I have been playing at Camp Simcha since 1997. That summer, I joined the staff at the camp for Jewish kids with cancer as house musician, a new position. That first summer at camp, I also became a counselor at the last minute, in addition to being a full-time camp musician, and the experience changed my life. 

I was the camp musician through 2003. I had the opportunity to meet kids from across the spectrum of the Jewish community, from Chassidic (Bobov, Belz, Lubavitch etc.) to Modern Orthodox, to Conservative, Reform, and unaffiliated Jews from Israel, the U.K., Australia, Eastern Europe, and across the USA.

Over the course of camp, I’d make sure to play some of each kids’ music, whether it be a famous nigun associated with their particular chassidus for the Chassidic kids, a Debbie Friedman song for the Reform kid who wanted to be a song leader, some Israeli pop for the chiloni Israelis, or even just some American pop/rock. The repertoire was very eclectic, ranging from national anthems and popular folk songs from Russia, England, Canada, Israel, Australia, etc, to music matching the day’s theme, like a medley of Row, Row, Row Your Boat, the themes from Gilligan’s Island and Titanic and U’shavtem Mayim (Israeli and Munkatch versions) for the day the camp went whitewater rafting.

Although I no longer go up to spend the summer session at Camp Simcha, I and my band regularly donate our time to back-up various performers in concert at the camp. In recent years, it’s most often been to back up Avraham Fried, the well-known Chassidic singer.

This summer, the band backed up Avraham Fried for two shows on July 23rd and July 31st. It’s always a pleasure to be part of this mitzvah. I know the other musicians feel the same way, in part, because some of them start reminding me as early as December to call them for the summer Camp Simcha concerts. It was pleasure to be back and I hope to do it again soon!