Shabbat Balak - 1,461

אחינו כל בית-ישראל, הנתונים בצרה ובשביה

 העומדים בין בים ובין ביבשה 

המקום ירחם עליהם ויוציאם מצרה לרווחה

ומאפלה לאורה ומשעבוד לגאולה 

השתא בעגלא ובזמן קריב

Our siblings, the entire family of Israel, who are in distress and captivity, whether they are on sea or land, may God have mercy on them and remove them from distress to relief, from darkness to light, from subjugation to redemption, now, speedily,and soon...

The weekday Shaharit Torah service

Seated on benches, the campers paid close attention to the counselor at the front of the room.  After a brief explanation, they were repeating the words of the prayer right after she recited them and before you knew it, they were standing and singing.  The words were powerful. They meant something different now than they had just a moment ago.  Campers were connected to the tefillah and to the person for whom they were praying.  The words of the prayer, typed above, were sung with kavvanah - intention - and spiritual power.  The tune was beautiful and, at the same time, hauntingly sad.  So started the morning for the Shoafim (entering 8th graders) whose tefillot I was visiting.  This scene was replicated in the morning services of all the other aidot at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin as we work to heighten the awareness of our campers and staff members, our communities, and the entire world, to the plight of Gilad Shalit.

Today, we commemorate exactly four years since Gilad Shalit was kidnapped at the Gaza border by Hamas. 1,461 days exactly.  I used to think that only numbers much larger were really inconceivable.  Staring at this number, however, 1,461 days alone, is far beyond my comprehension.  His precise whereabouts unknown, Gilad Shalit is a captive.  He is alone, cut off from the world, from his People, from his State, and, most important, from his family. Deprived once again of even a simple visit from the International Red Cross, the world has no idea what his condition actually is, be it his physical, psychological, or his spiritual condition.  Sadly, the world remains far too silent.

On Tuesday, Machon campers learned in depth about the story of Gilad, his life and his military service, his family, and his courage.  On Wednesday morning, Machon (entering 10th graders) spent the morning researching the approaches of different international news sources to the conflict in the Middle East and then "interviewed" key people in the story of Gilad Shalit.  This was followed by a mock press conference.  Campers gained greater insight into the positions of the various players in the entire story, deepening their sense of the importance of freeing Gilad.  

Since Gilad Shalit's kidnapping, there has been a tent in front of the Prime Minister's home in Jerusalem.  The tent is occupied all the time by volunteers and family members.  There are regular demonstrations at the tent calling the attention of the world to Gilad Shalit's situation.  People leave notes and photos.  They make posters and they demonstrate.  Thursday morning, Machon made a similar tent just off the kikar with posters of Gilad, posters demanding his release and calling on the world to require his freedom.  They created model letters to members of Congress, diplomats at the U.N., as well as letters to Gilad's family.  Throughout the day, campers entered the tent and were told the story of Gilad Shalit.  They wrote letters, the put up notes, they made posters, they put on stickers that said: הצילו! Before dinner, a group of shlichim and American staff members sat on the kikar and sang somber songs of freedom in Hebrew.  On Friday, there will be an all-camp ceremony in honor of Gilad Shalit.

If the number 1,461 days is inconceivable, the passion for Israel and the concern for Gilad Shalit and his family at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin is not.  Campers and staff members are learning about Gilad Shalit from members of our mishlachat.  They are learning that they can make a difference in the world and that their voices matter.  They are becoming aware that it is a mitzvah to redeem captives.  They are discovering the complexity of the matter on the one hand and its total simplicity on the other. And they are learning that even after 1,461 days, it is forbidden to give up hope for his release.  It is our fervent hope that we will be able to celebrate the release of Gilad Shalit soon, that we will rejoice with him in his return to Israel, and that we will be able to invite him to Camp to dance with us.  

Until that day, however, 

We will keep counting...

We will keep hoping...

We will keep praying...

and

We will keep working for his release for he is our sibling, he is in distress, and he deserves light, freedom, and healing soon, speedily, and now.

We invite you to join us in saying the following prayer on Gilad Shalit's behalf, composed by the Masorti Movement, our counterpart in Israel:

"May God who blessed our forebears Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah, take pity on the abducted prisoner Gilad son of Aviva and Noam Schalit.  May God who releases the bound strengthen the hand of those who hold office in the Holy Land that with wisdom and resolution they redeem Gilad from his dank, dark cell.  May God who heals the sick of the people Israel send Gilad healing, both emotional and physical, and may the Source of all strength strengthen Gilad’s resolve in his lengthy incarceration. May it be God’s pleasure that speedily the scripture be fulfilled which says, “And God’s ransomed shall return home, and come with exultation to Zion, crowned with everlasting happiness. They shall attain joy and gladness, and sorrow and pining shall be dispersed.” 

May this be God’s Will and let us say Amen." 

Shabbat Shalom.

(Shalit Tent in Jerusalem image from MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images)

Shabbat Hukkat - Thoughts on Kabbalat Shabbat and Camp

 יִשְׂמְחוּ הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְתָגֵל הָאָרֶץ;    יִרְעַם הַיָּם, וּמְלֹאוֹ  

 יַעֲלֹז שָׂדַי, וְכָל-אֲשֶׁר-בּוֹ;    אָז יְרַנְּנוּ, כָּל-עֲצֵי-יָעַר 

 לִפְנֵי יְהוָה, כִּי בָא

Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea and all that is in it roar;

Let the field -and all that fills it - be joyful; then all the trees of the wood will sing for joy before the LORD, for God is arriving;

Psalm 96: 11 - 13

The second Psalm of Kabbalat Shabbat calls on us to thank God, which is not the least bit unusual for the Psalmist.  In fact, it is the obvious theme for Tehillim.  What draws my attention to these verses, however, is the emphasis on the way that we are partners with natural phenomenon in acknowledging and thanking God.  The Psalmist is so descriptive in the word choice and emphasizes the fullness of all that is in the world.

In our everyday lives, it can be so easy to lose perspective on the way that nature offers us both the benefit and delight in its beauty as well as its partnership in offering thanks.  Too often, many of us, myself included, simply become numb to our surroundings, to the little moments of natural grandeur that are in our world.  We forget to stop and look at a beautiful flower or an interesting bug.  We get so caught up in our own worlds that we don't notice the sunrise or the clouds except when they are annoyances.

At camp, most of us are out of our normal urban or suburban environments.  I know that I am far more aware of the heavens, the Wedgewood blue in the sky today, the stars at night, the interesting shapes of the clouds, than I ever am in Lakeview in Chicago (where most nights the stars are blocked out by the lights of Wrigley Field, Lincoln Park, and Downtown).  I notice the sounds of the waves on the lake during the day and, in the early morning, note the absence of any sounds when the lake is still as it was this morning.  At Ramah Wisconsin, yes, the fields - the migrashim and the kikar - are filled with campers having fun, making friends, and deepening relationships.  They are also bursting with beautiful flowers and grasses. They just make you feel good when you see them.  And, as I sit here in the office with the window open, I hear the trees singing, literally. As the wind blows the branches and the leaves shake, the trees sing praise to the Heavens.

Right now, we may be more aware than ever of the fragile balance that exists between us and nature as oil gushes into the Gulf of Mexico.  We may be more conscious of the need for partnership in praise as opposed to dominance for resources as our politicians think through ways to create new and renewable resources.  It should not, however, require the crisis moments to hear the trees sing and the lakes roar, to notice the fields and their beauty as opposed to seeing future parking lots.  This Shabbat, I hope that just as we will have the chance to enjoy all of the natural beauty of the Northwoods of Wisconsin that you will have that opportunity as well.  And I hope that we all take time to focus on our praising in partnership with nature.

Shabbat Shalom.

   

Camp Observations from Rabbi Sykes

It has been a great and busy start here at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin.  For those of you checking our blog at ramahwisconsin.typepad.com or following the camp or my personal Twitter feed, you know just how much is going on.  Here is a brief window into what I have seen and heard over the past two days:

I walk past two campers, one boy and one girl, from Machon sitting on a picnic bench. I know one of them from Chicago.  I ask them how things are going, how their tzrifim are, and how their madrichim (counselors) are.  First the boy tells me his stories.  The girl, in answering me, tells me about each of her counselors and then, unsolicitedly, tells me that she loves Bat El, her shlicha, not just because she is awesome but because she is helping her with her Hebrew! What more could a Ramah director ask for?

I sit down on the Kikar.  Three participants from the Atzmayim program sit down with me and ask me all kinds of questions about camp and tell me all the things that I need to know.  It is clear that they love camp a ton.

I walk into the kitchen to say hello and go to the back and say hi to Wally, our baker, and Sanchez, his apprentice.  Wally offers me an apron.  I take it and for the next half hour, I help shape what will later be baked as rolls.  Wally shares all kinds of great bakery stories with me. We are truly blessed to have such a fantastic person working with us this summer.  From there, I go and wash dishes with a few members of the kitchen staff and then dice some tofu. Everyone at camp is a key member of the team and I get to know them in a totally different way than just saying hello.

At 6:20 am, I leave the house to go to the moadon chadash.  Camp is quiet. The lake is calm as a sheet of glass.  The fog is rising and the sun is shining.   A few staff members are gathering for the first staff yoga class of the summer.  Ten people show up for the first session taught by our Madrichat Yoga, Rebecca Sykes.  I am NOT a regular practioner of yoga.  In fact, I think that this is only my fourth class ever.  Yet, at the end, I find that I am suprisingly energized and open to all that the day will bring.  

Shabbat is quickly approaching.  Dancing on the kikar is about to begin before lunch.  Set up for tefillot to follow.  We are hoping that the weather will hold so we can be by the agam (lake).  So much happens each minute that it is impossible to report on all that takes place here at camp.  I hope this gives you just a sweet taste of camp as you enter Shabbat.

Shabbat Shalom.

Rabbi Loren Sykes

Camp is Underway

Having only recently appeared for the first time in seven days, the sun is setting over beautiful Lake Buckatabon.  From my office window, I see thin rows of purple clouds interspersed among lines of orange and dark yellow.  The camp is filled with the voices of children and teens running to or from their peulot erev, their evening activity.  It is hard to believe that they have only been here for twenty-four hours.

It seems like just yesterday that we were all sitting in the chadar ochel, the entire staff, mesmerized by Yoni Bundt's final charge before the campers started to arrive.  Yoni talked about the powerful impact camp had on him and his family, about lifelong friendships that formed at camp, and how wonderful it was for him to be back in the capacity of staff trainer.  Combining the energy of a great motivational speaker with the intensity of a parent, Yoni related how he was feeling entrusting his child over to counselors for the first time.  You could feel the sense of responsibility descending on the staff.  This was no longer a theoretical situation, it was real.  For the tzevvet (staff), there were real things at stake and real souls to care for. The campers were about to arrive and this was an actual parent talking about an actual camper.  Echoing an old tag line for the US Marines, Yoni had the entire staff repeating after him "The few.  The proud.  The tzevvet."  When he was finished, music came on, the staff got up and the dancing started.

In the middle of breakfast, prior to Yoni's talk, the hanhala executed the first flash mob of the summer and possibly the first ever conducted at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin. According to UrbanDictionary.com, a flash mob is:

A group of people who appear from out of nowhere to perform predetermined actions, designed to amuse and confuse surrounding people.  The group performs these actions for a short amount of time before quickly dispersing.

Performing to a song in Hebrew, and expertly choreographed and taught the night before by our outstanding tzevvet rikkud (dance staff), the hanhala got up from various tables throughout the chadar ochel in what appeared to be individuals going to get more breakfast.  In fact, they were getting into position for the seemingly random dance.  The performance was greeted by surprise and cheers as we introduced another way to add seemingly spontaneous fun to the summer.  Between the flashmob, Yoni's inspirational message, the hard work of preparing all week, and the dancing, the energy level was high as we awaited the arrival of the campers.

And now, twenty-four hours later, the flashmob, the talk, the dancing feel as though they took place an eon ago.  Since then, buses  arrived, campers ran screaming into each others arms or into the arms of staff members, great meals were eaten, and the sun finally came out.  As of today, I finally know the names of all the staff members and I have learned the names of about 50 campers - just about 400 names to go...

It is dark.  The big dipper hangs over Lake Buckatabon, so big that I can almost reach out and touch it.  The whistles of staff basketball ligot blow in the background.  The campers are in for the night.  Another season is underway.  And I, I have the best job in the world and love being back at my old summer home, Camp Ramah in Wisconsin.

Korah and The Marshmallow Challenge

Two years ago, someone introduced me to TED.com (Technology, Entertainment, and Design), an incredible website that features free access to talks given by a diverse group of speakers on a wide range of topics.   Over the years, the power of TED has grown, the expertise of the speakers has expanded far beyond the limits of these fields, and their impact is being felt by an ever growing audience.  In their mission statement, TED tells us that:

We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we're building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other. 

Each week, I receive a digest of the new talks posted to TED.com and I wait with great anticipation to see what I am going to learn.

About one month ago, I noticed a title that grabbed my attention: Build a Tower, Build a Team.  Tom Wujec, a software designer and Fellow at Autodesk, spoke about an experiment called The Marshmallow Challenge.  In the experiment, teams of four are challenged to build the tallest possible tower in eighteen minutes using only 20 pieces of uncooked spaghetti, one yard of string, one yard of tape, and one marshmallow.  While it sounds easy, it is actually very difficult.  On average, only 6 in ten groups actually produce a standing structure.   Most assume that the marshmallow is light and fluffy and can be put on the top of a very tall structure, regardless of how stable, and that the structure will remain standing.  Quickly, the group goes from the "Ta-Da!" moment to the "UH-OH Moment!"  The structure collapses because the assumption about the marshmallow is actually incorrect.

The marshmallow challenge tells us a lot about teams and collaboration.  You can see groups that are dominated by a single individual, telling others what to do all the while ignoring input from anyone.  You can see where the group cannot agree on an approach.  There is the group that spends too much time planning leaving no time to actually build the structure.  There are groups that are very conservative, simply wanting to have a standing structure at the end of eighteen minutes and the groups that go for it all, taking wild, un-calculated risks.  Interestingly, kindergardeners perform much better than recent graduates of business school!  Kindergardeners imagine, test out prototypes, and try and try again inventing some of the most interesting structures.  According to Wujec, recent graduates of business school perform poorly for two reasons:  they are taught to put together one plan, prepare it and execute it, leaving no time for intervention when the "marshmallow crisis" comes at the 17:55 mark of the experiment.

The second reason that Wujec sites for the underperformance of the graduates is that they lie, cheat, get unfocused, and jockey for power.  This uses up enormous amounts of time, leaves some feeling excluded, shutting out voices that could be beneficial, all of which is detrimental to collaboration and building of the team.  Imagine if Korah and his followers threw down the gauntlet to Moses believing that they could build a taller tower.  Now, I know that Moshe has God on his side.  Nevertheless, I believe that Moshe would win for he learned the importance of collaboration (see parashat Yitro) and he learned the importance of making room for different voices (see Eldad and Medad and the issue of prophesy).  Korah, whose true motivation was power and not collaboration, would have used his 18 minutes fighting with others for power and control, or dictating the way things should be, not listening to others or seeing other ways to share power.  I am certain that he would have had the tallest tower until 1 nanosecond after he put the marshmallow on top at which point the entire thing would have collapsed and the earth would have opened up and swallowed him and his followers up!

This week, I conducted two marshmallow challenges: one with our hanhalla (our leadership team) and, last night, with our entire staff.  The challenge was absolutely fascinating!  Almost all of the hanhala teams had a standing structure, the tallest being around 26 inches.  The winning team for the staff achieved a height of 34 1/4 inches!  With the entire staff, we saw almost every kind of group dynamic possible.  Some groups offered bribes to members of the hanhala for the key to victory.  One group raised the issue of fairness because another group had a Ph.D. student in it (forget for a moment that he is starting his Ph.D. in the fall in ancient religion!).  Two groups seated at the same table were clearly jockeying for position.  There were groups that skipped the planning phase altogether and went straight to building, creating a taller and thinner tower every moment, until the marshmallow was placed on top and the bending started immediately.  Other groups spent over 12 minutes talking and planning until they finally had to get something going.

Once the challenge was over, we watched Tom Wujec discuss his conclusions via TED ( which you can see at http://tinyurl.com/24w6ql5 ) and then applied the lessons to camp.  The conversation was fascinating and there were so many applicable messages to camp and to life.  At camp, which is a pressure cooker on so many levels, successful collaboration is the key to success in almost everything, from solving a problem in a cabin to creating a knockout program, to creating a strong team to lead an outstanding aidah.  Avoiding Korah and leading collaboratively - making room for lots of voices, hearing with respect, valuing different experiences, seeking out resources and expertise that is different from your own is the key to a successful summer, to a successful project outcome, and to a successful and meaningful life, for we never go it alone.  We are always collaborating.

Based on what I saw last night and the conversations that followed, we are poised to start an outstanding summer with people exercising leadership in all levels, valuing collaboration, and, well, looking forward to roasting marshmallows with campers as soon as they arrive.

Shabbat Shalom.

For more information on The Marshmallow Challenge, go to http://tinyurl.com/24w6ql5 at the TED. com website.

To get instructions on running your own marshmallow challenge, go to http://www.marshmallowchallenge.com/Welcome.html.