Jewish, Non-Jewish Community Members Change Plans, Rather Than Cancel
Wesleyan University (Middletown, Conn.)—
When Hurricane Irene blew through the Eastern Seaboard last month, the coordinators of Wesleyan University’s annual pre-orientation Jewish camping trip were faced with dropping enrollment. They scrambled to find a new location after the campsite they planned to hold the program at closed ahead of the storm.
The camping trip, a Wesleyan tradition over the past five years that is entirely organized by students involved with the Jewish community–though not all of them are Jewish–has established itself as an integral part of the Jewish community’s outreach to incoming freshmen and a way of strengthening existing ties. So when Irene threatened its continuation, its leaders fought for its survival.
At first, the forecast didn’t seem dire. “When parents began emailing [about the storm] we were unconcerned,” admitted Issy Rouse, the Wesleyan sophomore who headed this year’s trip. “However, once it was apparent that the hurricane would affect the camping trip, we started to brainstorm for backup plans. Daphna [Spivack] offered her house almost immediately.” Spivack is a junior from Riverdale, N.Y. who has been involved with the trip for the past three years.
Other contingency plans included transporting the entire group to a vacation home in Vermont, Rouse said. However, location soon became the least of her worries. “Originally there were more than 40 people going total, the biggest group ever. But once it was clear that Irene would be a major storm, people began to pull out. Some parents didn’t want their kids to come, while others had transportation issues. Some people dropped out because too few people were going. Daphna and I were calling and emailing each other 15 times a day in panic. But in the end, it all came together beautifully. It turned out to be a great camping trip even though it wasn’t really camping.”
Keeping the trip open was important enough to Spivack that she opened her home to 14 complete strangers in order to maintain the tradition. “It wasn’t about whether or not it was going to happen” she said. “It was something that had to happen. I was going to do whatever it took to make sure this tradition was continued.”
According to Spivack, the trip itself is important for the community that sponsors it. “The camping trip really strengthens the Jewish community at Wesleyan,” she said. Rouse echoed the sentiment. “[The trip] really opened my eyes to being involved in the Jewish community at Wesleyan even though I’m not very religious. I think it provides people with the knowledge that they can be a part of this community, even peripherally, regardless of religious affiliation.”
In the end, the revamped program won accolades from participants. “The small group definitely made the entire experience a lot more intimate,” said Marguerite Suozzo-Gole, who drove down from Northampton, Mass., despite losing power the night before. “Instead of being overwhelmed by meeting a bunch of strangers on the first day and not remembering any names, we were able to take the time to really get to know our future classmates. Because there were so few of us, we all slept in the same tent and really bonded before the school year started.” Suozzo-Gole, who is not Jewish, said the entire experience made her appreciate and want to be involved in Wesleyan’s Jewish community, and that she is now considering helping to organize next year’s trip.
“I had a great time,” freshman Rachie Weisberg echoed. “The change of location made it more convenient for me to come since I live in the city and, although the sleeping arrangements were pretty uncomfortable, it was a great bonding experience,” she said.
Unlike Suozzo-Gole, Weisberg, who attended Abraham Joshua Heschel High School in New York City, has always been involved in Jewish life. “It can be such a daunting thing to go into college not knowing anyone,” she said. “It was really cool to get to know a segment of Wesleyan’s Jewish community before getting to campus and let me know I could be involved without having to conform to a particular religious identity.”
Organizers tried to maintain several camping-themed traditions despite the change of venue. Both Rouse and Spivack singled out Rose and Thorn as an experience they thought was particularly essential to the trip. During Rose and Thorn, campers are given slips of paper representing their fears and anxieties for the coming year. Each freshman openly discusses his or her apprehensions with the group beside the bonfire before tossing the paper into the fire. The freshmen then delineate what they’re excited about for the coming year, alleviating their concerns.
Although many scheduled activities had to be cancelled because of the size of the group and the limitations of the location, the same sentiments of unity and inclusion were conveyed. As Spivack put it, “Just because the experience wasn’t the same as in previous years, doesn’t detract from the meaning of that experience.”
Penina Yaffa Kessler is a freshman at Wesleyan University. She has an overactive imagination and enjoys walking barefoot. She is a New Voices Magazine National Correspondent and this is her first piece for New Voices.
