with NItzanim, we led programming, for Kesher surrounding Jewish youth groups. We broke the campers into groups where they created their own Jewish youth group with purpose, a poster, and a cheer. The campers presented their youth groups and Gabi voted on the best one (it ended up being a 6 way tie between every group). We concluded the day with a reflection on the entire retreat, and feedback session on the fellow led programs, and a surprise party for my birthday, The weekend was a lot of fun and a great way to really start off TOSS.

-Gabe