We had a fantastic first week in Judaica. Onondagans and Cayugans learned daily camp prayers, including Birkat and Modeh Ani. They also made Jewish star bead buddies and discussed the ways in which we celebrate Judaism and Shabbat here at camp! Youngest Seneca and Mohawk learned about the ways in which Judaism celebrates uniqueness and looks to make those with differing abilities feel welcome, and then competed in a series of relay races related to differing abilities. Middle Seneca and Mohawk continued the theme of "celebrating uniqueness" by learning about Perek Shirah, an ancient poem that highlights the ways in which all animals and plants sing / speak to God, and then went on walks around camp looking for things that are unique! Tusc continued its new Judaic curriculum with an "Israel Issues Cafe" where, working together in small groups, the campers discussed and debated contemporary Israeli issues such as whether or not Arab-Israeli soccer players should be made to stand for Hatikvah before each game, and whether or not Hebrew should be the only national language.
Shabbat this week was led by Mohawk and Onondaga. The Onondagan ladies did a beautiful job decorating the dining room and leading camp in the Shabbat blessings. O2 also joined with M5 for a moving rendition of "Closer to Fine," which went perfectly with this Shabbat's theme of "choice." 35 Mohicans wrote and delivered pieces. Additionally, Mohicans decorated a group plaque, wrote and delivered mini speeches about the parasha, and performed musical acts. A huge thank you to Jason Feldman, Emily Weinger, Charlie Landsman, and all the Mohawk and Onondaga staff who made the services possible. An additional thank you to Max Jacobson, Liz Pattison, and Becca Baum for adding an additional musical component to our Friday night service.
Our first week of discussion periods also went well. Youngest Onondaga and Cayuga learned about the ways in which we all contribute to and take from community, and Middle and Oldest Onondaga and Cayuga created group murals of thanks. Youngest Seneca and Mohawk did a program about Judaism and Facebook, Middle Seneca and Mohawk learned about the morning prayers and added their own thoughts, while Oldest Seneca and Mohawk learned about Judaism's relationship with the environment and then discussed several classic Jewish environmental tales. Tusc debated how they might want to change Judaism, as well as how they hope Judaism will change our impact them, while Oneida did an abstract program comparing the Garden of Eden to the world in which we live, and then discussed how the world in which we're living came to be. My dvar also addressed the ways in which our choices shape the fate of the world. Please see a copy of it below.
Thank you to Rabbi Mammon for a great presentation for Seneca and Mohawk on Wednesday about Judaism and heroism, and to Rabbi Vogel for leading a spectacular station during Israel Day. Your support for our Judaica program is greatly appreciated.
Shavua Tov!
~Joy~
Dvar – Friday night – Session 2, Week 1
Theme: Choice – round two
As those of you who were here in July know, I do my best to stay informed of what’s going on in the world outside camp’s gate. While I enjoy the sheltered haven that camp provides, it also makes me feel a bit guilty. Why should I get to spend my summer in such an incredibly beautiful place, surrounded by amazing people and part of this fantastic community, while just beyond camp road others are struggling?
During the school year I teach college history. This past year I taught a couple of sections of twentieth century world history, a course that strives to give students – primarily freshman – a deeper understanding of how the world in which we’re living came to be. Together, we explore the choices the individuals made, both good and bad, and the effects those choices had on the world.
The last activity I do with my students involves reading articles from the New York Times and analyzing how our new-found knowledge of history can help us better understand the present. We read articles about AIDS in Africa, censorship in China, political turmoil in Europe, and we see the past repeating itself, time and time again. For me, this activity is particularly exciting because it gives me an opportunity to share my love of news with my students. Most of my students don’t frequently read the paper, and it is empowering for them to see that they are able to read, understand, and analyze the news better because of what they learned in school. Here at camp I crave that excitement of the news. I want to learn about the choices that world leaders and active citizens are making, and the ways in which those choices are shaping our world, but reading newspapers and websites takes time, precious time I don’t often have here at camp.
Yet sometimes, despite the chaos and isolation of camp, the news can’t be kept out. No amount of rain, construction, or lousy internet connections can keep the news from pushing its way through camp gate and onto my desk. This week was one of those times. On Tuesday, a forty-five-year-old Israeli Lieutenant Colonel lost his life over a tree. Yes, a tree. It seems that Israel wanted to prune a tree in the buffer zone between Israel and Lebanon. The buffer zone is currently patrolled by a special UN unit. Thus, before pruning the tree, Israel notified the UN of its intentions, and received approval. According to Israel and the UN, the tree was within Israel’s portion of the buffer zone. Yet Lebanon, or rather Hezbollah, a Palestinian militant organization who essentially controls much of the Lebanese government, felt otherwise. Hezbollah argued that the tree fell within Lebanon’s portion of the buffer zone, and that Israel only wanted to prune the tree because it was blocking Israeli observation cameras.
As Israeli troops began to prune the tree, Lebanese snipers shot and killed Lieutenant Colonel Dov Harari and seriously wounded the platoon leader, Captain Ezra Lakia. It is important to highlight the fact that Hezbollah targeted the Israeli leaders, despite the fact that the leaders themselves weren’t actually touching the tree. As unfortunately was to be expected, Israel responded by shelling the Hezbollah cells, at which point Hezbollah began launching RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades), culminating in an Israeli helicopter airstrike against Lebanese army positions, the result of which was the death of two Lebanese soldiers and a Lebanese journalist. An additional fifteen people were injured. Over a tree.
This week’s parasha, Re’eh, focuses on the ways in which the actions of the few impact the many. The parasha begins with Moses reminding the Israelites that if they follow God’s laws they will be blessed, whereas if they ignore God’s laws and turn away from community, they will be cursed with bad luck and poor harvests. In this way, the parasha teaches us that our actions have consequences, good and bad, and that we should think through our decisions wisely. The parasha teaches us not to ignore the ways in which our choices affect ourselves and others, and shape the world in which we live for better, or on Tuesday in Israel, for worse.
Each us of make countless decisions every day. We decide what to wear, what to eat, what to do, how to act, what to say, what not to say, whether to have a positive attitude or a negative attitude, whether to be kind or hurtful, whether to give people the benefit of the doubt or assume the worst, whether to be flexible or rigid, understanding or closed-minded, engaged in life or shut out from it. In a utopian world we would always make good choices. In that utopian world we would think everything through before we did or said it, and know, with absolute certainty, that we were doing or saying the right thing at the right time. Yet we don’t live in a utopian world, and we don’t always, 100% of the time, make good choices. All we can do is hope that, as the parasha teaches, most of the choices we make are for the best – for us, society, and our larger world – and that we do the best we can to make the world better, one choice at a time. Shabbat Shalom.
