Best. Kerem. Ever: Part 2

Before I begin, I would like to note that we set a few records this past week (besides the very first week):

Most views in first hour of posting: 92
Most views in a day: 301
Most views in the week: 824

Nice.

Second, if you see on the right side toolbar, we are fast approaching 10,000 views. If you happen to be that 10,000th view, screen capture it for me, and let me know. I will give you a prize of some sort.

Contiuned from Last Week:

4. Comparison Bias

As much as people say that you go into the summer with a clean slate, this unfortunately is not true. The new Kerem will be a) already be stigmatized from previous summers and b) constantly compared to the previous Kerem. If you were ‘bad’ or ‘good’ in previous years, people will be looking out for you to continue on that trajectory. If were preceded by a ‘bad’ or ‘good’ Kerem, you will either be helped because anything you do will automatically be better, or handicapped because you are constantly being compared to the previous Kerem. In addition, the following year’s Kerem can have a retroactive effect on how the previous Kerem is perceived. If the current year’s Kerem is very good, then Kerem the previous year - which might have been average - loses ground. If the current Kerem is bad, then the previous Kerem now all of a sudden looks better than ever.

3. Passion/Performance

Did your aydah do well at Zimiryah? Did your aydah have a great Maccabiah? Did your aydah rock the play? Do you inspire those unforgettable Shabbat experiences, all the way from Kabbalat Shabbat to Zmirot to Musaf? Did your aydah create fun and memorable peulot for the other aydot as well as an off-the-charts Yom Carnival? Did your aydah cry their eyes out at the end of the summer (that’s a stupid question, every Kerem does)?  For you to be a great Kerem, you need to be able to answer yes for all of these questions. You need to show everyone that you care and you pull through each and every time – always in style. You exceed expectations and ‘rock out’ in the process because you can and because you care.

2. Leaving a Legacy-

All Kerems are passionate on the last day of the summer. However, the more interesting matter arises two years later when that Kerem has the opportunity to become counselors. What is their “return rate”? And, how excited and fixated are they about their own Kerem? This, ultimately is the reason I think that Kerem ‘04 is perceived as a very good Kerem; it’s not necessarily because of what we did, it’s because we came back in droves and we were obsessed with ourselves more than most other Kerems.[1] I would tell who ever asked me that Kerem summer was my best two months of my life, that everything throughout the summer was amazing, and I would glorify my Kerem’s contributions to the camp. I think this was the common mindset of my fellow Kerem-mates, and I think generally it was believable. Other counselors might find this annoying (which they certainly did), but at the same time, kids, who rarely find their counselors irritating, listened to the slanted views of Kerem ‘04 members and started to believe them. And the younger the kids are, the more inclined they are to unfalteringly believe what they’re told. In the end, the more counselors go back and continue to go back, the better the Kerem appears to be.

Now, I am not trying to say that my Kerem summer was not amazing, and that the “legendary Kerem ‘04” is exactly that – just a legend. However, upholding a legacy after the summer is a great way to be remembered for being a fantastic Kerem.

1. Care about the Campers

Many people often forget this notion, but I would say it is the most important thing that a Kerem can do for camp. Kerem has to show love and appreciation for the younger campers. As much as Kerem’s role is about having fun, it is about being leaders for the camp and the campers. I don’t care how many inappropriate ‘crazy’ times you’ve had in your bunk, at the end of the day, you better make sure that Jimmy in Gurim is having a good day. This past summer as Rosh Kerem, every time someone told me that my campers did something great for one of their campers (this actually happened many times a week) I always told them to actually tell the particular Kerem kid themselves. Kerem, more than anyone else, deserves the recognition when they do the small things, and affect individual campers’ lives. As a Kerem rosh, I was much happier to see my kids positively influence other campers than I would have been to see my kids win Zimriyah. Ultimately, it is the Gurim kids (and all the younger aydot) that will either glorify or dismiss a Kerem. They don’t care if you win Zimriyah, they just care if you help them have the greatest summer possible.

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After all of this, I still sometimes think about something that ELi Aroesty-Cohen once shared with me about the Kerem summer:

“It's not about who's the best. It's about who's having a great time. I prefer to think of Kerem's impact on the individual level. ’The best Kerem’ does not really exist. Each camper will form a bond with their Kerem and that can eventually lead them to see that aydah as being the best Kerem ever. Kerem is used to drive the atmosphere of the camp. They can make each individual and aydah feel great about themselves and the summer.”

I agree ELi. The kid who has the best summer is the kid who had the most fun. Kerem is only a vehicle to help every camper achieve this goal.

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[1] I think we legitimately had the right to be because we were a very solid Kerem.