It was a long Shabbat afternoon in camp; the kind that stretches endlessly. To make the most of it, the learning director came up with a special initiative: a Shabbos learning raffle.
The rules were simple. Learn for 30 minutes with a chavrusa, and you earn one ticket. Learn for an hour, two tickets. Two hours, four tickets. The prizes? There were two.
First, a coveted opportunity to drive the head counselor’s golf cart for an hour; a serious prize by camp standards. The second? A horseback riding trip.
Now in the fifth-grade division, there was a boy named Avrum from Antwerp. He had never been horseback riding in his life. It was something he had always dreamed of doing. And now, he was determined to win. “I’ve got to win that prize,” he kept repeating to his bunkmates, his excitement becoming contagious.
But realistically, what were the chances? With 400 campers in the raffle, the odds weren’t in his favor. Still, Avrum did his part. He showed up that Shabbos afternoon and learned diligently.
When Motza’ei Shabbos arrived and it was time for the raffle, anticipation filled the air.
And then—his name was called. The winner of the horseback riding prize: Avrum from Antwerp.
He was ecstatic, as his friends cheered and celebrated alongside him. It was a highlight of the summer.
But the real story came later.
At the final banquet, on the last night of camp, the camp director got up to speak. “There’s something I want to share,” he began. “That raffle last week—Avrum from Antwerp winning the horseback riding prize—it moved me deeply. Everyone knew how badly he wanted it. But now I know how he actually won.”
It turns out that Avrum’s bunkmates—all of them—had quietly decided to give up their own chance at the prize. They wrote his name on their raffle tickets instead of their own. Avrum didn’t have just one or two entries in the raffle. He had over 40. That’s how he won.
Kids come to camp to have fun. But there’s a deeper kind of fun, and that is one which doesn’t fade as quickly as a popsicle on a hot summer day.
The ice cream you ate last summer? You don’t taste it anymore. But the joy of giving someone else happiness—that’s a pleasure that lasts.
So as you go through the summer, of course, enjoy yourself. Laugh. Play. But also look for moments to bring joy to others. Get someone else involved. Make another kid feel like they belong.
Because that’s the kind of fun you’ll remember forever.
