Girls in White

I had never had a trunk before. And this one was big. It lay open in my bedroom with a mimeographed yellow checklist taped inside the lid. In blue ink, I had begun marking it off: 14 pairs of underwear, check. Two bathing suits, check. Flashlight, check.

I paused when I reached the most unusual item on this list: four white shirts and four white pairs of shorts. These outfits, the list explained in parentheses, were to be worn on Friday nights. To religious services.

At age 10, I didn't find the prospect of attending services every week very enticing. I was going to camp to swim, play softball, do arts and crafts, meet new friends--not to pray.

But this particular camp, located in Milford, Penn., was run by the Young Men's and Young Women's Hebrew Association (YM-YWHA) of New Jersey, a Jewish organization. Camp Nah-Jee-Wah provided all the usual camp activities--plus kosher cuisine, Jewish culture, and Friday night Sabbath services. In all honesty, I chose it more because two of my school friends loved it than because of its religious affiliation.

My family took pride in its religious background. My father, a professional baritone, also served as cantor at the Metropolitan Synagogue of New York, a brick building with walls so thick that the nonstop sounds of Manhattan never entered the sanctuary. Our rabbi, an erudite man with a national reputation, led the services and often gave sermons commenting on important issues of the day. Both the rabbi and my father wore flowing black robes that made their arms, when lifted, look like giant angels' wings.

Nothing about Camp Nah-Jee-Wah was quite so intimidating. We lived in simple cabins. Swimming in the lake, a new experience, delighted me, as did the new songs I was learning and the clay sculpture I worked on that first week. I missed my parents but discovered that life without them could be quite liberating.

I ate--or didn't eat--what I wanted. I wore the same clothes over and over. I stayed up late because there was always someone to talk to. I expected Friday night services to be a minor distraction in this otherwise joyous summer.

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