By Josh Anoff

Carmel/Chavurah day is easily one of the most exciting days of the summer for all involved. The campers get paired with a buddy and then spend the rest of that day together. As the summer goes on, the buddy pairs spend time with each other, whether it be during song session or sitting together in various all camp activities. Soon, this buddy pairing goes from less of a quick camp relationship to the friendship of a lifetime. These campers go home and miss their bunkmates, their counselors, the activities, and amongst all of that, they remember their buddy. 

I remember my Carmel/Chavurah day. I was a Chavurah camper and I was extremely scared to receive my buddy pairing. See, unlike most of the rest of my fellow Chavurah campers, I hadn’t spent multiple years here at camp. It was only my second year in camp and I still hadn’t felt like I quite knew what was going on. I was worried that while the other buddy pairings were going to have so much in common and have great conversations, I would be sitting there with my buddy, not knowing what to do or what to talk about. 

The day came, and to my nervous excitement, I got my buddy. He was a quiet, shy Carmel camper who seemed excited but maybe equally if not more nervous than myself. To skip ahead, the day went amazing! I showed him my bunk, we swam in the pool and I bought him his first ever soda! We went into the barn and played ping pong and just walked around the village. It was easily the highlight of my camp experience! I didn’t come back to camp for eight years. I had asked my camp friends if my buddy had continued at camp and I was told that he had not. 

Fast forward again to 2015. I came back as the Communications supervisor and I felt just like I did as a Chavurah camper on the verge of Carmel/Chavurah day. I was nervous, unsure and even a little scared about being back in this amazing place. The summer went well and I felt more sure of myself as the summer went on. By the time the CIT Family Shabbat came around, I felt pretty confident in my ability to lead camp’s communications team and what that entailed. As the CIT service ended, I went to take pictures of the CITs and their families. It was here, in this moment that I finally reconnected with the buddy that I had been told had never come back to camp. 

Josh & Naveh are both on  staff this summer!

Naveh Berner-Kadish was spending time with his family when I went to take a picture for them. We began talking and realized in no time that Naveh was the quiet, shy Carmel camper that had been my buddy! Again, spending time with Naveh became the highlight of my summer. Twelve years ago, I met my buddy for the first time, and that day influenced the rest of my life. I hope that our Carmel campers experiences with Carmel/Chavurah day influences them just as much as it did me! 

Josh Anoff is from Bowie, Maryland and a member of the Temple Solel community. During the off season, Josh is a high school science teacher in Pasadena, Maryland. This is his fourth year on Leadership Team and his sixth year at camp! He is excited to be the Camel Unit Head for a 2nd summer.