Dearest Chanichim (campers) of Shoafim 2016,
My name is Daniel Warshawsky and I’m so incredibly excited to finally introduce myself to all of you as your Rosh Aidah (Division Head) for this coming summer! I just wanted to take some time to share with all of you a little bit about myself, and about some of the mind-blowing experiences that your counselors and I will be planning for you this summer.
I was born in Deerfield, Illinois and lived there my entire life until college. I went to Solomon Schechter Day School and the (newly named) Rochelle Zell Jewish High School. I am currently a senior at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, where I’m double majoring in Communications and Jewish Studies, and minoring in Marketing. On August 16th I’ll be fulfilling my dream of making Aliyah to Israel and serving in the Israel Defense Forces. Afterwards, I hope to be able to fulfill one of my other dreams of coming back to camp as a member of the Mishlachat. This summer will be my 12th summer at camp, and my 6th as a staff member. It will also mark the fifth time that I have had the honor of being a member of Shoafim. I’m not sure, but I might be the Shoafim-est person to ever walk the beautiful grounds of Camp Ramah.
But enough about me! This summer is one that comes with many changes for you all. We have the honor of being the oldest aidah in our dining hall, Chadar Ochel Aleph. We have the ultimate responsibility of starting off the Machazemer season with our play……Aladdin! Many of you rocked the Bet Am with your performance of Peter Pan last summer, and I’m so excited to get started working on this play with all of you. We will spend time this summer working on our Tzedakkah project: learning about what it means to donate our time and money, promoting and selling Shabbat-o-Grams, hosting bake sales, dancing in flash mobs to raise awareness and promote our project, and so much more! This year, we’ll also be focusing on the root word of Tzedakkah—Tzedek. We’ll be doing random acts of kindness all summer long, and you’ll get to inspire the rest of the camp to really be the best that they can be.
I can’t wait to finally meet all of you when you get to camp this summer. Whether it is your first summer or your fifth summer, Shoafim will certainly be a summer to remember! I’m sure some of you have already started counting down to the day that you’ll be getting off the buses and taking that first breath of that good old Conover air. As the countdown gets shorter, I hope you’ll all start to get excited for what will be the greatest summer of your lives.
See you on the Kikar! Daniel Warshawsky
