This week our Bonim campers learned, “We don’t have to pretend to use the powers God has given us. These powers are real and they are super! Our God shares God’s powers with us so we can make our lives better and the lives of others better. When we learn how to use God’s superpowers, we become God’s partners— God’s superheroes—on earth.”

(Ron Wolfson’s Be Like God: God’s To Do List for Kids) Decorating superhero masks, campers identified their unique gifts which they can use to improve the world.

At the core of all the soul-searching, reflection and learning we do at Eisner is the goal of making the world a better place. A person could integrate mindful habits or explore different ideas of God and become more inspired and spiritual. Perhaps such a person would withdraw from the world and focus solely on inner work and a connection to the divine. Jewish spirituality has a different trajectory. Our K’tanimers have been learning strategies for keeping calm, expressing gratitude and developing social/emotional intelligence. Our Bonimers have used different modalities to understand our prayers and ways of accessing God. Chalutzim campers have considered the right amount of different values in different situations, such as patience, listening, generosity and loyalty. Each unit’s inner work is with an ultimate communal goal of making a positive contribution, and the learning program for lower camp culminates in the Ofarim program, where campers participate in tzedakah and community organizing and see that they can make a real difference. When we turn inward as well as to each other, we attend to our unique place in the world and realize how we are all ultimately connected.