Rabbi Ari Schonfeld leads night seder for 1,500 eager teens
And the camp feel, he says, comes from his own experience at Camp Avraham Chaim Heller.
“That’s where I grew up in the camping world,” he explains. “I always say I have many rebbeim, and Rabbi Gershon Kramer, who was the director back then, is my rebbi in how to talk to a boy. He knows how to connect to a kid, to validate and make them feel chashuv, how to look a kid in the eye and show them they matter to you on their level, whether it’s playing ball with them or teaching a Gemara to them. He taught me the skill of finding things about kids and putting it into memory. He’d see a kid, notice his red shoes, call him ‘Red Shoes’ all summer, and six months later, out of camp, he’d bump into him and say, ‘Hey, where are your red shoes?’ ”
What Rabbi Schonfeld really learned in camp, you see, is how to do what he’s doing now.
The program continues with a guest speaker. Rabbi Schonfeld has reached out to gedolim, roshei yeshiva, and famous names like Charlie Harary and Rabbi Baruch Levine. His lineup includes professionals speakers like Rabbis Paysach Krohn, Ephraim Shapiro, and Yoel Gold, and roshei yeshivah and rabbanim like Rav Kalman Epstein, Rav Binyamin Carlebach, Rav Hershel Schachter, Rav Yisroel Reisman, Rav Eytan Feiner, and Rav Noach Isaac Oelbaum.
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