Adapted from: Flashes of Greatness by Rabbi Shlomo Landau

One of the most enjoyable and amazing places for a child and teen is Camp Agudah, lovingly known as “Ruach Country,” located in Ferndale, New York. With Hashem’s help, that camp has grown exponentially, and there is a long waiting list to get in. I was privileged to be at the camp during a particularly remarkable summer.

One of the most memorable camp experiences is the seventh-grade Niagara trip. It is a twenty-four-hour whirlwind of excitement, entertainment, and inspiration. It includes a water park, Niagara Falls attractions, davening outdoors, a kumzitz, a trampoline park, and so much more. Upon their return to camp, the kids eventually drift into a deep sleep with smiles on their faces. 

In general, the camp closes registration early in the season and, sadly, has to turn away many aspiring campers who would have loved to be a part of the Agudah summer magic. 

One summer, well after registration had closed, the camp was able to open five additional slots in the seventh-grade division. The camp reached out to five lucky kids on the waiting list and offered them a coveted spot. There was, however, one caveat. They would not be able to join the Niagara trip. The logic was simple: The camp traveled to Niagara on coach buses, which were incredibly costly. Adding five additional campers to the trip would require the camp to charter an additional bus, an expense of thousands of dollars. 

The camp communicated this detail to each of the five campers, and they arrived at camp with the full understanding and agreement that they would be part of the entire amazing Agudah experience sans the Niagara trip. The camp also asked these campers not to talk about this detail, as it would surely not lead to a productive conversation. 

A few days before the Niagara trip, the head staff decided to break out a seventh-grade-exclusive one-day Olympics-style competition. On a whim, one of the head staff members thought of a “cute” breakout idea. He gathered the entire seventh-grade division into the beis medrash and publicly shared that five anonymous boys would not be joining the Niagara trip due to the prohibitive cost of chartering an additional coach bus. He then proposed the following potential solution. He explained that while coach buses definitely were the more comfortable way to go, as they had air conditioning, reclining seats, bathrooms, etc., there was a much more cost-efficient way to travel, and that was via school buses. He added that he had done the math and that if the camp took school buses for the full trip, including the six-hour drive each way, then the cost of the additional bus would be similar to the usual cost of transportation, and it would afford these five boys the opportunity to be part of the fabulous trip. 

However, he added that he did not feel that it was right for him to make a unilateral decision to switch to school buses as, in truth, it would impact the comfort level of the campers in a very real way. Instead, he would hand out ballots to every seventh-grade camper and they would decide on the mode of transportation. All they had to do was write either “coach bus” or “school bus” on the blank ballots. Choosing “coach bus” would indicate that they had elected to put their personal comfort, which they were certainly entitled to do, over the ability for their friends to be a part of the trip. The words “school bus” would signal that they were willing to put their friends’ needs before their own. The majority would decide! 

Immediately, staff members circulated through the room, handing out blank ballots and pencils to each camper. The tension in the room was palpable as each camper internally debated their comfort versus their friends’ feelings. Finally, the ballots were all completed, and the votes were quickly tallied.

The outcome was staggering! Over 100 of the 145 boys had written the two beautiful words: school bus! Over two-thirds of these remarkable young campers had made a clear and conscious decision to put their friends’ feelings before their personal comfort!

I remember approaching the various head staff members in a very emotional state and saying to them, “We should probably just stop everything and take this unique opportunity to daven to Hashem for all those things that we really need.” I shared that we had just been privy to a special example of the deep beauty of ahavas chinam, and that the merit created by these beautiful young Jewish souls surely had the power to redeem and to rectify!