[VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]

As we finish the fast of Tisha Bav which is clearly the saddest time on the calendar, we need to understand and internalize its most unique message. That message is to increase Ahavas Yisrael (to love our fellow Jew).There is no place in the world where this message is lived and practiced each day like Camp Simcha.

Below is a beautiful note from a head lifeguard at Camp Simcha … the true meaning of Ahavat Yisrael:

This summer I am Head Lifeguard at the pool in Camp Simcha. Some people may think that being a Lifeguard is all about looking cool, wearing sunglasses and working on your tan… But not at Camp Simcha. Here in Camp Simcha being a Lifeguard is much more:
To help a camper with prosthetic legs dive off a diving board…
To take a kid who is paralyzed from the waist down go down a water slide…
To help a kid with no arms learn to swim in the deep…
To take a camper who is in middle of chemo for his own private night swim the night before treatment…
To help a blind camper go swimming for the first time in his life…
To wheel a camper down the ramp in a waterproof wheelchair…
These are just some things that put meaning into your summer, when you have the greatest job in the greatest camp with special kids. I may be head life guard, but to be guarding the lives of heads without hair …. is the greatest honor of all.

May we merit that this day turns into a holiday with the coming of the Moshiach.