Politics aside, at Mesorah, everyone is a happy camper

Color War breakout...the yearly opportunity for the camp’s administration to stage an “April Fool’s-like “ joke on all the campers and staff. This year Avi Frier, Director of Camp Mesorah , a coed Orthodox camp in Guilford, New York, took the widely anticipated yearly spoof to a whole new level, Presidential in fact.

“Last November, I saw Reggie Brown, (the Obama-look alike), on TV and thought, brilliant idea for color war,” says Frier. Slated as a visit from a V.I.P. guest, complete with a full motorcade and entourage including fake secret service, Camp Mesorah “pulled off the greatest color war breakout ever,” said Frier.

Fully aware that children are a product of their home environment, with the overwhelming majority not in support of Obama ’12, he instructed his Jewish educational staff to work lessons into their daily Chinuch pertaining to respect of world leaders when you meet them. “We put out procedures to the campers regarding the surprise VIP guest,” explained Frier. “You may love or hate, agree or disagree with our guest. Do not heckle or do anything that wouldn’t reflect well on your character. There is a time and a place to express your opinion. When you’re faced with someone who is deserving of respect, even if you don’t agree with them, that may be a time to keep opinions to yourself.”

According to Frier, if you polled the campers as to who they would support in the upcoming election, it wouldn’t be Obama, but you would never know it, based upon the reception he received. It wasn’t until the last moment in “Obama’s” speech that he revealed that he was there to announce color war.

Frier, who wrote Reggie Brown’s remarks, prepared him for potential anti-Obama sentiment. “You hope for the best and prepare for the worst. There were potential pitfalls,” admitted Frier. Reggie, who had no idea of the political dynamic, even tweaked his prepared speech to make it more convincing, asking campers to have their parents vote for him. Frier even arranged for the youngest campers, of the nearly 650 present, who are not as familiar with Obama’s image, to be seated up front.

While color war breakouts don’t generally have a theme, this year’s evolved into a teachable moment. .The Obama-look alike was fake, but the display of midot by the Mesorah campers was very real.