With just 100 days until camp, I find myself looking back upon my experience last summer more and more. I came to camp primarily because I had another friend working at Galim. I was fortunate enough to be placed in the oldest edah at camp, Nachshonim. During staff week I started to remember how much I loved programming and leadership development. As the chanichim (campers) started to arrive and through six weeks of relationship building and mentorship, I ended up changing my career path and major because I realized that I wanted to help build the next generation of Jewish leaders!
With Purim coming up next week, we turn our attention to this holiday of reversals. Haman makes a ritual for the king to honor him, but his enemy Mordechai is honored with that same ritual instead. The gallows Haman builds for the Jewish people end up being the instrument of his own death. And the fate of a nation changes from doom to victory in the blink of an eye: “And so, on the 13th day of the 12th month—that is, the month of Adar—when the king’s demand and decree were to be executed, the very day on which the enemies of the Jews had expected to get them in their power, v’nahafokh hu—the situation was reversed—and the Jews got their enemies in their power instead” (Esther 9:1).
Ramah Galim was my reversal. I started the summer not knowing what I wanted to do with my life and thinking that working at camp would be a temporary thing. When I finished the summer, not only did I find something I am truly passionate about, but I also knew that I had to come back. Ramah Galim is special. What makes it so special isn’t just the amazing Hanhallah (Leadership Team), but the chanichim and madrichim. I am beyond excited to be coming back this summer as Rosh Bogrim and to be continuing to be a catalyst in helping other madrichim and chanichim find their path at camp and in the world.
Maya Wasserman is a Sophomore at Indiana University studying Management and Human Organization. She is excited to return to Ramah Galim this summer as Rosh Bogrim.