He’s the menahel of Bais Yaakov Ateres Miriam in Far Rockaway, New York, but come summer, and it’s camp for RABBI NOSSON NEUMAN

Rabbi Neuman grew up on song — his father a”h was a veteran baal tefillah and his mother, Mrs. Rivkah Neuman, is half the 613 Torah Avenue team. He is a top-tier mechanech, but he’s barely missed a camping season in over 50 years. The first 25 of those summers were spent at Camp Torah Vodaath, where his father was head counselor from 1974 to 1978, and where Rabbi Neuman served as director for the last four years before the camp’s closure in 1995. He spent nine years directing Camp Chavivah, and in June of 2020, when New York camping hopes were dashed by Covid, Rabbi Neuman was asked to lead a camp in Maine. With just four weeks’ notice, he and his devoted wife created Camp Ahuvah, which continues to run in Sussex, New Jersey.

A SONG THAT TAKES ME BACK TO MY EARLY SUMMERS

I’m an old soul. In my early years in camp, we had the Rabbis’ Sons and Simchatone records. Some of the songs on the first JEP record, like “Dear Nikolai,” come from Camp Torah Vodaath. If I had to pick one, it might be my all-time favorite, Simchatone’s “Vehareinu,” composed by Yona Weinrib, or maybe “Al Tirah Ki Yaashir Ish,” from the first Toronto Pirchei album.

HOW WE DO ZEMIROS IN CAMP

In Camp Torah Vodaath, the mashgiach, Rav Moshe Wolfson shlita, used to lead a tish on Friday night. The zemiros were unforgettable — Rabbi Goldfinger a”h, the baker, would sing the Bobover Kah Ribbon, and you closed your eyes and were transported elsewhere.

In Camp Ahuvah, I’m obviously not there for the zemiros — I eat with the camp then go out while the girls sing. I know that kids today don’t have the zitzfleisch anymore for a long seudah, so when singing zemiros with them nowadays, you need to pick the niggunim that are impactful, that have harmonies and that the kids can get involved in. Our program director, Mrs. Devorah Krawiecz, daughter of the tzaddik Rav Dovid Trenk a”h, says that the girls sing Simchas Torah songs every Shabbos, and also make sure to sing “Kadsheinu Bemitzvosecha,” a traditional song in Bais Yaakov since the days of Sarah Schenirer.

AN ALBUM I’D TAKE ALONG ON A LONG ROAD TRIP

The Dveykus albums. Timeless and classic, with many songs that are still sung today. Dveykus speaks to my heart and brings me back 50 years.

A SONG I’D PREFER NOT TO HEAR AT CAMP

I’m actually pretty open, and yes, I might be an old soul, but I’m a Mordechai Shapiro fan. Some of the songs might be a little noisy, yet they have hartz. But while leibedig and geshmak are fine in my book, songs that make the girls go wild are not. Girls in camp need to jump up on the benches and sing and scream and dance, but they also need to internalize the difference between who we are and what the outside world is. It’s a delicate balance. It’s the responsibility of those running a camp to instill in the girls a sense of pride in Yiddishkeit, a sense of pride in being a tzanuah, and in being a member of the Chosen People.

As we are a Bais Yaakov camp, there’s no disco, no rock, or any other secular styles. As a menahel, I have to fight this battle too, and in my view, the girls learning how to dance appropriately in the spirit of Bais Yaakov is part of chinuch. We live with halachah but we also live with the spirit of the law, so entertainment needs to be in the right derech. My educational belief is that you have to give some if you want to get some, so our camp has a very relaxed curfew for the older grades. We don’t fight to get the kids into bed, but nudge them there and wake them at 9:30. We don’t fight battles we don’t need to fight, and we don’t hold the reins too tight.

THE MOST MEMORABLE ALMA MATER FROM MY CAMPING DAYS

In 1979, there was a fire in Camp Torah Vodaath that burned down the dining hall. That year they sung (to the tune of Israeli Six Day War song “Sharm el Sheikh”) “The flames of the fire/ Ignited a spark in our heart / A feeling of achdus /Will never part.” And in 1995, the camp’s final year, they used “Neshomele” with the words, “Rabbi Neuman no, we don’t want to go….” But it was a camp rich with talent, and all the years, all the songs were great in their time.

MY FAVORITE SHALOSH SEUDOS SONG

Rabbi Shmuel Brazil’s Yedid Nefesh.

MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE ENGLISH SONG

“Someday We Will All Be Together,” written by Mrs. Dina Storch. It’s more relevant today than ever before. To me the song speaks not only about Mashiach, but also about achdus and getting along even if you’re not from the same background.

THE SINGERS OF MY YOUTH

We had the early Neginah albums and MBD’s early tapes when I was a kid, but by the time Avraham Fried came onto the scene I was in beis medrash. Carlebach, though, was the king of niggun. My tenth grade bekius rebbe in Yeshiva Torah Vodaath, Rabbi Steinmetz a”h, was actually in the car with Rav Aharon Kotler when Rav Aharon said to Shlomo Carlebach, “Nu, zog a niggun,” and Carlebach sang his first “Od Yishoma,” and a few weeks later, “Lulai Sorascha.”

A SONG THAT GETS ME INTO THE SHABBOS MOOD

“Mikolos Mayim Rabbim.” And yes, it was sung in Camp Torah Vodaath. I think the Yiddish words and the English version came a little later.

THE BEST KUMZITZ STARTER

This has changed over the years. Music is now a lot more nuanced and complex than the niggunim we grew up on. But the vintage “Kol Beramah,” that Yigal Calek first sang with his London spinoffs Pirchei Yerushalayim and New York School of Jewish Song (and Yossi Green’s first composition) still does its magic after half a century.

THE BEST SONG FOR CALMING DOWN EXCITABLE CAMPERS

Really, most slow songs will calm them down, or you tell them that they won’t be able to do “Melachah” for the next week if they’re not quiet for Havdalah. In our camp, Mrs. Krawiecz says G-tt fun Avrohom with the whole camp, in Yiddish, right before Havdalah. It’s really beautiful.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 967)