My Favorite Story as a Camper (Part I)
November 18, 2010 by Herzl Camp Admin, under Letters from Alumni.
By Danny Soshnik
Part I
In the wake of my Herzl Magic Bracket, I’ve had a tough time knowing what to write about. The past nine months have really been easy for me, but now that it is over, I need to actually think of something compelling to write. So I figured that I’d share with you my favorite story from when I was a camper.
The year was 1992. Kuwait had long since been liberated, the St. Louis Cardinals were in their early 90s funk, and I was a Kadimahnik.
My counselors were Steve “Brick” Goldstein, and Todd “Baseball Bat” Zeff. We were in Tzrif Zion (Gadol) and actually were the first ever campers in that cabin, which was pretty cool.
During one evening program in the Marp basement, Bryan Greenberg and I learned that Brick was going to be shmearing Kadimah from the fire pit right outside our door. We managed to both head to the North Haks at the same time, and that’s when the brilliant planning began. Brick, who was new to camp that year, was going to get a “Welcome to Shmearing” present unlike any other. See, before Bryan was a moviestar/rockstar, he was a hooligan.
The plan was simple actually. After he went through the 5 cabins in Kadimahland, he would settle into his shmear site, and then it was go time. During Chofesh, we spent the entire time explaining the plan to our bunkmates.
Fast forward a couple hours. The time, probably 10:45. Lights were out. The preparations had long since been made. It was go time.
Everyone had a role. Rory Zamansky was clearly nervous, so he was going to “stay back and be on lookout”. The rest of us climbed one by one out our back window. I’m quite confident none of us could fit out of that window now, especially Aaron Shefren.
We were dressed in black, as if it were Escape to Israel or Capture the Flag. But this Lights Out activity, led by campers, was “Smear the Shmear”. The goal was simple: Hit unsuspecting Brick with water balloons and escape back into the cabin before he knew where it came from.
We had everything covered – synchronized watches, people on the lookout with a known code if we needed to abandon the mission, and specifics as to where each of us would be stationed. When the clock hit the magical moment, Bryan and I launched our balloons from near Trzif Vav. What a rush! We had no idea if we hit intended target, but it didn’t matter. We quickly retraced our steps and climbed back into the cabin.
To Be Continued…