Counselor Influence

I would like to start this blog post with a story. This did not take place at Yavneh, but at another Jewish summer camp that is very similar to ours. Three seniors in high school were entering their first year as counselors, and their former counselor decided to take them all out to dinner. At the restaurant, he proceeds to tell his former campers the best places in camp to smoke pot because his counselor did the same thing for him. After the dinner, the first year counselors were thankful and really appreciated that their counselor was treating them like they were adults and not campers.

There is no question that as a counselor in camp, such a conversation would be inappropriate. However, outside of the camp setting, especially when not dealing directly with campers anymore, the line becomes murkier. At what point do counselors stop being counselors? Do we allow our lives to be dictated by this camper-counselor relationship? How much influence do current and former counselors really have on their campers? And when does our influence have ramifications on campers that reach far into the future?

Flashback to the year 1997.  I was a kaytana camper going first month and I was having a great time. I loved playing softball and I happened to be on the pee-wee softball team that summer. A few days before my parents were scheduled to pick me up, my rosh aydah pulled me aside and asked me if I wanted to stay the full session. As a naïve 10-year-old, I thought he was asking me to stay because I was good at softball (which I wasn’t) and he wanted me to stay on the team. Even though I had to say no because I was going to another camp after kaytana, that counselor really made me feel quite special. It had a huge effect on me, and it certainly led me to come back to camp the following summer. The thing is, the question that he asked me had nothing to do with softball. Every kid is asked if he or she wants to stay for the full month. His innocuous question had such a significant influence on me, way bigger than he possibly could have realized.[1]

That’s the shear beauty of being a counselor. As a counselor you might say something, do something, react in some way, or passively sit by but the fact of the matter is, the campers are always watching. Whether you enforce rules or you let your campers do what they want, the campers always notice. It is really both the active and passive decisions you make that affect the kids around you.

For me, a prime example of this is the fact that I was rosh da’at at camp in 2006 and 2007. Besides checking the aruv, this job required me to be the face of the religious aspects of camp. I was frequently the Gabbai for the orthodox minyan and often led services, and also found people to do the kiddish, hamotzi and birkat. But because of this job, my campers perceived me as someone who was more religious than I actually was. When I lead the egalitarian minyan after my time as rosh daat, current and former campers often approached and questioned me, wondering why I was praying in that minyan. They assumed I came from an orthodox background, which is false. I could have been a more vocal about my conservative roots but I wasn’t. The thing is, I may have inspired some of my campers to be more involved in orthodox Judaism and may have detracted others but I can assure you I had an effect on them. However, was it fair of me to influence kids in a way that a) I didn’t fully believe in, and b) wasn’t necessarily the way that “camp does it”? The answer is certainly up for debate.

This past summer my male campers were obsessed with the prospect of playing a game called fire/Mario tennis. The game is played at night on the tennis courts and consists of dousing a tennis ball in lighter fluid, lighting it on fire and hitting it back and forth with tennis rackets. They had learned of the game from Kerem 06, the Kerem that their current counselors were in. Due to the dangers of the game, it was obvious that this game could not be allowed. However, because of this rule, I put my counselors in an ethical dilemma. How could they preach to my campers that they couldn’t play Mario tennis when it was obvious that they themselves had played when they were campers? It is pure hypocrisy. Is it ok to distinguish between a comment made by a 20 year old and the actions of the same person at the age of 16? How can you predict how much influence you have as a counselor over a camper before you even finish your Kerem summer?

Let’s return to the pot smoking example. It turns out that those three first year counselors got kicked out of camp within the first week of being there for smoking pot. Who do you blame in this situation? The new counselors for smoking, or the former counselor for improperly influencing his former campers? The power of influence creates many ethical and moral dilemmas - it’s not easy to say every situation is black and white, yes or no, or good or bad.  

I struggled and continue to struggle with this issue all of the time. On the one hand, I know that I don’t have campers anymore. I will never be a rosh again and my youngest campers are 17, on the cusp of going to college and making big decisions for themselves. They would want me to treat them as I would treat every other adult. However, as I was told countless times over the summer[2], my kids look up to me. I am a role model to them and because of that I have trouble acting any other way. The balance of when or how much to influence my campers is constantly in play; and likely will be for a long time.  

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[1] EDIT: In fact, at Leah Lebowitz wedding on Tuesday, a camper from Kerem 2010 came up to me and told me that his rosh in 2004 loved him because he asked him to stay for the full month.

[2] EDIT: and even just recently as the other day at the wedding,

My Zimriyah Rankings, Part 4

3. Kerem 07- 1^st in Leviim (3), 1^st in Maalot and Swept (3),  3^rd in Kerem (1) Second best Shir Chasidi (2), Top Five Shir Aydah (1). Points: 10

Best Zimriyah Song: Heaven is a Place on Earth (Maalot, Aydah)

Worst Zimriyah Song: Yiru (Arayot, Chasidi)

For a rosh aydah who was uninvolved in Zimriyah all three years he was their rosh, and who admits that his least favorite part about camp is Zimriyah, his kids ended up doing a fantastic job rocking the socks off of camp in 05 and 06. They won their first year with three very original songs, and their second year with less originality, but so much will and energy. It certainly was a pleasure winning as counselor[1] and knowing that the win was partially due to mine and my co–counselors creativity.[2]  However, surprising everyone, in Kerem they lost it. Their Shir Chasidi and Yisraeli were underwhelming, and their Shir Aydah was good but not over-the-top incredible. If they had managed to pull of the victory in Kerem we would be talking about Kerem 07 as the best Zimriyah aydah.

2. Kerem 12-

1^st in Arayot (3), 1^st in Leviim and Swept (3+1.5), Second best Shir Aydah (2), Best Shir Yisraeli (3). Points: 12.5

Best Zimirah Song: Heartless Mashup (Arayot, Aydah)

Worst Zimirah Song: Uf Guzal[3] (Arayot, Yisraeli)

I want to attempt to explain how good Kerem 12 is at Zimriyah. Within the first two years of in the older half of camp (Arayot and older), they are half a point away from first place. They are missing both their Maalot and Kerem summers, and yet they rank second. It is almost impossible for me to imagine that they won’t be in first place next year, and I they will most likely break 20 Zimriyah points by the end of their run. Insanity. They are blessed with a talented and motivated aydah, even more talented counselors and a sing/no scream issue that plagues others. Overall it makes for a positively lethal combination.

Now as a matter of perspective they are blessed to be where they are because they didn’t have the powerhouses of Kerem 07 and Kerem 08 to contend with. They also are next to the worst aydah at Zimiyrah (Kerem 11) so this also boosts their stats. People do theorize that it is a very counselor driven aydah, led by Neal Freyman and Avi Packer. Some argue that they have yet to do anything by themselves. Yes, this is true, however, we cannot forget that these kids  just completed their Leviim summer. At this point, it is the counselor's responsibility to lead them, and I would never expect a Leviim camper to run their own Zimriyah. Now, in Kerem, if they still have Neal and Avi in the front, then this argument will be more valid. Regardless of all of the criticism, their aydah and their counselors have incredible talent for Zimriyah.

1. Kerem 03-

2^nd in Arayot (2), 1^st in Leviim and Swept (3), 1^st in Maalot (3), Second in Kerem (2) Second best Shir Yisraeli (2), Top five Shir Yisraeli (1). Points: 13

Best Song: Halo Yaakov (Maalot, Yisraeli)

Worst Song Cecelia (Leviim, Aydah)

The best. Number 1. The big kahuna. I kind of like the fact that the number 1 aydah is the second to oldest that is ranked. The members of Kerem 03, as an aydah, were the pioneers of the new Zimriyah. They led the exile from  hand-holding-sway-back-and-forth type and into the exciting-rock-out-we-are-gonna-destroy-you type.  They practically invented what we think of as good and innovative hand motions, and the antics that they provided certainly bumped everything up a level (or two…or three). Every year to open their songs[4], they had Dan Karp and Sam Seigel sit in lawn chairs and play out some sort of comedy routine either in English or Hebrew.  It was hilarious and very representative of their aydah. Now, I don’t know what they were thinking going with an oldie for their Leviim Shir Aydah, and doing it a capella style no less, but we can forgive them. These guys were also blessed with being sandwiched between relatively easy competitors, and they no question would have won in Kerem as well if Maalot hadn’t swept in from under them. Overall though, they were fantastic, and deserve to be in the number one slot. But, as I predict, it just won’t hold on for so much longer.  You heard it from me first.

My Predictions for Zimriyah 2011

Maalot (wins two out of three of their songs as well)

Arayot (this aydah will be a powerhouse as well. Watch out.)

Kerem (They finally get on the board by giving it all of the energy they can muster)

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[1] It was great being able to experience this from both sides and also it felt way better to win Zimriyah than it did to lose Zimriyah and win melech Zimriyah like I did in 08.

[2] Of course this applies to every aydah (Besides Kerem) that wins as well.

[3] I cannot believe that I am saying that Uf Guzal qualifies for a worst song. Due partially to recognition and partially to the performance, I loved this song and I though Adam Brady and Abby Suldan’s duet was great. But if there has to be a worst song out of the six, this is it. It was a bit too simple and unoriginal.

[4] This was a time where they had formal openings to all songs

My Zimriyah Rankings, Part 3

5. Kerem 10 –

2^nd in Leviim (2), 3^rd  in Maalot (1), 2^nd in Kerem (2), Best Shir Chasidi (3), Top five Shir Aydah (1) Points: 9

Best Zimriyah Song: Modeh Ani (Leviim, Chasidi)

Worst Zimriyah Song: Brick in the Wall (Arayot, Aydah)

Yes, I acknowledge that I am ranking Kerem 10 higher than three aydot who have won Zimriyah before. But I think there is justification for it. For one, they were more consistent than Kerems 04-06. They placed in the top 3 for three years in a row. Secondly, they had some really epic songs. Maybe I value the worth of these songs too high, but I think the way that Modeh Ani defined the summer of 2008, it was like they had won Zimriyah. As stated before, I think the model that Kerem 2010 used for their shir Yisraeli and Aydah will be a model future aydot will use, and because of this influence, their legacy will live on. Finally, their competition was very tough. It is really hard to go up against the aydah (Kerem 12) who will be the best aydah at Zimriyah of all time next summer. It just makes it that much harder.

So now that I have gone off describing why Kerem 10 was so good, what prevented them from getting over the ‘hump’ and actually winning? Two factors contributed to their downfall. Two horrendous Shirei Aydah in Arayot and Leviim and their obsession with screaming, even though they were repeatedly told not to. Yes I know they did not have a lot of time in Arayot to work on Zimriyah, but the fact they chose Brick in the Wall somewhat invalidates that argument because they could never possibly win with a choice like that. Similarly in Leviim, their Shir Aydah was crazy, in a weird way, and the whole song was a bizarre choice. The next two years they had some great songs but the scream in them came out. They screamed in Maalot when they were the favorites and had three aydot place higher than them. And they screamed in Kerem and it cost them all three songs. Kerem 2010 was a very talented aydah, but I think they got unlucky and wanted it too much.

4. Kerem 08-

3^rd  in Leviim (1), 1^st in Maalot (3), 1^st in Kerem (3+1.5), Top five Shir Yisraeli (1). Points: 9.5

Best Zimirah Song: Beatles medley (Maalot, Aydah)

Worst Zimriyah Song: ?

Kerem 08 had slow beginning, but boy did they finish strong. Winning in Maalot and Kerem will definitely make an aydah known as great Zimriyah performers, and they certainly deserve that recognition. However there are two reasons why I think they are fourth on this list rather than third (behind Kerem 07 rather than ahead). First, they never had a totally dominant performance like Kerem 07 had in Maalot, Kerem 03 had in Maalot and Kerem 12 had in Leviim. You just knew that in all three of these instances that they just had it in the bag. Second, and I think more important, is the fact that they never really had a song that swept camp. Their best song, in my opinion, was their Beatles medley, and even though it was great, it wasn’t orginial nor particularly creative. You just didn’t hear kids singing their Zimriyah songs after the performance like you did with the songs from the aydot that are ranked above Kerem 08. Overall though, very solid performance and is extremely impressive that they pulled off the victory in Kerem. 

My Zimriah Rankings, Part 2

8. Kerem 06-

1^st in Leviim (3),  2^nd in Kerem (2), Top five Shir Yisraeli (1). Points: 6

Best Zimriyah Song: Car Wash Medley (Maalot, Aydah)

Worst Zimirah Song: Shalom Al Israel (Arayot, Yisraeli)

Never known as a ‘great at Zimirah aydah;, these guys certainly had their moment for both good and bad. They managed to tie for first place in Leviim anchored by “Tnu Le Rock and Roll,”  which I will always be bitter about because it beat the song I chose for my aydah’s shir Yisraeli. They were also great in Kerem, but Maalot that year just beat them out for the victory. However, Kerem 06 certainly had their rough patches as well. Their song choice for their shir Yisraeli in arayot is one of the worst ideas I have ever heard. Shalom Al Israel song to the tune of “puff the magic dragon,” also had sections of rap mixed in? Do judges really want to hear a 13-year-olds rap for Zimriyah? Yeah, neither do I. Lastly, Kerem 06’s mistakes were significant in their defeat. They probably got disqualified for shutting off the lights, they passed up on one of the best shir Chasidi’s out there, (See Kerem 2007 and Kol Hamitpalel), and they almost wrecked the audio guy’s equipment.

7. Kerem 04-

1^st in Maalot and Swept (3+1.5), 2^nd in Kerem (2) Top five Shir Aydah (1). Points: 7.5

Best Zimirah Song: Mr. Blue Sky (Kerem, Aydah)

Worst Zimirah Song: Under the Sea/Minyan Man (Arayot, Aydah)

We were bad. Very bad. Yes, Zimriyah was a horse of another color back then, but under no circumstances should any aydah ever do Minyan Man and a Disney tune for their shir aydah. Not even Gurim. Horrible idea. And like most naïve 13-year-olds with no context of what a good Zimriyah song was, we would sing over Joel Sussman and Saul Strosberg with our lyrics during Relish. The following year, it didn’t get much better. All three songs were awful, and I think the judges felt bad and gave us 3^rd place for shir aydah. That year for Shir Yisraeli, things were so bad we didn’t even know the words to our song. But then in Maalot it all changed. From worst to first with a sweep. I have said before, and I will say again, I don’t think we deserved the sweep, but it was certainly a highlight of my Yavneh career. That year we had experienced the loss of a friend and former member of our aydah on the first day of camp, and I think more than anything, we were able to harness our grief and join together for Zimriyah. The following year in Kerem, if we hadn’t messed up in our rockin’ shir Chasidi, we would be talking about my Kerem having at least several more points, which would bump us up to third on this list.

6. Kerem 05-

2^nd in Arayot (2), 1^st in Maalot (3), 3^rd in Kerem (1), Two Top five Shir Chasidi (1+1) Points: 8

Best Zimirah Song: Ani Maamin (Maalot, Chasidi)

Worst Zimirah Song: Buddy Holly (Leviim, Aydah)

Like the two Kerem’s that sandwiched them (Kerem 04 and 06) Kerem 05 had their moments of greatness as well as mediocrity. They certainly fluctuated every year: they almost won in Arayot, screamed every song in Leviim, tied for the win in Maalot, and limped into third place behind Leviim and Gurim when they were in Kerem. I heard[1] that they only had 7 or so Zimriyah practices Kerem summer? Wow, I can’t really imagine, even five years later an aydah only having 7 practices. The week before Zimriyah is really reserved for only one thing. Zimriyah practice.

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[1] I was on Naaleh so I don’t know for sure

My Zimriah Rankings, Part 1

What is best aydah in Zimriyah? Who is the worst? What is the order?

Before I begin, I would like to explain the method behind my rankings. I tried to rank these aydot as objectively as possible by assigning points to different aspects of Zimriyah performance. In order of most important to least important, I found that the four most cited reasons a particular aydah is great at Zimriyah were the following: how well did an aydah place from Arayot to Kerem? Were there any songs that an aydah performed that were extraordinary? Did the aydah win in Kerem,? Did the adyah sweep? Because of these four categories, and the fact that I already complied a top 15 list for best songs, I will explain how the point system works.

·      If an aydah got 1^st, 2^nd or 3^rd place I awarded 3,2, and 1 point respectively. I didn’t bother compensating for ties because when it comes to legacy, it doesn’t matter if you tie.

·      If a song was the top five for any of the best songs lists, I gave the aydah a point. If it was in the top two, I gave the aydah an extra point. If it was the best of any category I gave it a third point. And if it was Maalot 01’s shir aydah, I gave it four (just because it was so good)

·      If an aydah won in Kerem or swept Zimriyah, I gave them 1.5 bonus points. I reasoned that in order to sweep or win in Kerem, you already got 3 points, but when it comes to legacy it is slightly better than having a song in a top five.


NOTE: I am only judging the aydot when they were alone, i.e. from arayot to kerem. For these rankings I wanted to see how the aydah preformed when they were independent and older, not when they had another aydah with them. 

Anyway, here is the order from worse to first.

11. Kerem 11:

 Points 0.

Best song: Boche El Hakirot [1] (Maalot, Yisraeli).

Worse song: I Believe (Leviim, Aydah)

I just don’t know what it is, but Kerem 11 is just 100% horrible at Zimriyah. As the only aydah never to place, nor have a top 15 song, they are an anomaly when it comes to the new era of Zimriyah. Daniel Hoffman once explained to me why they were so bad: “[For their Shir Aydah in Leviim,] they started off key, and then Bentzi tried to match their key so that they wouldn't sound as bad.  However they changed key again, so that despite his best efforts they were still out of key. Fortunately they didn’t care that much- or maybe it was part of the cause.” I think Hoffman got it spot on. Especially among the some of boys, it just doesn’t seem like they care, and really there isn’t a strong male voice to have an epic solo.   In Maalot, they were certainly better, but I think everyone realized going into Zimriyah that year, the competition would be a battle between Leviim and Kerem for the gold. Now, not all hope is lost. They still have one more year, and they need to get 3 points to tie Kerem 09 in my rankings. Kerem has placed in Zimriyah for the past 8 years, so there is a good chance they will get at least one point. If they win, they will automatically clinch, not being the worst (with the bonus Kerem points) but I don’t know how likely that will be.

10. Kerem 09-

 2^nd in Kerem (2), Top five shir Chasidi (1), Points: 3

Best Song: Samachti (Kerem, Chasidi)

Worst Song: Vayhu Ha Devarim (Arayot, Chasidi)

If Kerem 11 thinks they have a chance at being the only aydah not to get at least one Zimriyah point they should look no further than Kerem 09. Why? Because, going into Kerem, this aydah had also received a total of 0 points. However, I really don’t think they were as bad at Kerem 11 has been. Going into Zimirah 2007, a lot of people thought that this aydah (Leviim at the time) was going to win. They flopped. Once again in Maalot, when I was their counselor, and won Melech Zimriyah with them, we had some pretty awesome songs. But when Zimriyah came they flopped again. The only redeeming factor that year was that Gavi Bohan was amazing and they aydah earned second place for shir aydah. Now in Kerem, enter Jordana Suldan and Ben Rotter. In short, these two campers essentially became counselors and for the most part everyone listened to them as if they were. Somehow, someway, it worked, and they performed quite well their Kerem summer. Kudos to Kerem 09 for not being the worst at Zimriyah.

9. Kerem 02-

3^rd in Maalot (1) , Best Shir Aydah (4).  Points: 5

Best Song: Like a Prayer, (Maalot, Aydah)

Worse song: David Melech (Maalot, Chasidi)

Kerem 2002 was like Los del Rio. Yep that’s right, in 1995 Los del Rio released a song called the Macarena. According to Wikipedia they were number 1 on ‘billboard’s hot 100’ for 3 and half months in 1996 which ties it for second longest of all time. And yet Los del Rio made no other legitimate music besides that one single. We love the Macarena but don’t care about anything else they created. In fact, Los del Rio was named #1 on the VH1’s list of top one hit wonders of all time.  That’s Kerem 02 for you. Invested so much energy making that amazing song, but never really performed before or after that. That same year in fact, they did a song called David Melech, which had only five words and they wore gold crown. It was horrible. However, there is no question, for as long as I am still around talking about Zimriyah, they will be known as the aydah that did “Like a Prayer,” rocked it and changed the face of Zimriyah.

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[1] By default, it’s the only song they have ever placed in. 

Is Gurim favored in Zimriyah? Part 2

I think I have proven that Gurim is in fact favored. However, I have yet to propose the mechanism through which they are favored. For one, I am certainly not claiming that there actually is a conspiracy theory that exists to favor Gurim. That would be ridiculous and unreasonable.  In fact, I am not even suggesting that there is a subconscious feeling amongst the judges that compensating Gurim with “extra love” is appropriate.[1] After a G-chat conversation with Daniel Hoffman we agreed that the reason why Gurim does unreasonably well is...drum roll please…the score sheet.

The current rubric is just plain old silly. This rubric favors aydot like Gurim that don’t add any embellishments to their songs, but usually sing on key and don’t scream because their songs are so easy. They don’t have the same energy that is expected from older aydot. But why does this matter? I’m going to let you in on a secret. Singing/Not Screaming and Singing on Key are worth 10 points each, where embellishments, which include all of the cute gimmicks, stand-ups and sit-downs, and hand motions are only worth five. That is basically 20 free points for Gurim. Now, when it comes to embellishments, I know there is a huge difference between the “painting someone green and running all over the Beit Am” type of embellishment, and the “making a song more complex” type of embellishment. Aydot should be rewarded if they execute a harder song or harder motion; just like in ice-skating.[2]

Just to note though, over the past two years Gurim has not placed in any song…

Besides Gurim’s tendency to be favored, there are also other cool things I learned from the data.

Kerem: Kerem is the most consistent. Kerem has placed in the top three every year for the last eight years. However, their consistency correlate with overall victories. They have only won Zimriah once, and usually have to settle for a close second. For the theory on why Kerem doesn’t win but usually gets second place, I will go with what is conventional: there is a lot on Kerem’s plate during the middle of camp compared with Maalot and Leviim. They have to run Zimriah completely by themselves from start to finish and there usually is not a lot of time for them to practice. On the other hand, Kerem always has the heart. They always want to win the most and usually get so close.

Maalot: The theory that Maalot does the best because of the combination of being older andhaving a lot of time is true, but not by much. Yes, Maalot does well and if I had to put my money on a particular aydah I would choose them, but realistically, Kerem or Leviim can win any given year. However, there have been some epic performances in Maalot, and sometimes, Maalot can just blow you away. 

Leviim: After looking at the numbers, Leviim’s performance surprised me the most. They almost have the same amount of points as Maalot and Kerem, with fewer appearances in the top 3. More interesting though is that they have never placed third overall. These two facts demonstrate to me how polarizing Leviim’s performance can be. Depending on the year, they can be fantastic, or dreadful. It fully depends on the particular aydah.

Arayot: There are very few years when Arayot performs well. In fact they have only placed twice in the past ten years, which statistically makes them the worst bet to win Zimriyah. They do somewhat resemble the Leviim’s performance in that they either do really well or really poorly, except they generally tend to underperform. I guess when puberty is reeling its ugly head, and boys are cracking every other note, it is pretty hard to win a singing competition.

Kfirim: Besides the past two years when Betty Bauman and Toby Kuperwaser lead Kfirim to second and third place victories, Kfirim is generally abysmal. The largest aydah, with the most amount of energy doesn’t translate when you need them to sit down for a peulah and learn songs. Surprisingly, statistically speaking, they are not the worst at Zimriyah in terms of points nor the amount of times that the aydah has placed. This shows me that Kfirim, if motivated correctly, can actually compete.

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[1] Even though I could make a strong argument for this compensation. Here would be my logic if I were to propose this: there are always 5 Gurim kids on the sides who don’t know any words or hand motions. It is not a big deal, but it’s the truth. If there were five kids in Kerem on the side not singing, they would come in last place, no question.

[2] Thanks Hoffman for the analogy.

Is Gurim favored in Zimriyah? Part 1

When it comes to Zimriyah, is it fair for every other aydah to match up with Gurim? There is no question that Gurim is at a significant disadvantage because of the age difference, and yet most years they do quite well in terms of rankings. How is this possible, and is it true that they might be given a leg up?

When people ask these types of questions, often times there is no factual basis for the answers that are given. People say it all the time, but how can we tell if Gurim is in fact favored? Is there proof besides either looking at individual years, or just going by a gut feeling?  Back in 2007, right after Gurim almost won Zimriyah, I was in the old roshes room having a heated debate with Seth Pertain about the validity of their near victory. My argument was that Gurim was good, but not great, nothing compared to how Maalot or even the third place Kerem performed. I said that Gurim is held to a different standard, and frankly it isn’t fair for the rest of the adyot that they are allowed to compete. His response was that I was a) a sore loser and b) they deserved second place. I couldn’t argue without actual statistical proof, so I gave up. However, now three years later, I have decided to actually look at the numbers and see how the adyot have performed each year over the past ten years. In order to do a proper analysis, I gave 6 points for first place, 5 for second, 4 for third, 2 points if the aydah didn’t place and I subtracted .5 if an aydah tied[1]:

Gurim	30.5
Kfirim	29
Arayot	26.5
Leviim	40
Maalot	42.5
Kerem	41.5

When I did this the first time, one thing clearly jumped out. Leviim through Kerem all perform about equally, and Gurim through Arayot perform about 10 to 12 points worse. Gurim, in fact, does better than Kfirim and does quite better than Arayot. However, I was not done looking at the data. I also counted how many times each aydah placed in the top three:

Gurim	5
Kfirim	4
Arayot	2
Leviim	6
Maalot	7
Kerem	8

What does this tell us now? Gurim places 5 times which is more than Kfirim and Arayot, and almost as much as Leviim. Does this mean that Gurim is doing almost as well as Leviim? NO! Leviim has almost 10 more points than Gurim has!  Something fishy must be going on.

Before I throw my final set of numbers at you, I want to remind you that Gurim are the 8, 9 and 10 year olds. Their counselors stand in the back row of the bleachers in order to give the aydah some added sound. Their songs are simple; their hand motions are even more so, and there are never Harmonies or Solos unless it is in Shir Israeli so that the aydah does not have to learn all of the words. In short, how can an aydah like this perform and do better than Kfirim and Arayot?

To really drive this point home, I wanted to know the answer to a simple question. Given that an aydah placed, what can I say their average position is? In mathematical terms, I throw away the points assigned by default (anything 2 or below) and then I add up their score.  I then divide this number by the amount of times they have placed.  Given an aydah does well (top three), how well do they do?

Aydah	Places in Top 3	Total Points Given Top 3 finish	Average Place (6,5,4 scale)	Standard Deviations away from mean	Percentile
Gurim	5	21	4.20	-1.22	89
Kfirim	4	17.5	4.38	-0.90	82
Arayot	2	11	5.50	1.13	13
Leviim	6	32.5	5.42	0.98	16
Maalot	7	36.5	5.21	0.61	27
Kerem	8	37.5	4.69	-0.34	63
Average	5.33	26	4.88	0.00	50

What does this mean? The most important stat to look at is the Percentile category. This is an indication, as a relationship to other aydot, of how well they do given that they make the top three. The higher percentile, the worse one performs in this situation. What does that mean? I’m going  to use a football metaphor to explain.

Imagine that placing in Zimriyah is like the NFL playoffs, and the first place finisher is the Superbowl champion. If you make it to the playoffs (the top three) you either do well (Superbowl) or do poorly (lose in the first round). Now, in a lot of years there are teams that are mediocre, but make the playoffs because they come from a bad division.  In general, they end up losing pretty bad. If this were to happen over many seasons in a row, they would amass a very bad playoff record. You might look at the stats and say, wow this team is making it to the playoffs a lot, they must be good. Or you could realize they come from a bad division, and once there, they end up losing, because they are really not good in the first place. This is Gurim. They make the playoffs (Top 3) because they have a bad division (being favored) not because they are good at football (Zimriyah).

     Here’s another sports metaphor: Gurim is like a high school basketball team, Kfirim and Arayot are like College basketball teams and Leviim-Kerem are like an NBA teams. The judges think that the college team can compete against the NBA team. But guess what, they get crushed. However, because everyone knows how unfair it would be for a high school team to play an NBA team, the judges let the high school team start with 50 points. Even though the NBA team still wins, the competition appears a lot closer.

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[1] It is a little more complicated than this. My rules are basically as follows: the total amount of points per Zimriyah is 21 (6,5,4,3,2,1).  In a normal Zimriyah, only the top three aydot are announced so the last three aydot have to be given 2 points each (to compensate for the last 6 points). However, in some years when there is a tie, essentially the point value for the four aydot are known, but everyone’s point total is adjusted based on 21 points. For example in 2009 when the order was A / Kf,K / M, the point total awarded was A=6, Kf and K = 4.5, M= 3, G and L = 1.5. This totals 21.