Nurturing the Core: Putting Jewish Learning Front and Center

In a recent editor’s column in the New Jersey Jewish News, “The way we do the things we do”  (November 20, 2013), Andrew Silow-Carroll presents a succinct and accurate portrait of current and future challenges faced by Conservative Judaism in North America.  Unlike those who just bemoan the current state of affairs or proclaim our death, Mr. Silow-Carroll presents both challenges and areas of focus that, if addressed in a serious fashion, can serve as the building blocks for a bright future for the movement.  His analysis and suggestions merit further reflection.

The author describes himself in the same way many affiliated Conservative Jews do.  They go to synagogue regularly even if they feel services are too long.  They continue attending because they are at home in terms of ideology, practice and community.  Describing himself as a rarity, Silow-Carroll writes:

            Although I struggle with “obligation,” I like to surround myself with folks who can access Jewish tradition on a deep level, who make Judaism part of their lives well beyond the three hours on a Saturday morning, and who at some level are unable to reconcile the tension between modernity and tradition. We want that old-time religion alongside the new stuff – but constantly worry that one will hurt the other.”

Based on personal conversations and experiences, I believe he is less a rarity than he perceives himself to be. Like Silow-Carroll, many core Conservative Jews are people who want to be in places where they are not the most knowledgeable, most observant people.  They seek to do more and learn more Jewishly. They want to be part of a community, a kehilla, with multiple levels of learning and experience, abundant in role models beyond the clergy to whom they can aspire to emulate and rich in relationships with others with whom they can share Shabbat and other Jewish traditions.  Sadly, because they represent a minority of the whole, they are not studied in-depth and, as a category, are too often marginalized in studies, op-ed articles and strategic efforts.  We must pay more attention to this group. 

As a way to address the future, Silow-Carroll suggests three crucial areas of focus for “scrutinizing the face” Conservative Judaism presents to the world.  He recommends:

• Invigorating the Shabbat experience;

• Putting learning front and center; and

• Exploiting new media.

Embedded in these areas is a deeper message beyond repairing  “the face we show to the public.” Namely, having regular, high-quality, immersive Jewish living and learning experiences together with being part of a powerful, meaning and action driven community are keys to our future and success.  This is neither new nor earth shattering.  It is, however, time for us to pay greater attention to the voices of people like Silow-Carroll and others.  Sitting in Jerusalem, I will leave the question of how to invigorate the Shabbat experience to others.   I do, however, want to address Silow-Carroll’s other two suggestions.

The Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center and our Conservative Yeshiva serve as a home for Jews struggling “to reconcile the tension between modernity and tradition,” seeking to experience intensive exploration of Jewish text in an intellectual-spiritual and inclusive-egalitarian-pluralist framework.  This is our raison d’etre.  From online learning opportunities to programs in Jerusalem, The Conservative Yeshiva is the place for people to do Torah Lishmah, to learn for learning’s sake. 

Our summer programs, three to six weeks in length, welcome nearly two hundred participants.  The program offers a range of options from full-day learning to half-day study/ half-day volunteering through our partner, Skilled Volunteers for Israel.  Participants range in age from nineteen to ninety-one and come from incredibly diverse backgrounds and abilities: some know no Hebrew while others are fluent; some are affiliated, others are not.  They are united by a desire to learn for their own growth and increased commitment.

This winter, we are launching a pilot program for college juniors and seniors seeking a Jewish learning alternative winter break program in Jerusalem.  For the first time, those who want to delve deeper into their Jewish soul will be able to do so with us instead of other kiruv oriented programs.  Twenty young Jews from across North America will join us for twelve days of immersive learning, exploration of this great city, and soulful experience of the myriad of Shabbat communities in Jerusalem.  In the next few years, we hope to welcome over one hundred students each winter.

Our year-long program is filled both with immediate college graduates and those in their fifties and sixties, learning and experiencing a wide-variety of answers and approaches to Jewish questions of ideology, thought and practice. Our Yeshiva is known for helping individuals take the next steps on their Jewish journeys, not dictating specific paths or outcomes.  In the future, we will offer shorter programs, from one week, theme-based open programs and programs for specific professions to drop in programs for those who want to invest one day of an Israel trip to Jewish learning.

Programming in Israel, however, is not sufficient to impact the lives of Jews in North America and the world.  To that end, the Conservative Yeshiva offers a growing number of online learning opportunities.  From e-shiurim, single unit lessons, source sheets included, on a particular issue delivered via e-mail to semester-long online courses, people are able to learn at their own pace, in their own home with teachers in Jerusalem.  This year, we piloted Daf Shevui, a program where two pages of Talmud are broken up into six digestible units also delivered to your inbox daily (http://www.conservativeyeshiva.org/introducing-daf-shevui).  You can also study one Mishnah each day with the Conservative Yeshiva.  Over 3,000 Jews in North America participated in Mishna Yomit (http://www.conservativeyeshiva.org/category/mishnah-yomit) .  As we secure additional resources, we will produce more learning opportunities on a diverse range of topics.

For too long, The Conservative Yeshiva, a program of The Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center, has been among the best kept secrets for Jews in North America like Andrew Silow-Caroll and those he represents.  If putting learning at the forefront and using new media to reach more Jews are key to building a stronger future for the vital center of Judaism, we are answering the call.   To retain the Andrew Silow-Carrol’s and the myriad others like him, immersive, relationship-based learning and community will be key.  We would do well to listen to them.  Here, at the Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center and our Conservative Yeshiva, we already are.

This I believe...

Emerging leaders often have to learn that it is far more impressive to communicate complex ideas in easy to understand language than it is to communicate simple ideas in complex jargon. “Jargonization” is so deeply ingrained in some fields and people that it is virtually impossible to make any sense of their written or spoken strings of buzzwords and catchphrases, all connected by confusing sentence structures.  We need a return to simplicity.

The power of simplicity lies in its ability to unmask complexities, to reveal meaning that might otherwise be missed in a sea of difficult words, long passages and obfuscation.  At the same time, “Simplicities are enormously complex. Consider the sentence "I love you," as Richard O. Moore reminds us in, Writing the Silences.  Just as simplicity can unmask complexities, it can just as easily hide them.  Nowhere is this more evident in The Torah than in Parashat Yitro, which contains the עשרת הדברות, The Ten Commandments.  In this singular passage, we experience the power and challenge of both simplicity and complexity.

We encounter the challenge of complexity at the start of Exodus Chapter 20.  What does עשרת הדברות actually mean? In most places, these ten things are translated as “The Ten Commandments.”  The word dibrot , however, comes from the root daber or “say.”  Are these ten “commandments,” or “sayings,” or “core beliefs”?  From here, meaning gets more complicated as the first five “sayings” are longer, contain more information and are more complex.  The last five “commandments,” however,  are models of simplicity.  Don’t do x.  Don’t do y.  Yet, these models of simplicity are also incredibly complex.  Simply stated? Yes.  Simplistic?  Definitely not.  Why?  Because the Torah understands that we need to start somewhere. We need an easy to understand beginning before we dive into the complexities of law and belief.

All the way to today, the עשרת הדברות, these ten utterances, serve as a model for belief statements.  Look at most lists of core values and you will see just a few words in bold, followed by paragraphs explicating the meaning of those values. The phrases are the starting point. The paragraphs are the “next conversation.”  If they are truly core and practiced, any member of the staff in an organization is able to recite the short, bolded, value phrases.  They are recited so easily because they are embodied in the lives and rhythms of the individual and the community, the volunteer and the organization, the employee and the company.  

For decades, we, Conservative Jews and institutions, have found it hard to articulate a definition of our unique approach of Judaism in short, easy to understand phrases. On the one hand, we gave people the catchphrase “Tradition and Change.”  It fit on a bumper sticker but was not enough to convey meaning.  On the other hand, we gave them books: from the brief Emet Ve’Emunah to the recent volume, The Observant Life.  A motivated person can devote a few hours to a few weeks to read about Conservative Judaism.  For many if not most, however, these works are too overwhelming a starting point for conversation or exploration.  We can’t put a book in someone’s hands and say, “Read this and we can talk next week”  and expect to see them again just as we cannot we give a person a one or two word answer and expect it to mean much of anything to them. We still lack a brief, simple response to the person who wants to know what we are all about.

To insure the future of our stream of Judaism, we need  an answer to the question “What is Conservative Judaism?” that is as beautiful in its simplicity as it is brief.  Because I believe this to be crucial, and because I want to initiate a public conversation on the topic, I propose the following:

Conservative Judaism is

Deeply spiritual;

Richly intellectual;

Soulfully engaged in repairing the world;

Passionately egalitarian; and

Avidly Zionist,

all deeply anchored in The Covenant and expressed through living and learning Torah and Mitzvot.  

This is not an exhaustive list. It is not meant to be; rather, I hope many others will suggest additions and subtractions.  Most of all, I hope people, colleagues and friends and as of yet unknown voices, will join this conversation leading to a recognized and accepted communal answer.

We stand for important, dynamic Jewish living and Jewish values.  If we start the conversation with an answer that is memorable, beautiful, powerful and simple, people will be interested in hearing more, in learning more and in doing more.  If every organization in the Movement articulates the same brief answer, we build  a far more powerful voice than when we have we have too simple an answer, too long an answer or, most dangerous, no answer at all.  Finally, if we can communicate this in a unified, passionate voice, we will succeed in starting deeper, more transformational conversations with individual Jews who, interest now piqued, will make the next appointment, join the conversation, take the next step on their personal Jewish journey.  That next step leads to stronger communities and a stronger Jewish People.

This Shabbat, we will imitate our ancestors as they stood at the foot of Mt. Sinai.  We will reenact the moment of Divine Revelation.  We will try to feel the power of the Heavenly voice dictating to Moses the foundational principles of The Covenant. We will experience the dynamic power and challenge of simplicity and complexity.  I hope we will consider our own Ani Ma’amin’s, “I Believe...” statements. 

Finally, I hope that in the near future, we will arrive at a collective, jargon-free, simple, powerful answer to the question, “What is Conservative Judaism?”  Without a collective answer to that question, I fear for our long-term future.  With a collective answer, we can all look forward to a bright destiny full of international impact on people, communities and countries.  

Shabbat Shalom.

Balak, Ramah and The Lookingglass

This week’s parashah, Balak, reads like a script for a play. We meet a wide variety of characters like Balak, King of Moav and Bilaam ben Beor, a prophet-like character, and watch as they develop throughout the story. There are stage directions, talking donkeys and Heavenly Beings. We have narration, dialogue, poetry and even high drama. Threatened by the other, in this case, the Israelites, Balak seeks out Bilaam and requests that he curse our ancestors. Before any interaction with the Israelites, the others, Balak is frightened. Rather than meet and discover, Balak seeks to destroy. Ultimately, Bilaam is unable to curse Israel and instead proclaims the famous blessing:
 

מַה-טֹּבוּ אֹהָלֶיךָ, יַעֲקֹב; מִשְׁכְּנֹתֶיךָ, יִשְׂרָאֵל

How Goodly are your tents, Jacob; your dwelling places, O Israel...

Numbers 24:5

The story ends with Balak and Bilaam parting ways and with Israel being blessed. The script-like narrative of the parashah mirrors our emphasis on theater in camp this week. This coincidence extends beyond just the theatrical nature of things and includes an encounter withthe other that serves as a blessing for all involved (I will have more to say about that later).

Theater season opened in camp this week! In the span of five days, we saw performances by the Nivonim English Play Company, The Lookingglass Theater Lab Company, Aidat HaShoafim, The Northwoods Ramah Theater Company Camper Workshop and The Tikvah Arts Festival Lunch Theater. Shoafim wowed us with their production of Beauty and the Beastin Hebrew. Campers worked so hard during the first few weeks of camp and the effort paid off in the form of an outstanding production. The Tikvah Arts Festival Lunch Theater just concluded with a variety of short plays written, directed and performed by members of our Tikvah program. They cast the shows to include not only themselves but their chaverim from Machon and their CITs from Nivonim. The enthusiasm of the Tikvah campers was infectious and the cheering was incredibly loud at the end of the performance. Campers from a variety of aidot worked with members of our Northwoods Ramah Theater Company to write, direct and produce their own short theater pieces and performed them for each aidah throughout Thursday morning. The amount of imagination was just astounding.

The crown jewels of the week, however, came from the Nivonim English Play Company and The Lookingglass Theater Lab Company. Each group, working completely independently, wrote powerful, thoughtful shows about religion. They developed complex narratives, characters and themes. Nivonim created a show called The Museum of Religion about a future where all religions were banned, where everything required some basis in rational, factual knowledge and where, in the name of unity, no difference regarding faith and belief was tolerated. Along the way, the high school student characters encounter tableaux that force them to reconsider whether or not they believe in a Divine Being. While the intent of the museum visit is to strengthen commitment to rational knowledge and the banning of religious particularism and faith, the outcome of the visit is the exact opposite. In arguing against religion, the campers from Nivonim end up reaffirming their faith. Writing and performing from the depths of their souls, Nivonimers shared with us a religious journey and set of struggles that each of us encounters throughout life. Their show was a work of beauty, creativity, faith and honesty.

For the first time ever, the Lookingglass Theater Lab Company, a program for 14 - 19 year old teens living in Chicago, visited a summer camp. If you are not familiar with The Lookingglass Theater, here are a few things worth noting. They perform in a theater space on Michigan Avenue in Chicago that used to be part of the old Water Tower pumping facility. Second, they won this year’s Tony Award for Best Regional Theater. Most important for us, however, is the fact that their Executive Director, Rachel Kraft, is an alumna of Camp Ramah in Wisconsin (Nivonim 1980). The group from Lookingglass was incredible. Their performance, titledTainted Beauty: A Spiritual Journey, was created through a process almost identical to that of our Nivonimers. The show was developed by the participants. Their self-created mission statement said:

Religion creates unity as well as separation, so individuals must question to find what is beauty or tainted about their own faith.

While using different techniques, creating different characters and approaching the subject from a very different perspective, Lookingglass cast members created a show that struggled with nearly identical themes as those of our own Nivonim. Their show was also a work of beauty, creativity, faith and honesty.

Prior to their arrival, there was both excitement and trepidation about a visit from theater students who were outside the Ramah bubble. None of us knew exactly what would take place, if the groups would blend and bond, or if this would be an experience more akin to Balak, Bilaam and the Israelites. Many of the participants in Lookingglass had never left their own neighborhoods let alone the city of Chicago. They had never been to overnight camp or to the Northwoods. Many had never been in a canoe and most live in neighborhoods where meeting Jews is not very likely. Our Nivonimers were writing their first show and were doing so in camp. Would their work rise to the level of those participating in a lab from a professional theater company?  Would the groups be able to give honest, open feedback to one another? From the moment they arrived, however, the encounter with the other was positive and powerful. It was the antithesis of the Balak, Bilaam, Israelite experience.

The joint venture between The Lookingglass Theater and Camp Ramah in Wisconsin was a total success, as were the rest of the theater experiences at camp this week. Like so many encounters, participants often learn more about themselves than they do about those they encounter. The questions Lookingglass Lab members asked about camp, about Judaism and about the process of developing The Museum of Religion caused campers to be reflective about their own experiences and beliefs and to appreciate camp even more. Lookingglass members learned about themselves and their faiths and grew in knowledge about Jews and Judaism. All in all, it was proof that we can all meet in the beautiful tents of Jacob and there encounter God.

Special thanks to Charlotte and Michael Newberger for their ongoing support of the Northwoods Ramah Theater. Special thanks to Rachel Kraft, Executive Director of The Lookingglass Theater Company, to David Kersnar and Emilio Robles, directors, and to Lizzie Perkins, Director of Education and Community Programs for partnering with us to make the joint experience a reality. Special thanks to Jonathan Adam Ross who was our liaison to the project and to Lynda Bachman for working with our Nivonimers to create one of the most powerful pieces of theater I have seen.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Loren Sykes

To Give and To Take

אדם צריך שתיהי לו מילה

קצת מקום בעולם

אהבה לא נשכחת

וקול אמיתי לתפילה

ורגע מושלם

כדי לתת ולקחת

...ולא

לפחד מהפחד.

A person needs to have a word,
A little place in the world,
Unforgettable Love,
A real voice for prayer
And a moment of completeness
In order to give and to take,
And to not be afraid of fear.

Shlomo Artzi, To Give and To Take

Sitting at a picnic table in front of my house, under the bright blue sky, the bald eagle soars overhead as I listened to music with three roshei aidah.  We hear the words of Shlomo Artzi’s song לתת ולקחת, To Give and To Take.  The refrain lists five things a person needs - a word or voice, a place, unforgettable love, a real, prayerful voice, and a sense of completeness or integrity - in order to truly give and receive and to face fear without being afraid.  We listened a second time to the refrain and then entered into a conversation about tefilah, prayer.  Among the questions raised were:

• How do we balance individual needs in prayer with communal needs?
• Can every text be viewed as a prayer or is there something about liturgical poetry that puts some things within the realm of prayer and some things outside that realm?
• What is the meaning of a real or truthful voice for prayer?
• What does it mean that a person needs a word or a voice in the context of prayer?  Is that a reference to fixed liturgy or to the need for personal prayer?

As the conversation proceeded, as we went deeper trying to answer one question, we arrived at more questions than answers.

Daniel Olson, rosh aidah for our Atzmayim program, pointed out that the five precursors for successful giving, receiving, and confronting fear are, in many ways, the same things we needed to have successful, powerful tefillot in camp and in life:

אדם צריך שתיהי לו מילה
A person needs a word...

The traditional language of the siddur provides us with words, with a language for conversation with God and with ourselves.  They give us poetry and imagery that link us to our history and to the worldwide Jewish community.  At the same time, each one of us needs our own words to convey wants and desires, hopes and aspirations, thoughts and feelings.  As educators, we constantly struggle with the balance between the creative and the traditional, the communal and the individual, as we think about tefillah in camp and for ourselves.  What words do we need? Halakhically? Personally?

קצת מקום בעולם
A little place in the world
 
What is the setting for prayer, individual and communal?  How do we make our prayerful places, our מקדשי מעט , appropriate settings for tefillah. In camp, most davvening places are multipurpose spaces transitioning quickly from tefillot into stages for theater, into studios for dance, into practice rooms for music, etc.  The atmosphere of the place can help put us in the right mood for intimate conversation with God and with self or it can convey a sense of “get this over with quickly” because someone needs the room for another activity.  Our job is to insure that where we pray is conducive to prayer, that it is warm, that it inspires us to take our time in self-reflection and connection with The Divine.  And then, as we learn from the beginning of this week’s parasha, Naso,  just as was the case with moving the portable Tabernacle, the Mishkan, we need to break the room down in a respectful and careful way, treating all of the ritual objects with kavod, with respect.

אהבה לא נשכחת
Unforgettable Love

I asked the shlichim to translate this phrase for me and they said that the best translation was “unforgettable love.”  In the context of tefillah, I think Shlomo Artzi is talking about unconditional love or אהבה שלא תלויה בדבר, love that is not dependent on anything.  In tefillah, no matter what we say in our hearts, we need to remember that we are loved, somewhere, somehow, unconditionally, be that God’s love, parental love, etc.  Camp is a place where everyone needs to know that they are valued and respected.  Tefillah, with its language of thanks, provides us with the opportunity to be reminded of the sources of love and hope and blessing in our lives.



וקול אמיתי לתפילה
A real voice of prayer

For many people, camp is the place where they first discover their own prayerful voice.  Encountering the siddur, struggling with the literal and personal meaning of the prayers, helps us find our voice for talking with God and with our souls.  From the moments when we pray with our internal voice to the times we sing out with our peers, camp can be the place where people first enter conversation with God or the place where they start to discover who they are.  How do we create the atmosphere, the trust, required for campers and staff members to feel safe exploring these aspects of self?  What is a real voice of prayer?  Is there a difference between communal singing and prayer?  If so, how do we know when we are doing one and not the other?

ורגע מושלם
A moment of completeness

A personal sense of integrity, a sense of wholeness, of authenticity helps bring people to deeply prayerful moments.  Recognizing who we truly are, what we truly believe, helps motivate us to act, to give genuinely and to receive genuinely.  Walking around camp with other people, you often get gifts that open up parts of your soul, that lead to deeper understanding and that lead you to be able to face challenges and moments without fear, without worry of the “if only I...”  I often hear people say that camp is the only place where they can truly be themselves.  Tefillah can be a time for feeling this sense of completeness, of integrity, of perfection which prepares you to give and to receive.

As the staff builds over the course of the week to come, we will continue the conversation about tefillah in camp.  We will seek to build an inspiring community that is steeped in our traditional siddur.  We will work to maintain the proper balance between the voice of the community and the voice of the individual in the conversations that take place at camp between us and God.  At moments, our prayers and our souls will soar without fear, like the eagle, to the Heavens.  At others, they will be the still small voice in our souls reminding us that we are loved.  They will remind us that to give and to receive, we must be authentic in our voices, in our words, in our actions.  Finally, we will be blessed to achieve all of this in our מקום בעולם, on the shores of Lake Buckatabon at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin.

Shabbat Shalom.

VaYakhel - Bringing us Together - The Torah and Jewish Camp

I am amazed by how often the weekly Torah portion - the פרשת השבוע - coincides so perfectly with issues and events arising during the week preceding its reading (what we refer to in Aramaic as ענייני דיומא - current events or topics of the day).  While there are weeks where we clearly stretch to make such connections, there are more weeks where it is beyond just coincidence that there is a correlation between what is going on in the world and what is going on in the parashat hashavua.  This week falls into the latter category.  Let me explain.

This week, we read parashat VaYakhel whose opening verse teaches us:

וַיַּקְהֵל מֹשֶׁה, אֶת-כָּל-עֲדַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל--וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם

Moses then convened the whole Israelite community and said to them:

Exodus 35: 1

The majority of the parashah deals with Moses telling the Israelites what needs to be included in the building of the Mishkan, the portable Tabernacle, as instructed by God.  This is followed by the Torah recording that the Israelites carried out Moses directions in exacting fashion. In between the first verse of VaYakhel and the people carrying out Moses’  instructions, however, are three important directions about how the work is to be done:

1.  The Israelites are told that they can work on the project for six days a week but must have complete rest - Shabbat - on the seventh day. Exodus 35: 2 - 3

2.  To the extent that their hearts are moved to contribute, our ancestors are instructed that everyone should bring gifts for the construction of the Mishkan. Exodus 35: 4 - 9

3.  Skilled artisans and craftspeople are directed to come forward and  build the Mishkan. Exodus 35:10 - ff

In other words, before the instructions for what is to be done can be told to the people, they need a set of core principles and work rules:  You have to take a break, you have to imitate God and rest and recharge on Shabbat; everyone has a portion in the project, in this case the building of God’s dwelling place in this world, and as such, everyone needs to  contribute materials for the project to the level that they are able and at the level they are moved to give; and finally, people with special skills have an added  responsibility to actualize the vision, to make it happen.  Once these principles are made explicit, the Torah returns to the telling of the actual construction of the Mishkan.

This past week, I had the privilege of attending a הקהל - a convening - for the entire world of Jewish camping, The Foundation for Jewish Camp’s (FJC)  2012 Leaders Assembly.  The largest gathering in the history of the field, over 650 professional and lay leaders, funders and friends of not-for-profit Jewish overnight camping met in New Brunswick, New Jersey to celebrate our field and to dream about where we might go in the future.  From a small start up organization started by FJC founders Rob Bildner and Elisa Spungen Bildner and led by Rabbi Ramie Arian to a mature thirteen year-old organization led until recently by one of my mentors,  Jerry Silverman, now President and CEO of The Jewish Federations of North America, honoring its most recent President, the exceptional and visionary Dr. Skip Vichness, FJC has helped put Jewish overnight camping on the agenda of the broader Jewish community.  As a result, the Jewish world now knows and recognizes what those of us in the field have known for decades:  

• The more summers spent at high impact Jewish overnight camp is one of, if not the best guarantors of continued involvement in and lifelong commitment to Jewish community, Jewish living, and Jewish learning.  

• Jewish camp is a key investment in the future of North American Jewry and merits significant financial support from the Jewish world to make it possible for every Jewish child to attend camp, regardless of their family’s ability to pay.

• New programmatic initiatives at individual camps and camping movements are worthy investments because they work and can often be replicable in other Jewish educational settings.

• Graduates of Jewish overnight camp are disproportionately represented at every level of  professional and lay leadership in the organized Jewish community.

• Graduates of Jewish overnight camp are among the most innovative and creative contributors to new initiatives in the Jewish community.

In other words, Jewish overnight camp works.

Of the many takeaways from Leaders Assembly 2012, a few stand above the rest. First, Jewish camp must be built around and embody Torah, broadly defined and in all of its forms.  Just as Torah stands at the center of the Mishkan, the portable Tabernacle in the Beit HaMikdash, The Temple in Jerusalem, Torah must be at the heart of the Jewish camping experience.  For Jewish camp to have the type of impact it can have on individuals now and on Jewish  Peoplehood in the future, experiencing fun, meaningful Jewish living and learning must be at the center of the experience. Shabbat is one of the best examples of how this happens in every Jewish camp.  We each observe Shabbat differently but that observance dictates the rhythm of life at camp, enhances the nature of friendships and connections within the camp community and brings us closer to The Divine.

Second, increasing the number of Jewish camps, supporting new programs at existing camps, and increasing the number of scholarships and incentive grants that make it possible for every child to attend a Jewish overnight camp should be an obligation of the entire North American Jewish community.  Each community should contribute to the level it is moved to contribute.  Given the high return on the investment communities receive from Jewish camp in the form of energized, knowledgeable, committed Jewish children and adults, however, it is reasonable to expect that all communities will be inspired to contribute at the highest possible levels.  It must be understood today that Jewish camp is not a luxury for the few or a scholarship gift to those in need; rather, it is a required experience for and investment in the future of North American Jewry.  Every Jewish child merits such an  investment.

Finally, the field of Jewish camp requires outstanding, visionary professionals to design and build our camp communities anew every summer just as skilled artisans were required to design and build the Mishkan.  FJC investments in professional development programs like ELI: the Executive Leadership Institute for senior camp directors and Yitro for assistant directors are advancing the profession of camp director by exposing senior professionals to best practices in everything from customer satisfaction to development and implementation  of institutional vision.  Returning from New Brunswick, I am invigorated by the conversations I had with fellow directors and by their visions not only of individual camps but of the Jewish future as well.  Moreover, I am inspired by the  many emerging adults involved in the most innovative, transformational, new projects in the Jewish world, all of whom grew up in and are still deeply involved with the Jewish overnight camp they attended.

As the field continues to grow, as Jewish camp becomes more and more central to insuring the vibrancy of the Jewish future in North America, a few challenges remain.  To secure the future impact of Jewish camp on the broadest possible audience,  I believe we must  focus our attention on the following:

Make Jewish overnight camp affordable for families who are already investing in their children’s Jewish education by sending them to Jewish Day School.  Jewish overnight camp is as important for students of Jewish Day Schools as it is for every other Jewish child.  It is at Jewish camp where Day School students get to make Judaism their own just as it is for their peers who attend supplementary Jewish educational programs.  The financial investment these families make is substantial, often exceeding $60,000 to $80,000 or more annually for a family of three children.  Such families should not be penalized for making this investment; rather, they should be equally if not more supported and incentivized.

Celebrate brand diversity within the field of Jewish overnight camp.  Every camping movement is different and every Jewish camp is different.  We have different goals and intended outcomes.  We meet different needs.  In a Jewish world committed to pluralism, we need to celebrate difference rather than attempt to homogenize it away.  Every camp is not going to be right for every child or family and every camp does not seek to accomplish the same things.   I hope celebration of brand diversity becomes a core value for the entire field of Jewish camping, from our individual camps and movements to individual funders and foundations to our central voice in the Jewish community.  

invest in those camps that serve as the research and development (R & D) camps for the entire field. Certain camps throughout North America unofficially serve as  R & D laboratories for the rest of the field.  Camp directors share generously programs and approaches developed at our camps and benefit from those developed at other camps.  Financial support from beyond individual camp boards is as required for the research and development function in camp as it is for the adoption and replication of such programs at other camps.  We need increased support for this crucial aspect of our work, research and development, to insure long-term vibrancy not only for Jewish camping but for other Jewish educational settings as well.

Thank you to the FJC for a great Leaders Assembly 2012, for helping put Jewish overnight camp on the agenda of the entire Jewish world, for helping make it possible for all of us to “Reach Beyond the Bunk” and touch an ever increasing number of Jewish souls, and to the CEO of the Foundation for Jewish Camp, Jeremy Fingerman, who was the counselor-in-training for my cabin during my first summer as a camper at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin in 1977 for being among those who helped me make it through that first summer, and for his leadership today.

Shabbat Shalom.

כל דבר מזכיר לי - “Every Thing Reminds Me...” Thoughts on Parashat Tetzaveh - Shabbat Zachor

Annually, one of my last  stops in Israel is at the duty-free music store in Ben Gurion Airport.  I like to pick up a new recording of Israeli or Jewish music or at least listen to the new options they are playing for other shoppers.  This time, my mission was to buy the first season of “S’rugim” which translates as “Crocheted” and is a reference to young religious Israelis and their daily life experiences.  The salesman helped me find what I was looking for and started suggesting additional options. He clearly had me sized up and pegged to my age cohort and brought me new and classic recordings of Shlomo Artzi, Shalom Chanoch, Sarit Haddad and Arik Einstein.  He paused, looked at me again and said, “I bet you would love this new recording from Yehuda Poliker.”  How did this guy know?  Was it the bit of gray showing up in my hair?  

The fact is, I love the music of Yehuda Poliker.  I first heard it in 1990-1991 when I studied in Israel during my rabbinical school year.  Poliker’s music was a soothing balm during the stresses of the first Gulf War.  They served as  the uplifting tones that energized me while working with recently arrived members of the second aliyah from Ethiopia.  The only rock concert I ever attended in my life was Yehuda Poliker live at the Roman Amphitheater on Mt. Scopus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.  Poliker’s music is haunting, inspiring, energizing.  Drawing on his family roots from Saloniki, Greece, Poliker weaves together rhythms and tones, as well as lyrics, from Greece, the Mediterranean and the Middle East.  His music touches my soul in a very deep way.

The salesman brought over the new recording.  Titled כל דבר מזכיר לי, “Every Thing Reminds Me...” the CD is a combination of love songs and life songs.  On almost all of Poliker’s recordings, at least one title is sung in Greek.  This new CD begins with the title song in Greek and ends with the same song translated into Hebrew.  כל דבר מזכיר לי is a powerful, sad song of longing.  In everything - every moment, every image, every place -  the singer sees and feels and longs for a lover who is no longer.  It is not clear if the lover is dead or just gone but she is definitely no longer there.  The power of זכרון, of memory, is so intense you can feel and hear it in the singer’s voice.  What is not clear is whether or not the strength of memory is holding the singer back from moving forward with his life or if there is just an intense sadness as he navigates the tasks of daily living.  When is memory a blessing and when is it a curse?

Memory is at the heart of this Shabbat, the Shabbat before Purim.  On Shabbat Zakhor, the Shabbat of Remembrance, the maftir aliyah is read from a second Torah scroll and is taken from Deuteronomy 25:17-19:

זָכוֹר אֵת אֲשֶׁר-עָשָׂה לְךָ עֲמָלֵק בַּדֶּרֶךְ בְּצֵאתְכֶם מִמִּצְרָיִם.  אֲשֶׁר קָרְךָ בַּדֶּרֶךְ וַיְזַנֵּב בְּךָ כָּל-הַנֶּחֱשָׁלִים אַחֲרֶיך -וְאַתָּה, עָיֵף וְיָגֵעַ וְלֹא יָרֵא, אֱלֹקים. וְהָיָה בְּהָנִיחַ היְ אֱלֹקֶיךָ לְךָ מִכָּל-אֹיְבֶיךָ מִסָּבִיב בָּאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר הי-אֱלֹקֶיךָ נֹתֵן לְךָ נַחֲלָה לְרִשְׁתָּהּ--תִּמְחֶה אֶת-זֵכֶר עֲמָלֵק מִתַּחַת הַשָּׁמָיִם לֹא, תִּשְׁכָּח

Remember What Amalek did to you on your journey, after you left Egypt.  How, undeterred by fear of God, he surprised you on the march, when you were famished and weary, and cut down all the stragglers in your rear.  Therefore, when the Lord your God grants you safety from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a hereditary portion, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under Heaven.  Do not forget!

As we prepare to remember and blot out Haman and Zeresh, and to remember joyously our ancestors Esther and Mordechai, the special reading for Shabbat Zachor with its admonition to blot out the memory of our historical enemy, Amalek, serves as the context-setter for Haman as Amalek’s midrashic descendant.  I find the language of this reading confusing.  After all, the Torah commands us to “Remember” what Amalek did to our ancestors while simultaneously commanding us to erase or “blot out” the memory of Amalek from under Heaven.  Is it possible to remember and blot out at the same time?  If so, how? Finally, what role does the phrase ”...when the Lord your God grants you safety from all your enemies around you...” play in explaining the apparent contradiction between commanding memory and commanding the blotting out of memory?

One possible explanation is that until such time as the Jewish People lives in complete safety from all enemies in all places, when ultimate Peace is granted from the Heavens, that we are obligated to remember that there are ongoing threats to our existence.  Perhaps by being cognizant of these threats, we will work harder to create conditions favorable to achieving the Messianic Era and the World Peace that comes with it.  At that time, we will blot out the memory of hatred for it will be irrelevant for all eternity.  According to this explanation, memory serves as a motivator not to achieve the negative of slaughter but to bring about the positive condition of Peace in the world.  The retaining of the memory of a national homeland in The Promised Land ultimately led to the positive outcome of the establishment of the modern State of Israel.  Remembering Gilad Shalit while in captivity provided the energy and motivation to achieve his release even at the highest of prices.  Memory of this sort can link people together across cities and countries and ideologies in order to reach achievements that might have seemed impossible otherwise.

If the above explanation provides me with an understanding of the positive power of memory, however, I am still left with the question of its negative consequences.  Memory preserving hatred leads to ethnic cleansing, to vengeance on the individual and national level.  Memory in the form of longing for that which is lost and never to return, be it love or a loved one, can paralyze a person, preventing them from moving forward into a new and more positive phase of life, to finding love anew, to find new motivation for purpose in life.  Finally, the power of Memory can prevent innovation and change.  “We have always done it this way”, if more than just a sweet recalling of prior experience, serves to block change when it is demanded because the world changes or required because certain conditions change.  When memory serves to stagnate and stifle, it leads to whithering and extinction.

Salo Baron z”l, the dean of modern Jewish historians, argued against what he referred to as the “lachrymose conception of Jewish history,” a scholarly viewpoint that he believed was mistaken as it looked only at the various periods of persecution of the Jewish people while ignoring any and all positive periods or events in Jewish life, thought and culture.  For Baron and his disciples, remembrance of Jewish history must be far more than the book “Every Day Remembrance Day,” a work that lists all of the tragedies that befell Jews on each and every day of the year.  Jewish memory has to include positive achievements in economics, in theology, in art, in science, etc throughout history.  On this Shabbat, as we remember what Amalek did to us, as we keep fresh in our mind what the modern descendants of Amalek, in all of their forms, attempt to do to the Jewish People and to the world, I also encourage each of us to remember and be motivated by our positive history and memories, by positive achievements and accomplishments, and that these memories help us to discover new inner strengths to change the world and ourselves in positive ways.

As I prepare for Shabbat, the music of Yehuda Poliker plays from my iPhone and yes,        כל דבר מזכיר לד “Everything reminds me.”  The sounds and the smells, the tastes and the tasks of getting ready for Shabbat remind me of what I love about Shabbat.  They remind me of sweet Shabbatot in the past.  And they stir thoughts about the sweet Shabbatot to come - those in Chicago, those on Lake Buckatabon, and those in our Jewish national homeland, Israel.

Shabbat Shalom.

Parashat Ki Tissa - Stepping Up.

"ובִמְקוֹם שֶׁאֵין אֲנָשִׁים, הִשְׁתַּדֵּל לִהְיוֹת אִיש"ׁ
במשנה במסכת אבות, פרק ב' משנה ה

Hillel said... “And in a place where there are no people, strive to be a person.”
Pirke Avot 2:5

Last week, I wrote about a meeting with a remarkable leader in Israel, one who is standing up and speaking out against what are popular positions in some quarters but are destructive to the well being of the Jewish People both in Israel and abroad. Despite knowing that his opinions were anathema to many in his party, this individual chose to put the needs of Clal Yisrael above petty sectoral and fundamentalist interests. He knew that staking out such positions publicly would bring difficult times for him and for his family yet he felt that he had no choice - in a place where people were not behaving humanly, he had to strive to be human.

One of the classic interpretations of the section of Pirke Avot quoted above understands this statement to refer to teaching Torah. In other words, in a place where people are not or are unwilling to teach Torah, strive to be the teacher. Others, based on the context where the word appears throughout Torah, איש (person) to refer to the acts of tzaddikim. The רשב”ץ, Rabbi Shimon ben Tzemach Doron (Algeria, 1361-1444) wrote explicitly that Hillel’s statement meant:

“In a place where nobody is willing to stand in the breach and take care of the needs of the community, strive to be the person who does, even if it means taking a break from studying the words of Torah.”

For the רשב”ץ, stepping up when others do not or will not, either to lead or to care for the needs of the community or the needs of individuals, is paramount. It is the embodiment of what it means both to be human and to be created in the Divine Image we strive to imitate.

Throughout my visit to Israel, I met examples of people stepping up to meet the needs of the community, especially in areas where those needs were not being met. I reconnected with Elana Bekerman Frank. Elana worked at Ramah Darom the first summer of the camp and several subsequent summers. She and her husband recently made Aliyah and she serves as the Director of Development for Kfar Hassidim, a branch of Kfar HaNoar HaDati, a youth village near Carmiel. Working with CEO Beni Hadad, Elana is improving the physical facilities of the village and funding for its programs while Beni works to make life better for the the students, to provide them with hope for the future, and to inspire them to change the world. The students at Kfar Hassidim, mostly the children of immigrant families from Russia and Ethiopia, come from difficult family situations. They are joined by other students during the day because the school has excellent programs in education. Beni, Elana, the faculty and the staff are working hard to make a good place and a good life for these exceptional students. They are stepping into the breach because it has to be done. Kol HaKavod!

On Thursday, I visited a program called Shutaf, literally “Partner.” Shutaf was created by our friend Beth Steinberg, as a day camp and, during the school year an after-school program, for children with special needs. One of her sons has such needs and there was no program appropriate for him. Beth quickly realized that there were others like her son looking for such a program. In the summer, Camp Shutaf is made up of approximately 75% children with special needs and 25% typical campers. They are together. They learn from each other. They play. They have fun. And all boundaries between people disappear. I watched the afternoon program which meets at the Natural History Museum in Jerusalem, just off of Emek Refaim, behind one of my favorite bakeries, Pe’er. The smell of challot and baking bread, of cookies and rugelah waft through the air as we walk to watch the program. What was happening here socially, intellectually, and on all levels was nothing short of extraordinary. Beth and her friends, all of the staff and the volunteers are changing the world. They are striving to be human, to lead, in places where far too few are willing. And Beth and I started talking about ways that Camp Ramah in Wisconsin and Shutaf could partner in the future.

Standing in the Shuk Mahane Yehuda, shocked by the out-of-place nature of the new Cafe Aroma, I received a call from our friend Marni Mandell. Marni was telling me about her new job as Executive Director of American Friends of the Jordan River Village, a very special new camp being built in Israel. According to the website:

The Mission of the Jordan River Village is to enrich the lives of children from throughout our region, who suffer from serious illnesses and life-threatening conditions. They will experience a vacation that is cost-free, memorable, medically sound and physically safe. The specific medical needs of each child, no matter how profound, will be addressed by a fully staffed medical center on site, functioning 24 hours a day. These children will regain some of their lost childhood and will benefit from reinvigorated minds, bodies and spirit.

Marni’s enthusiasm for her new project is contagious, the scope of the vision stunning, inspiring, and deeply moving. This is not a new project and Marni is not the only person working on it, but she has moved it forward in ways that it has not moved in several years. It will become a reality as a result of her work and lives will be touched in deep and important ways. Marni is stepping into the breach and being human in new ways.

In a few weeks, our own Yali Derman will debut a new bag in her collection at Saks Fifth Avenue in Highland Park. Saks agreed to sell the bag at cost, to make no money at all, and to donate all of the proceeds to K.I.D.S.S. - Kindness is Doing Something Special for Kids, a project of Children’s Memorial Hospital. At $85, the bag could have sold for $200 to $400 or more but Saks stepped into the breach, along with Yali, to make this happen and to support kids with cancer. Yasher Koah to Camp Ramah in Wisconsin Alumnus Yali Derman for stepping up and showing Kindness to kids like her who will draw inspiration from her creativity and her success as a cancer survivor!

Today, there are many leaders that are too self-interested, that worry about their own well-being more than that of the community, who display painful lack of integrity. There are also those charged with or take upon themselves the challenge of providing and creating inspiring visions for the future that do not actually do that but instead provide short-term tactics and quick fixes. A vacuum of leadership leads to pandemonium. It leads to what we call hefkeirut, to each person doing what is best for themselves. In Moses absence, there was little willingness to stand up, to fill the breach, and thus, we ended up with the Golden Calf, the false god worshipped and prayed to, the deceiver created by people to fill the gap of leadership.

During my recent trip, I saw Elana and Beni, Beth and Marni. I met Rabbi Haim Amsallem standing up for the good of the entire Jewish People. I met Rabbi Yoav Ende, working with a group to re-establish Kibbutz Hannaton, the first Kibbutz of the Tnua Masorti. And back in the US, I was reminded about Yali and her new bag. Each of these people, individuals of courage and hope, integrity and humanity, are stepping up to change the world, to lead, to make a difference. I pray that we are inspired by each of them and that when we are in the place where there are no willing people that we stand up, fill the breach, and be the human beings that we know we can be.

Shabbat Shalom