During the Opening Ceremony on June 10th, campers spoke about the four Jewish values that will guide Session One of 2018: tevunah (insightfulness), shleimut (wholeness), nimratzut (passion), and sig sug (personal growth). Talmidim camper Chloe Deitelzweig’s beautiful words on tevunah resonated with the Jacobs Camp family; and we are pleased to share them with you:
In my opinion, everyone here is very intelligent. Not just because of the grades we make or the schools we go to, but because of the qualities we manifest.
Every single sensational person I see sitting here in front of me shares one thing in common — other than the fact that we’re Jewish, of course. We’re all humble enough to understand that it is okay to be different. It’s okay to disagree. But we all naturally listen and learn from each other.
It’s called tevunah: insightfulness, comprehension, understanding, and intelligence. Ben Zoma says, “Who is wise? One who learns from every person, as it says, ‘I have acquired understandings from all my teachers.'” And here at camp, we are all each other’s teachers.
When we all come together at this magical place once a year, it’s more than just a great time. You all effortlessly teach me so much, since there are qualities in each and every one of you that I look up to. It’s taught me more than I could ever begin to explain.
My counselors teach me how to be caring toward everyone despite how well we know each other. My unit heads, camp directors, and all upper staff teach me determination through every hardship and rough patch, to make each summer the best ever. My cabin mates and all my friends teach me how to laugh until tears come out, to hug so hard you never want to let go, and to smile so wide you feel numb constantly; making it unimaginable what you would do if your parents didn’t make the best choice they ever have, of sending you here to your second home.
While here at camp, it’s almost impossible to not be in the mindset of such a collaborative, caring environment. Without fail, whenever I see someone hurt or upset in any way, of course selfless staff members rush to their aid, but that’s not all. Their friends and campers whom they may not even know do whatever they can to help without a second thought.
When I fell off the top bunk a few years ago, I was looked after and driven back to camp from the hospital at 2:00am. We don’t realize how lucky we are to be able to be a part of this community. So I remind myself daily — of these friends, these opportunities — I mean what are the odds of us all being here, together, out of everyone in the world? That’s pretty spectacular to me.
I think we are all here, on purpose, to learn things from one another. Without growth, we wouldn’t have these great new experiences, and I deeply believe we would not be who we are today.