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Camp Simcha job



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amother
Forestgreen


 

Post Sat, Dec 09 2017, 11:42 pm
My dd is in her senior year of high school and wants to apply to be a waitress in camp Simcha. What is the backgrounds of girls that age that work there? What types of girls and what high schools have they gone to? Is this a Bais Yaakov crowd?
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amother
Cyan


 

Post Sat, Dec 09 2017, 11:50 pm
amother wrote:
My dd is in her senior year of high school and wants to apply to be a waitress in camp Simcha. What is the backgrounds of girls that age that work there? What types of girls and what high schools have they gone to? Is this a Bais Yaakov crowd?
it’s not for a real Bais Yakov girl. If she’s the “lite” version than maybe.
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tigerwife




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Dec 10 2017, 12:30 am
amother wrote:
it’s not for a real Bais Yakov girl. If she’s the “lite” version than maybe.


I disagree. There is definitely a place for BY staff in camp simcha. You have to know your daughter.
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cnc




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Dec 10 2017, 1:38 am
In my days, the real BY girls were staff members. It was very difficult to get in. I don't know whether or not things have changed....
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amother
White


 

Post Sun, Dec 10 2017, 1:47 am
It is for the BY girl. Simcha Special tends to be a more right wing crowd than "regular" Simcha. You have to be ok with not everyone being cookie cutter.
I went and went to a BY high school. Very BY high school but don't want to say the name to "out myself". But I am ok with wearing color. Wearing a pink tutu (over a skirt) because it brings a smile to my camper.
Some kids aren't frum who go (more of a case in regular than special). So kids may be in pants etc.
If she cant handle that, can she handle dealing with some very sick kids who may not survive until next summer? A camper who slept in my bunk didn't. Shiva calls arent easy.
She won't be a counselor this year so won't be dealing as much in the caring and helping of a camper unless she does a respite shift (as counselors need an hour off as it is full time!!).

Why does she want to go?
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amother
Azure


 

Post Sun, Dec 10 2017, 12:49 pm
IN my days in Simcha Special you could count on one hand the BY girls, and we ranged from lite to thick tights. I’m in the middle.

Just two years later my younger sisters were there and there was a much stronger BY presence.

It’s an amazing experience, builds character, very special. Staff are there with mission in mind. I loved the mix.

Good luck on getting in. I would love for my daughter to be staff there... someday.
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amother
Peach


 

Post Sun, Dec 10 2017, 1:12 pm
Former regular camper here. As others said, tznius varies widely, campers are from wide variety of backgrounds. Some are just halachically Jewish, but most are frum. They sometimes had themes related to movies and play nonjewish songs. Not sure if that's something you care about but it's definitely part of the culture, or was, 15 years ago.

They pick the most amazing staff. I have wonderful memories from my summers there. Shoutout to all the people who made it possible! I hope you know who you are without knowing who I am!

Hug Hug
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amother
White


 

Post Sun, Dec 10 2017, 1:20 pm
amother wrote:
Former regular camper here. As others said, tznius varies widely, campers are from wide variety of backgrounds. Some are just halachically Jewish, but most are frum. They sometimes had themes related to movies and play nonjewish songs. Not sure if that's something you care about but it's definitely part of the culture, or was, 15 years ago.

They pick the most amazing staff. I have wonderful memories from my summers there. Shoutout to all the people who made it possible! I hope you know who you are without knowing who I am!

Hug Hug


As former staff it means a lot to hear about how much you enjoyed it. We hope we are doing a great job and making your summer fun but we never know...

But you are right- they do play non Jewish songs (but mostly inspiring ones about being strong). I don’t listen to secular music but I wasn’t upset by it.
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amother
Cyan


 

Post Sun, Dec 10 2017, 1:35 pm
The movies and not Jewish music, the dress of other staff members, make it not a real BY environment. Hence my opinion that real By girls don’t really go. I am not saying this is bad!!!!!! By definition, the really open minded places, where you have people form all walks of life, and the staff and leaders of the programs do not use piskei halacha geared for the yeshivish crowd, will mean that while there are some BY who go, in general it’s not the really serious / intense ones. The girls are all amazing, have phenomenal , midos, etc. I’m not bashing anyone just stating a fact.
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amother
White


 

Post Sun, Dec 10 2017, 1:48 pm
amother wrote:
The movies and not Jewish music, the dress of other staff members, make it not a real BY environment. Hence my opinion that real By girls don’t really go. I am not saying this is bad!!!!!! By definition, the really open minded places, where you have people form all walks of life, and the staff and leaders of the programs do not use piskei halacha geared for the yeshivish crowd, will mean that while there are some BY who go, in general it’s not the really serious / intense ones. The girls are all amazing, have phenomenal , midos, etc. I’m not bashing anyone just stating a fact.


A lot of the staff when I was there was very BY. Some were not but don’t make a sweeping generalization.
What Halacha isn’t being followed? There are rabanim on staff to answer any questions girls have. Some kids have huge medical needs that allow us to break Halacha. A friend of mine was told it was assur for her to hesitate to do anything medical on Shabbos even if normally it wouldn’t be allowed (like I couldn’t turn on a light on Shabbos but if it was needed to help with hooking up a ventilator she couldn’t hesitate) because of pikuach nefesh. I don’t think you should make statements like that.
So once in a while there is non yeshivish music or there are kids in pants... the staff is all frum and a lot are very BY! And you couldn’t imagine the halachic questions that are posed daily!!

So according to you my sister who was staff there isn’t BY even though she is a kollel wife in Yerushalayim and wouldn’t dream of letting her kids listen to anything non Jewish. Now shidduchim may be lost because she isn’t “BY enough” as she dedicated her summers to help kids who may not survive the year. Wow.
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amother
Peach


 

Post Sun, Dec 10 2017, 1:51 pm
I also want to be clear that it is a respectful place. I hope parents of counselors or campers who may be reading this understand that their child is not exposed to anything wrong chv, it just may not be up to everyone's standard. In my times the campers requested counselors of similar backgrounds, so that was a good buffer for more sensitive campers. They probably still do need BY counselors for that reason. If your daughter can handle it, by all means, the kids probably need her.
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amother
Smokey


 

Post Sun, Dec 10 2017, 1:57 pm
amother wrote:
A lot of the staff when I was there was very BY. Some were not but don’t make a sweeping generalization.
What Halacha isn’t being followed? There are rabanim on staff to answer any questions girls have. Some kids have huge medical needs that allow us to break Halacha. A friend of mine was told it was assur for her to hesitate to do anything medical on Shabbos even if normally it wouldn’t be allowed (like I couldn’t turn on a light on Shabbos but if it was needed to help with hooking up a ventilator she couldn’t hesitate) because of pikuach nefesh. I don’t think you should make statements like that.
So once in a while there is non yeshivish music or there are kids in pants... the staff is all frum and a lot are very BY! And you couldn’t imagine the halachic questions that are posed daily!!

So according to you my sister who was staff there isn’t BY even though she is a kollel wife in Yerushalayim and wouldn’t dream of letting her kids listen to anything non Jewish. Now shidduchim may be lost because she isn’t “BY enough” as she dedicated her summers to help kids who may not survive the year. Wow.


I'm a different poster altogether but... you are really overreacting to her post. She definitely didn't say anything about your sister who was staff there!

There is a diverse staff there but allowing smartphones and the Internet, playing the occasional non Jewish song, does usually lead to not having exclusively yeshivish BY girls although obviously some staff members will be.

Also... saying that someone is not yeshivish or BY type is in no way an indictment on their character!
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amother
Peach


 

Post Sun, Dec 10 2017, 1:59 pm
amother wrote:
The movies and not Jewish music, the dress of other staff members, make it not a real BY environment. Hence my opinion that real By girls don’t really go. I am not saying this is bad!!!!!! By definition, the really open minded places, where you have people form all walks of life, and the staff and leaders of the programs do not use piskei halacha geared for the yeshivish crowd, will mean that while there are some BY who go, in general it’s not the really serious / intense ones. The girls are all amazing, have phenomenal , midos, etc. I’m not bashing anyone just stating a fact.


What?? Of course halacha is kept to the tee (besides for pikuach nefesh which BH did not apply to me at the time.) I was even the official soda bottle opener because some of the counselors don't do that on Shabbos. I had never heard of that halacha before Camp Simcha. So there.

Again, keep in mind that the kids really need counselors who understand their background. Saying that it's not the right place for BY girls is missing the bigger picture of what these girls can accomplish. Of course you have to know your daughters, and only send them if they can handle people who are different than them.
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amother
Cyan


 

Post Sun, Dec 10 2017, 2:16 pm
amother wrote:
What?? Of course halacha is kept to the tee (besides for pikuach nefesh which BH did not apply to me at the time.)
OMG why is what I said such a big deal?? I didn’t say halacha isn’t kept to the tee! Ch”v! They do use more lenient standards than yeshivish. Plain and simple. It’s not complicated, and it’s not bad, and probably it’s approproate in this case, etc. it’s ok if not every place is perfect for every BY girl.
The BY girls that went from my school, were quite “out there”. Not your standard yeshivish girl AT ALL.
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amother
Pearl


 

Post Sun, Dec 10 2017, 4:18 pm
amother wrote:
OMG why is what I said such a big deal?? I didn’t say halacha isn’t kept to the tee! Ch”v! They do use more lenient standards than yeshivish. Plain and simple. It’s not complicated, and it’s not bad, and probably it’s approproate in this case, etc. it’s ok if not every place is perfect for every BY girl.
The BY girls that went from my school, were quite “out there”. Not your standard yeshivish girl AT ALL.

My daughter worked there last summer. While I myself wasn't present there from what she described it did not at all sound like the piskei Halacha are more lenient than yeshivish piskei Halacha (whatever that means). I would imagine that Chai Lifeline has access to major gedolim and possum who pasken. Rather due to the delicate health of the campers Halacha MANDATES the counselorsto do certain things that would be assur if they were asked about a healthy individual. This includes music during the nine days and other things which I do not think would he considered leniencies for these kids according to even the most yeshivish rav. That being said I would venture to say that Camp Simcha chooses counselors based on their abilities and personalities. So there will probably be a mix of hashkafos but most likely any teenager who is capable of giving of herself in such a way is not going to be a negative influence in any way. But again disclaimer, I wasn't there so I don't really know.
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amother
Jetblack


 

Post Sun, Dec 10 2017, 4:43 pm
The BY Girl term is so broad. There are BY schools that range from yeshivish BY to more modern BY that still call themselves BY.

As a former staff member, I can say the camp is a solid frum place itself. The staff ranges from yeshivish to chassidish to lubavitch to modern and everything in between. If your daughter has a sincere desire to be a part of chai lifeline and make a girls summer, and she knows herself and where she stands, she’ll love it.
I will say that there are some non frum campers and if she will be a counselor to one she needs to be open minded enough to respect her campers lifestyle even if it isn’t the same as hers.

YES they keep Halacha. Yes they are 100% frum. Yes they play non Jewish music but nothing dirty, it’s just inspirational songs. Yes they have a movie room. You can chose to go there and chose not to.
And Rivky schwartz the director is the most amazing inspirational person I have ever met in my life. You can gain just from being in her presence
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amother
Peach


 

Post Sun, Dec 10 2017, 6:17 pm
Yes! We love Rifky... In Camp Simcha! Music

Wow the memories...

Hug
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amother
Turquoise


 

Post Sun, Dec 10 2017, 7:17 pm
My daughter also sounded interested, and it sounds like an amazing experience that I would want her to have. Does anyone know what requirements you need to get in, and how to apply?
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amother
Forestgreen


 

Post Sun, Jul 15 2018, 5:42 pm
I heard that you need to be incredibly wealthy and donate a tremendous amount of money to Camp Simcha/ Chai Lifeline in order to get in, or have very close connections .. Is the staff a much wealthier crowd?
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amother
Jetblack


 

Post Sun, Jul 15 2018, 6:12 pm
amother wrote:
I heard that you need to be incredibly wealthy and donate a tremendous amount of money to Camp Simcha/ Chai Lifeline in order to get in, or have very close connections .. Is the staff a much wealthier crowd?


Not true. I went and I’m not from money at all my parents are not donors. However, I was always a chai lifeline volunteer.
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