In my opinion (from experience), since now it is normal to get counselors early, it can be as much of a worry (worrying he won’t find a position) and distraction for a bochur who decides he won’t sign up early as it is for a bochur who does…

I humbly disagree with what you say. Do you have any idea what goes on in seminary? The girls are all enjoying an inspiring and fun year when all of a sudden head counselors get hired in kislev and they have to form a staff. Many mothers will agree that this completely kills the year. There is so much dirty politics that happened among the girls, secrets are kept from each other, no one is sharing where they are going, and leaves a very, not nice feeling in the seminary atmosphere.

אוי לו לקעמפ שכך חושבים מנהליו

Stop looking from a singular perspective and read the letter from the Rebbe and then you wont have to guess what it means for the head staff or what it means for the staff or what the zal bachur will do for the summer because the Rebbe will take of that if you follow his directives and the Rebbe wrote 2 weeks. If you feel that maybe now they need a bit more time then speak to your mashpia and then maybe add 2 weeks not 3 months and then the bachur not learning and the camper getting staff who are drop outs is your achrayus that should answer your middle 4 points.

Its not the writer coming to conclusions he just saw a a letter of the Rebbe that when not listened to it has very clear unfortunate bad outcomes which anyone which cares about what the Rebbe writes or about the bachurim or about the camper wants to scream out about the wrongdoing of the boys camps.

2) Before your comment, people were writing “two weeks”, at least you’re suggesting after Pesach.

3) It’s been a while since I was a Bachur so it’s hard to disagree but I find it hard to believe that a Bachur who commits to work as a counselor at xx early on will have trouble learning for the rest of the year. About head staff I agree.

4) A much bigger issue is that there aren’t enough options for Zal Bachurim in the summer.

5) Mainly to the author: Before pointing fingers, it’s important to look at a situation from different perspectives and to think about how suggested “solutions” may make matters worse.

6) This will be my last comment on this matter BLN because I don’t want to take bachurim away from their learning to keep checking comments. If you truly wish to continue the conversation, anash.org has my email.

While your point about a counselor not being required for the long-term planning is generally true, to say that there is Menuchas Hanefesh and the Bochur can refocus on learning is entirely incorrect. The headspace that it takes up, besides for all his friends coming to speak to him about it, makes it almost impossible to focus on his learning. its not impossible, but it takes tremendous Mesiras Nefesh to focus on learning after thinking about the summer. Staff recruitment should begin no earlier than Pesach! Anything other than that will destroy the rest of his year in most cases.

To the commenters: In the majority of cases, once the staff are hired, both the Shliach and the Bachurim have menuchas hanefesh that it’s settled and the Bachur can then go and learn peacefully. The reality is that a regular counselor won’t have to do anything until camp.

Before spewing negativity, please think if it’ll bring light to the world or the opposite.

As a camp director (who hires girls) I’d be happy to discuss this respectfully with anyone. Anash.org has my email address and can share it with you.