Shabbat Shalom from Camp!

Our second Shabbat of our second session is our first opportunity to celebrate together – as a single camp community. We’ve been looking forward to this since campers arrived on July 18. As we begin to make our way to the amphitheater, I am reminded about the reasons why, as Jewish people, we stop, observe, and welcome Shabbat. First and foremost, in the book of Genesis it says: “On the seventh day, God finished that work that had been ongoing…. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because on it God ceased from all the work of creation that had been done.”. Although there is no mention here that human beings should also observe a Sabbath, in the book of Exodus, God declares that the Israelites should “remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy…for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and sea, and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” The second reason the Torah gives us is as a reminder of the covenant we have with God. God says, in the Book of Deuteronomy, “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God freed you from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe Shabbat”. This is an especially important reason to remember, as our ancestors were unable to enjoy a day of rest – as slaves in Egypt.

These reasons are all we need as a Jewish community to stop and observe Shabbat. Here at Camp, I would like to share a third reason. Shabbat, at Camp, is a special opportunity to connect on a deeper, spiritual level with one another. To say the words of Shalom Aleichem, with the elaborate finger tapping that goes with it. To sing loudly and proudly Oseh Shalom, Lecha Dodi, and Adon Olam with our arms outstretched over our friends’ shoulders. To laugh and smile together as we collectively say the prayer over the children as we place our hands over each other’s heads. All this creates a sense of pride to being Jewish and being part of our special camp community. To us, that is the reason that resonates most to stop and observe Shabbat – with ruach!

This week’s parsha, Eikev, continues Moses’ book-long address to the Israelites. A literal, or pshat, understanding of the text is that it lists many of the Israelites’ trials and tribulations during the 40-year sojourn in the wilderness. A deeper, or remez, understanding of the same text to a question that we still ask today: What does it take to become a people? In the Torah, God and the Israelites interact again and again as they mature. Yet, as a camper said this week when asked about themes in Torah: “Most of these stories are about Israelites messing up and making mistakes.” How many times have our counselors asked campers or head staff asked counselors to do something, only for the instructions to be ignored and/or decide to do it their own way? Being a people means sometimes we get things wrong. Yet, we continue to work together towards a common goal, we continue to coexist and share in one another’s lives.

For now, we’re off to enjoy Kabbalat Shabbat as a EKC Camp Community.

Shabbat Shalom,

Aaron