Letters from Camp: The Camp Play
June 19, 2026
Special edition of the Weekly Verse
while Rabbi Rotenberg is at Camp Ramah Darom
A staple of the Ramah experience is the camp musical. There are a few things that make the musicals at Ramah special. First, the show is entirely in Hebrew. The kids in the show not only have to memorize their lines and practice their songs, but do so in a language that many of them are only beginning to understand. Second this musical is put on by one particular unit of campers, those entering seventh grade. And here’s the catch – every camper has to participate.
While that may seem unbelievable, there ends up being something for each camper to do. There are the actors of course – campers who have a talent for singing and showmanship. There are supporting roles, and kids who are backup dancers during some of the larger numbers. Then there are kids who don’t like the limelight. Some will run tech – helping to change scenes in dark clothing, working together to move larger set items and replace them with others in record time. Some run the sound – those who can work under pressure monitor the microphones, or run the stage lighting. Many kids sign up to run the spotlight, though the coveted position is reserved for a camper who the counselors can trust to stay disciplined through the whole show.
The final product varies. Some years, the show moves from scene to scene like a flat tire, clunking along toward its finish. Some years (this year in fact) the show is very impressive, everything running smoothly. The quality of the performance is as varied as the campers that produce it. One thing remains the same from year to year: The look on the campers faces when the show is completed – realizing that they created something together that was bigger than themselves. The kind of deep relationships formed by the campers producing this play speaks to the power of the kind of bonds that can be forged when creating something together.
I wonder what it would be like if all of us saw ourselves as a part of the creation of something bigger than ourselves – building together a world of kindness, as the psalmist puts it. What if we all had to participate? Nobody remaining on the bleachers as the rest of humanity puts on the show. What would your part be? And what kind of relationships would we build with our fellow human beings if our mindset was that we are all creating something together, bigger and beyond ourselves?