Shabbat Shalom Cayuga Families,
As long as I am sitting here on CQ I figured I would take a few minutes to write about Cayuga Shabbat. It was a great evening and I am very proud of the effort put forth by every camper. The evening began with the campers all fighting for their spot in line to shower. I know, I know; it doesn’t seem possible that Cayugans would actually want to shower but I’m here to tell you that when Shabbat rolls around they take shower time very seriously! I think they fear being labeled as a “Smelly Cayugan” by any of their Onondagan counterparts. Once everyone was good and clean, C-4 headed out to the dining hall to prepare for our first Shabbat meal together. Preparing the hall for Shabbat is no easy task and fortunately we were assisted by the girls of Seneca. Every table had a floral centerpiece created by the campers at A&C using tissue paper, pipe cleaners, and paper cups. I have to say that they turned out pretty darn good. Once the dining hall was fully prepared the rest of the village and camp arrived.
Having had a delicious meal, the campers went on their first Shabbat Walk. I always laugh when I see Cayugans on Shabbat Walk because inevitably they end up at the waterfront skipping rocks while their “dates” stand in clumps with their arms crossed or on their hips. Once I had herded the village into the fire circle, services began. As a village we sang a fun medley of Hebrew songs and several members of our staff along with camper, Alex Lederman, spoke. To close the service I read a piece that I wrote about the week’s theme, “Something Beautiful.”
After a yummy snack of graham crackers we retired to the village for the evening where we spent a little time playing before heading to bed. The oldest campers of the village, C-5, travelled to the staff lounge for a new Cayuga tradition, Oldest Cayuga Movie Night. This week’s film was “Everyone’s Hero.”
Well, the hour is late and I am ready to go enjoy our Shabbat sleep-in and breakfast in the village tomorrow morning!
Until next time...
Gregg Houck
Cayuga Unit Head
Something Beautiful – Gregg’s Unit Head Speech for Cayuga Shabbat
“Tonight as we gathered around the fire circle I could think of many obvious, beautiful things. We live, work, and play in one of the most beautiful places I know of. We are surrounded by people who are beautiful inside and out. We’ve listened to the beautiful music of Shabbat through prayer and performance. We’ve absorbed the beauty of the words spoken by Joy and our Cayuga and Seneca staff and campers. But how many of us have thought about the big picture, the beauty that is life, the compilation of many beautiful moments? For the past 11 months I’ve mourned the loss of my dear friend Polly. Polly was undoubtedly one of the brightest rays of light in my life. She had a beautiful soul that touched the lives of many, many people including the students who had her as a teacher in the classroom we shared. She always saw the beauty in every moment and tried very hard to illuminate those moments for others who could not always find them, me included. Twice in battle against her greatest foe, Cancer, Polly fought back by refusing to let the disease take away her ability to appreciate every moment she had in this lifetime whether it was 4 days, 4 weeks, 4 years, or 40 years. In the darkest of moments, through the greatest of pain she took in every experience and found the beauty and the joy and reveled in it. Sometimes we forget how beautiful, precious, and fleeting life can be.
Polly was a great fan of music and had a beautiful voice that was featured in many venues throughout our community. A song that we once sang together in concert struck me as I sat pondering our theme. The piece was called “For The Beauty Of The Earth.” I thought that the lyrics were particularly appropriate for this Shabbat and so I would like to share some of them with you.
For the beauty of the earth,
for the glory of the skies,
for the love which from our birth
over and around us lies.
For the beauty of each hour
of the day and of the night,
hill and vale, and tree and flower,
sun and moon, and stars of light.
For the joy of ear and eye,
for the heart and mind's delight,
for the mystic harmony,
linking sense to sound and sight.
For the joy of human love,
brother, sister, parent, child,
friends on earth and friends above,
for all gentle thoughts and mild.
Aside from music, Polly especially appreciated the beauty of God’s gifts of nature, especially rainbows. I believe that she felt they were the most simple, yet beautiful gifts that God gives to the world to show his love for his children. This was no secret to those of us who loved and cherished her. After Polly passed and we gathered to celebrate her life, we were honored with a very special gift. On that day of so much sorrow and sadness the most beautiful rainbow appeared before the crowd, a sign of comfort, a symbol of Polly and finding beauty in the darkest of times. The other day, as I made my way towards Tusc, a similar rainbow appeared over the agam. I stood on the shore, felt the breeze, listened to the waves break over the stones, and soaked in the visual spectacle before me. In that moment I was reminded that life is truly something beautiful.”
