By Jack Shinder
With more than 160 swimming pools—84 indoor and 78 outdoor pools—in facilities throughout the JCC Movement, swimming and other aquatic exercise and activities are among many reasons people visit their JCC. The author of this blog post makes it a habit to swim in JCC pools wherever his travels take him.
Getting into the 82-degree water (28 degrees Celsius) is just the beginning of my decades-old practice at JCCs around Canada and the U.S. Planning my two hours of dripping wet meditation at Jewish centers—whether in Manhattan, Minneapolis or my “home” pool in Ottawa—is my well-worn effort to find comfort and peace. I do this three times a week at my local J or at one of the many JCCs I use in my travels from coast to coast. No matter the location, the staff is always friendly, the pools are clean, and the water lovely and warm. Often, I hear this question when I reveal I’m from Canada: “That’s so far from here, isn’t it?” Actually, it depends!
I started swimming at the old JCC outdoor pool here in Ottawa around 1960 when the local rivers were still clean, and it was very unusual to have any sort of pool to use. It wasn’t laps, of course, that attracted me in those days, but rather it was a thrill to dive headfirst into the clear, cool water and for a few seconds to be in complete control of my world. I remember that with great clarity. I always swam, though mostly in lakes and rivers throughout Ontario and at Jewish summer camps. Twenty-five years ago, I got back into the routine of laps after a health scare. As life seemed to be spinning (a bit) out of control, the safety of the J and the routine of the laps in the 25-meter pool took me back to a calm place that I’ve held onto with passion ever since.
Like a mad baseball fan wishing to visit every major league ballpark, my goal is to seek out JCC pools whenever I have an extra half day in my travels. I’ve been to every Canadian province and most states in the U.S. in the past two and a half decades. I’ve tried “better” pools: more modern pools, Olympic pools, and even wave pools but it’s the community feel of the Soloway JCC pools in Ottawa (both indoors and, in the summertime, outdoors) that has me committed to this lifelong pleasure. Of course, I know lots of folks at home. However, whether I’m in Toronto or Detroit or Kansas City, the buildings’ signage that welcomes me before I even place my toes in the water is pretty much the same: Join us for Shabbat this week, learn Hebrew over the next semester, or come to our Israel film festival next month. I plan laps in multiples of 18—whose corresponding letters equal the Hebrew word “chai,” meaning “life”—which seems like a good metaphor for my entire effort: supporting my mind and body and giving a thumbs up to Jewish life in myriad cities. And once I’m past the first lap, I’m counting—aleph, bet, gimel—and my mind is clearing.
Jack Shinder is the board chair of the Soloway JCC in Ottawa, Canada, and an active volunteer and leader with Jewish Family Services and the Ottawa School of Speech and Drama, among others. His travels as the owner of AMBICO Limited take him across the continent and around the globe. Shinder is happily married to an Angeleno who moved to Ottawa for two years more than four decades ago. He has three grown and accomplished children and three delightful grandchildren.
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