Campers at Camp Shpitz enjoyed a summer filled with joy, laughter, and unforgettable experiences

An incredible story unfolded at Camp Shpitz in the beginning of the second week of camp. The camp rented out an Aquatic Center with an indoor Olympic-sized pool, exciting the boys. Shmuel reserved as many spots as possible but had to reserve the final spots in person. The aquatic center opened at 6:00 AM, and Shmuel was there at 6:01 AM (it's located near Glen Burnie, a half-hour drive from town).

B"H, Camp Shpitz secured all the spots and was able to rent the entire Aquatic Center for camp. Much to their disappointment, when they arrived, there were 15 eight-year-old girls swimming. Shmuel asked, "I thought we rented the whole Aquatic center?" The Manager explained that the spots rented did not include these girls, as they were part of a day camp within the facility of the Aquatic Center. Shmuel immediately called the camp Rav (Rabbi Seidemann), consulted with him, and asked if Camp Shpitz needed to get out of the pool. Rabbi Seidemann responded that they must, so Shmuel and all the head staff and counselors evacuated the entire camp.

It was then that Shmuel realized that a couple of hours earlier, the bus company had asked if they could use the buses for an hour while the campers were swimming, to which Camp Shpitz agreed. Now they were stuck a half-hour away from camp without any vehicles and were not allowed inside the building!

The Head staff, with Uriel Schwartz as the Head Counselor, and the many creative counselors, played music, went on a hike with supervision, ate lunch, and played duck, duck, goose with water (since everyone was in bathing suits!). The counselors and staff modeled amazing attitudes. Shmuel rounded up the camp before they left and spoke to all the boys, telling them that this would not necessarily be remembered as a great day for Gashmius in camp, but as a great day for Ruchnius. The kids took it well, and the parent body was appreciative of how Camp Shpitz handled the situation.

Many parents wrote beautiful emails that day after an explanation email went out. One parent's email was so touching that Mr. Chananya Kramer (Shmuel's father) decided to call the parent personally to thank him. It was a truly meaningful gesture.

Dear Shmuel Kramer,

I'm sure yesterday was a very challenging and difficult day for you. I just wanted to express my Hakaras Hatov for how you handled the situation.

There were likely many ways you could have rationalized the difficult situation you found yourself in. “It can’t be so bad if the other party was on the other side of the pool, it was unintentional, most boys aren’t bar mitzva, we’ll look the other way, the other party was younger etc. etc.” However, you chose to call the camp Rav knowing full well he would likely pasken it wasn’t ok and everyone would have to leave the pool. And then you dealt with the fall-out of 150 unhappy and disappointed kids waiting in the heat for 2-3 hours for the buses to return. All to do the right thing. That’s impressive.

Leading by example, you inculcated my son and all the boys in the camp with an invaluable life lesson yesterday – that even if it’s not easy, we always follow the psak of a Rav and do the right thing Al Pi Torah, no matter what. 100 Drashos and Mussar Vaadim couldn’t accomplish what you did by simply demonstrating in real time how a Yid acts in a world full of nisyonos. It was worth every cent for camp for this alone.

Yasher Koach and may Hashem bentch you with much Siyata D’shmaya for the rest of camp and throughout your whole life.

For more information, videos of each weeks activities and pictures of happy campers, check out campshpitz.com