Who knew that some of our favorite songs were color war’s fight to the finish?

First Pick

CAMP MA-NA-VU
Parksville, NY, 1977–2015

At Camp Ma-Na-Vu, the way color war worked was that the head counselors would pick two generals, who would then, one at a time, alternate picking members for their team in every age bracket. Back when Rabbi Ephraim Wachsman was a bochur, each team wanted him as their first pick. He was so valuable, not only for his learning but also for his musical abilities, his song-writing skills, and his prowess in sports — basically a number-one draft pick. Rabbi Shlomo Klein, the camp director, agreed that whichever team got first pick had too much of an advantage over the other team. Therefore, he made a rule that the team who picked Ephraim Wachsman would forfeit the next eight picks for their team. When I heard this story years later, I was very curious to know who won that year. So I called up Rabbi Motti Zions, that year’s general who picked Rabbi Wachsman, and asked about the outcome. He smiled and said, “We did, of course.”

Heads or Tails

CAMP MUNK
Ferndale, NY, 1963–present

Camp Munk, as with other camps, had a rule that both teams would have to let the judges know which songs they were using beforehand, to prevent two teams from using the same tunes.

In the summer of 1998, the color war generals were Yitzchak Rosenthal and Simcha Sussman. There was one song they both wanted to use, and when that happened, they’d flip a coin and the winner would keep the tune for his team. And so, Simcha Sussman won the coin toss and Yitzchak Rosenthal was left looking for a tune.

In the end, he decided to use one of several tunes he’d created but never publicized, and — you guessed it — he decided on his masterpiece “Esa Einai,” which until then had been in his pocket under wraps.

Once the song was out there, it wasn’t long before it became the signature song for the new group Yitzchak and Simcha just knew they had to create —Shalsheles!

All in the Family

CAMP ROMIMU
Monticello, NY, 1989–present

About 25 years ago, the camp took a trip to Dorney Park, and aside from Romimu, there were other boys’ camps there that day. Rabbi Armo Kuessous, the veteran head counselor of Romimu, was walking around the park and bumped into a group of kids from a Chabad camp. One of them looked very much like a young Avraham Fried, which gave him an idea: He would ask the Chabad Camp if the boy could come back with him to Romimu, they would say he’s Avraham Fried and then they would break out color war. They agreed, and on the way back to camp, the young boy offered, “If you want, before you break out color war, I can sing a song or two. I’m pretty good.” Since it was in keeping with his plan, Reb Armo agreed, and the breakout was fantastic. In case you’re wondering who the bochur was, it was none other than Benny Friedman — Avremel’s nephew. And he was right — it turns out he’s pretty good!

Brains or Brawn

CAMP KOL-REE-NAH
Livingston Manor, NY, 1962–1986

I was at Camp Kol-Ree-Nah for 16 terrific years, and this story happened in the summer of 1977. The names of the teams that years were Koach (strength) and Moach (brains). Yerachmiel Begun was general of Moach, and had just released his first Miami Boys album entitled Victory Entebbe. So obviously, Yerachmiel used that for his team’s marching song. I still remember the ending words of the marching song, which seem to be stuck in my mind forever: “Moach will always be a-head….” And if you want to know who won, just use your brain…

Action or Act?

CAMP TORAH VODAAS
Highland, NY, 1961-1995

Color war always begins with a breakout, and campers are always looking out for original breakouts, which are harder and harder to come by as the as the years go on.

In the summer of 1971, Camp Torah Vodaas had a pretty mediocre breakout, and they announced the two generals: One was Dr. Yaakov Solomon and the other was Heshy Arem. Color war began as it always did, but then, when it came time to sing their marching song, both teams had chosen the same tune. Things got very contentious and when the bad feelings seemed to spiral out of control, Rabbi Nosson Sherman, the head counselor, got up and announced that color war that year was canceled. This was not the way he wanted erliche Yidden to behave. As you can imagine, the camp was in an uproar.

A few days later, right after Havdalah, one of the popular counselors, Hertzy Hasenfeld, got up in the shul and began yelling at Yaakov Solomon and Heshy Arem for ruining everyone’s summer. This, of course, led to even more anger and resentment, when finally, Rabbi Sherman got up and announced the real color war breakout. At that point, everyone realized that all the anger and contention was just an act, although there are still people today who claim that the first breakout was real. I guess only those involved could answer that….

No Match for Me

CAMP AGUDAH OF TORONTO
Port Carling, Ontario, 1965-present

In addition to attending Camp Kol-Ree-Nah for many years, I also spent four summers at Camp Agudah of Toronto. Before my second summer there, I became friends with Suki (Rabbi Yissachar Berry), and convinced him to come with me to Camp Agudah of Toronto. Our first two years there, we were opposing generals of color war, so you could say that before there was a Suki & Ding, there was a Suki vs. Ding. I had to work really hard on the nonmusical parts of color war, because when it came to the Grand Sing, boy, was I outmatched!

The head counselor for close to 40 years was Rabbi Moshe Blaustein a”h, who was niftar last Elul. Moshe was famous for riling up the crowd before announcing the color war winner, and was known for always saying that we have color war for fun, not for winning or losing. Nobody could give that speech better than Moshe. Yehi zichro baruch.

Trailblazer

CAMP DORA GOLDING/CAMP DEAL
Deal, NJ and the Poconos, 1925–present

Camp Dora Golding was originally called Camp Deal. It was a private camp located in Deal, New Jersey, and owned by my great-aunt Dora, who bought the camp in order to provide a frum camping experience for Jewish children (it was the first frum camp in America). In 1965, she sold the camp in Deal and opened up in the Poconos. When she was niftar a few years later, she donated the camp to the Jewish Federation, and they renamed it Camp Dora Golding.

 In 2004, the camp hired a young Lipa Schmeltzer to do a concert and break out color war. Lipa had the crowd going strong, and then began a song that he called “Color War Two Thousand and Four.” The concert still continued even though he had broken out color war, and by the time it ended, everyone was so tired from the jumping and singing along that they didn’t have enough strength to divide the teams until the next morning.

No War Here

CAMP MOGEN AVRAHAM/ CAMP SHMA
Livingston Manor, and Swan Lake, NY, 1961–present

Camp Mogen Av was started by the legendary Rabbi Ronnie Greenwald a”h, who strongly believed that camp should be an adventure and not a competition. Mogen Av was famous for overnight camping in the woods and singing around campfires, and when it came time for color war, Rabbi Greenwald would announce that it was called Field Day, because he felt that war was not a concept to promote.

Nothing Rhymes with Orange

CAMP RAYIM
Parksville, NY, 1987–2023

In 2005 in Camp Rayim, the names of the teams were Neis and Teva, and for some reason, they wanted to add a twist to the team colors so they called them orange and red (color war teams also traditionally had a color, usually red and blue). A bit after color war began and they started writing the songs, the orange team realized that nothing actually rhymed with the word “orange.” At this point, it was too late to change colors, so the orange team had to make do with what they were given. So when it came time for the marching song, they began with the words, “We are the team of Orange, and nothing rhymes with orange.” Baruch Levine, one of the judges that year, felt that it was a genius move on their part, and that they should be given extra points, while other judges thought points should actually be deducted. Orange you glad you weren’t a judge?

One year in Camp Rayim, as they were announcing the scores, the general of the losing team mistakenly thought his team won. While the entire camp erupted in jumping, hugging, and celebrating, he, too, joined the celebration. The head counselor came over to him extremely impressed, telling him, “It’s amazing how you have such a good attitude about losing!”

At that moment he realized that, not only had he lost but that, truly, win or lose, everyone in camp was still happy, and so was he.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1074)