Two Miles North of Webster, Turn Right onto “Memory Lane”
March 2, 2012 by Herzl Camp Admin, under General Posts, Herzl History, Letters from Alumni, Music.
By: Flip Frisch
Editor’s Note: Flip will be back at camp once again this summer in the role of Shira “Coach” where she will share her talents (and beautiful voice) with the staff and campers.
I have a terrible memory. I constantly forget song lyrics*, people’s names, where I put my keys. But there are songs, no matter how many times I hear them, that trigger memories and transport me back in time with astonishing ease.
Sometimes a song will elicit a general nostalgia, but other songs trigger very specific memories. There is a melody of Adon Olam I heard as a child at Beth El Synagogue, for example, that to this day still brings back the taste of sponge cake and faintly, somewhere across the room, the smell of pickled herring.
The songs I sing each night to help my daughter fall asleep are mostly songs I learned or sang at Herzl. It’s like I have a standing lights out gig, minus the milk crate and candle. One of her favorites is Dona Dona. I’ve probably sung that song a million times, yet whenever I sing “they laugh with all their might; laugh and laugh the whole day through and half the summer’s night” I’m hurrying back to my cabin after song session, past the tetherball court, avoiding the big puddle. I can also hear voices of other kids leaving the old chadar, and the door nearest the kitchen slamming again and again. Why am I hurrying? Because I’m afraid of “Shabbos kisses.” Boys are gross; I am ten years old.
Another song my daughter falls asleep to is “Where have all the Flowers Gone?” to which my memory traces the walk from flag circle to Mercaz: the slight bottleneck where the road passes between the drainage ditch and cabin 20. Ozrim passing out packets. The gnats mostly left behind.
Debbie Friedman’s Shema V’Ahavta, though I’ve sung it in many other places, nevertheless puts me right back on a Mercaz bench, Friday night. The sun twinkles off tiny waves on the lake. Somewhere nearby sits a boy I have a crush on but who will never know. I make a smooth flat spot in the sand with my sandal.
Cat Stevens’ “Moonshadow” takes me to Kadimah play practice. Our feet have kicked up Ulam dust and I have to sneeze. Someone is yelling at us, not for the first time, you guys, stop talking. I feel I’ve been waiting my whole life to be in Kadimah and can’t believe it’s finally here.
“American Pie” reminds me of our Kadimah canoe trip. “Brass Monkey” brings back faces of the ‘93 Deavers who I lived with that summer. “These Are The Days” reminds me of Havdallah when the ’93 Ozrim fell backward into the shallows of the lake. Anything Steve Miller reminds me of shower parties in the north haks. And don’t even get me started on my shoebox full of mix tapes. A few notes of “I Melt With You” and I’m back in the Ulam for another final banquet. I’m happy, I’m sad. Nothing will ever be the same after tomorrow morning.
So many songs trigger flag song memories that my non-camp friends must think I know alternative lyrics to every song, ever. Billy Joel’s “For The Longest Time” becomes “O O Z O (Good Shabbos) Ozrim ‘89.” “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” now contains the line “A chicken breast, a caravan, a chicken breast, a caravan.” And who could forget John Mellencamp’s “Herzl Good”? Not me, it seems.
A counselor from a summer I lived in cabin 9 played a cassette of the Carpenters every night. I not only remember the feeling of drifting to sleep in a top bunk after having spent a whole day playing and a whole evening giggling, but also listening to those same bittersweet songs on an old record player in my high school library a few years later. Huge green plastic and rubber headphones keeping out the pressures of school while I try to go back in my mind to those happier camp times. Rainy days and Mondays, indeed.
“Mitachat Lashamayim” reminds me of singing with Bryan Grone, “Love The One You’re With” – Aaron Gelperin. And although last summer seems too recent for real nostalgia, I can’t hear “Sounds of Silence” without remembering Bobby Lewis; “Here Comes The Sun” is now forever linked to Yonatan Dotan.
It’s not just music. The fragrance of certain toothpastes elicits memories of the old central haks. Anna Simon recently mentioned the old, smelly tablecloths we used in the old chadar. And just like that, I am right back there again, rolling a red and white checked piece of vinyl onto a PVC tube that hangs on the wall between the chadar and chadar bet. We’ve had pepper steak for dinner. Today, though I approach middle-age, I still get teary whenever I smell diesel exhaust from a bus.
And wherever I am, if I turn from pavement onto a dirt road and hear gravel crunch beneath the tires, I get butterflies. I hear faint strains of “The Herzl Song”. I am home again for another summer.
*Keep me cockatoos cool, Cal, keep me cockatoos cool. um…don’t, um, overchlorinate the pool? Cal, just keep me cockatoos cool. All together now!
"Here's to Dear Old Herzl..."
Shabbat Shalom.
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The Ultimate Song Session Setlist
March 24, 2011 by Herzl Camp Admin, under Top 10 Lists.
By: Aiden Pink
One of my most cherished memories in my years at Herzl Camp was getting to play piano and sing “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” during Song Session on my last Ozo Shabbat. This is dear to my heart not only because I’m a total ham who loves performing in front of people, but also because Song Session is by far the best part about Herzl, no matter what the Herzl Magic Bracket might say. It has everything that makes Herzl great – continuity with the past, deft mixing of Jewish and secular content, incredibly gifted campers and staff, and little campers sitting a bit too close to fire.
I’ve been lucky enough to have been at Machaneh Herzl through the tenure of six immensely talented Roshei Shira – Flip Frisch, Bryan Grone, Noah Sugarman, Dan “Gordo” Goldschmidt, Jonah Chilton, and Bobby Lewis. Each of them has introduced amazing songs – and in a few cases, wrote new Shironim. So I attempted to the ultimate setlist for Friday Night Song Session, one that would mix Hebrew and English, and older classics with contemporary hits. Bear in mind that my first year of camp was 2001, so I’m not aware of some songs people might have sang back in the day. Also, I’m pretty sure my list would make the lengthiest Song Session ever, but I had an incredibly difficult time cutting it down. I really have a new appreciation for the work that goes into essentially creating a concert every week. Anyway, without further ado, here are my choices.
- “Mitachat Lashamayim” by David Broza. A good, solid pick to start the Song Session, with an added bonus of being easily mashup-able. By the way, look up the English translation to the lyrics; you’ll be surprised to find out that all this time you’ve essentially been singing the Hebrew version of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get it On.”
- “Fire and Rain” by James Taylor. One of my favorites, for no other reason than substituting “Moses” for “Jesus” in the third verse.
- “Waste” by Phish. This one’s not in the book, although for the life of me I can’t understand why. Great guitar solo.
- “Sabbath Prayer” from Fiddler on the Roof. A great duet, and those minor chords are very poignant. This is the second-best song from the best musical ever (the best is “If I Were a Rich Man,” obviously, but that wouldn’t really work on Friday night).
- “Simple Twist of Fate” by Bob Dylan. Yes, I know there are more popular songs by Bobby Z in the canon, but I’m picking this precisely because it’s one of his lesser-known songs. I remember seeing it in the old blue Shironim, but I can’t remember anyone ever playing it. Help me out, alums. I’m really curious: Was it ever sung? Did it sound OK? Any effort to expose campers to obscure Dylan tracks is fine by me.
- “Al Kol Eileh” by Naomi Shemer. Does anyone know why people go “Pshhhhhh” during the chorus? For those who don’t know, the Official Herzl Version™ of this song now has people clapping their hands in air and making a noise like a waterfall. I’ve always wondered who the first guy to do that was. Did everyone at his table give him dirty looks, or think he was crazy? I guess it’s one of those Herzl shticky things.
- “Falling Slowly” by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. To the best of my knowledge, this has never actually been sung on Friday night. I think that’s a shame. If there’s one Oscar-winning Irish duet about boats that needs to be sung in the Chadar, it’s this one.
- “Ani V’Ata” by Arik Einstein. By the way, it’s about at this point that the Tasters are asleep.
- “Gravity” by John Mayer. This was probably the coolest single song I’ve ever heard at Song Session, sung by Bobby Lewis and Jonathan Alter with dueling guitars on the first Shabbat of 2010. People were snapping so loud at the end of the song, I thought the roof was leaking.
- “In My Life” by the Beatles. This beautiful song about appreciating friends and memories is incredibly meaningful when being sung to campers and staff who don’t see many of their friends 10 months out of the year. I know it gets me every time.
- “The Circle Game” by Joni Mitchell. This narrowly beats out “Cat’s in the Cradle” to win the “song about growing up way to fast” slot, only because the last verse of “Cat’s in the Cradle” is incredibly depressing, and “The Circle Game” ends on a much more hopeful note. Seriously, I don’t want to leave the Chadar ruminating on parental failure – it’s a total downer.
- “Leaving on a Jet Plane” by John Denver. Yes, I’m assuming that this is the last Shabbat of the summer. Make sure you have a box of Kleenex handy.
- “Tfilat HaDerech” by Debbie Friedman. Really, is there any other choice?
Kadimah, stick around for Israeli dancing. Everyone else, back to your tzrifim. What songs would you put on your ultimate Shabbat setlist?
Shabbat Shalom!