More Than Just Lyrics: Bringing the Songbook Back for Camp’s 60th Summer

Written by Toni Davison Levenberg, Executive Director, Camp Interlaken JCC

Whenever I meet Camp Interlaken alumni – like the alumni who preceded me at camp – I’m always asked about songbooks. Timidly, because I know they might be disappointed, I share the news: we don’t use songbooks at camp anymore. There’s usually a pause before they ask, “So…how does everyone know the words?” 

I take a breath and launch into the spiel I’ve repeated so many times over the past 19 years.

When I arrived at camp in 2006, I remember songbooks being passed out at the end of each meal. They were housed in duo-tang folders that clearly had been loved by

 many over the years. They sat on the tables in the chadar ochel, untouched, while the song leaders hyped the room up for song session. One by one, campers would stand up and walk to the center of the chadar, ready to sing and dance their hearts out – without a songbook. Nobody was using them.

Still, we kept putting them out at every lunch and dinner. And every time, they just sat there, unopened, in the middle of the table, while campers left them behind to participate with ruach.

At the end of that summer, my predecessor, Howard Wagan, shared an idea he had seen at the Foundation for Jewish Camp’s Cornerstone Fellow Conference: they projected the lyrics on a screen during song sessions. He loved the concept and brought it back to Interlaken. 

Howard explained that most campers weren’t engaging with the songbooks anymore because they were already up and out of their seats. Instead of looking down at pages, they were looking up and around – at each other, at their community. It was a win. We realized that if we could project the words, everyone could follow along, and our song sessions would be even more inclusive.

Instead of a projector and screen, we installed TV monitors and a computer in the chadar ochel to bring this vision to life. We started with just three televisions, one computer, and a small library of PowerPoint slides with lyrics. Today, we have five TVs.

Unlike our songbook-loving alumni, who sat at their tables for song sessions in years past, today’s campers and staff are a little rowdier. They get up, they dance, they sing, they jump, they mosh (a little), they visit with friends, siblings, and cousins in other cabins, they climb on Ozrim – and they feed of the energy in the room.

Song sessions are still meaningful. They’re still powerful. They’re still super fun. And they’re still at the heart of camp. Music at Interlaken is everything. 

We still sing the MTA Song, Ecopendence, This Camp is Your Camp, Mitzvah Goreret Mitzvah, Lekhi Lakh, and Not By Might. I’d be lying if I said our campers weren’t most excited when we sing songs by Adele, Miley Cyrus, or CIL Roads (our parody of Take Me Home, Country Roads).

The truth is: Camp has evolved. It’s grown up – a little. But just like the lyrics of our favorite camp songs, the soundtrack of camp never really leaves us. It just finds new ways to show up. 

And that’s why, for our 60th Anniversary celebration this June, we’re bringing the songbook back. Not the exact duo-tang folder version, but a newly printed edition that honors the ones that once lived on our tables, got signed at the end of each session, and made their way home in duffels packed with bug-spray-soaked clothes and memories that took all year to unpack.

This new edition will look like the old songbooks – nostalgic, familiar, and full of heart. It’s our way of reconnecting with the past while celebrating the present. 

And in true Interlaken tradition, we want everyone’s names inside.

We’re inviting our entire community – alumni, campers, staff, families, and friends – to sign the songbook. Whether you’re attending the 60th celebration or not, you’re welcome to add your name. For $18, you can include your name and a message in this special edition. Every message will be printed, creating a forever keepsake that links generations of ruach-filled summers.

Want to be part of it? You can sign the songbook here. If you’re not attending the 60th and would like a songbook of your own, you can purchase one for $35, which includes a signature. That option is available at the same link. The deadline to sign or purchase is Thursday, May 1. 

Because even though we don’t pass them out at every meal anymore, the spirit of the songbook – and the songs themselves – is still very much alive. They’re in our voices, our hearts, our memories.

And this summer, they’ll be in our hands again, too.