Omanut: Connecting to Jewish Identity through the Visual Arts by Emily Shapiro, Omanut Coordinator

In addition to being a place where campers can relax, create, and explore, the Omanut (arts and crafts) building is also a place where campers can connect to their Jewish identity in an artistic way. Campers design jewelry with Jewish symbols, decorate wooden hamsas, create mezuzot in mosaics, and, of course, many many Shabbat-a-grams.

One of campers’ favorite things to do is to learn and practice new lettering fonts and techniques. While they naturally and easily do this with English words and letters, we also encourage them to make designs that include Hebrew letters and words.

The art room is stocked with Hebrew letter stickers, stencils, beads, etc.: all our supplies are labeled with their Hebrew words like efronot (pencils), madvekot (stickers), tsevaim (colors), and misparayim (scissors).

Kids were happy to practice the writing of their Hebrew names, while sharing about the meaning and source of their names. They were very proud of the results!