Tusc Shabbat was beautiful. Campers and staff decorated the fire circle with lights, Tusc staff/sing specialist Charlie Landsman and band performed an amazing rendition of one of his original songs, and pieces focused on a very fitting theme for Tusc 2011: Marching to the Beat of Your Own Drum. Please see my dvar below.
Thank you to everyone who has helped make Judaica at CSL 2011 so wonderful. It's been a very thoughtful, reflective summer full of personal growth and community building. I look forward to summer 2012!
~Joy Getnick~
CSL Judaic Educator
One of my favorite Hasidic folk tales is about a rabbi and his son. Each day the son wandered off into the woods alone, and one day the rabbi decided to inquire why. When prompted, the boy explained, “I go into the woods to find God.” “Well,” his father replied slowly,” that’s a very good thing, but my son, don’t you know that God is the same everywhere?” “Yes,” the boy answered. “God may be the same everywhere, but I am not.”
All of the summer parashot take place while the Israelites wander in the desert, searching for the Promised Land. The premise of these parashot is that although Judaism could exist anywhere – in slavery in Egypt, in the wilderness of Sinai – there was something special about living Jewishly in Israel. The same is true for us. Although certainly it is possible to live Jewishly anywhere, there is something special about living Jewishly here at CSL. For many of us, the opportunity to live as part of a vibrant Jewish community is one of the key reasons drawing us back to camp, summer after summer.
Many synagogues have quotes above the ark. My favorite is “da lifnei mi atah omed, know before whom you stand.” This is something I believe the Jews in the Sinai desert did well. They knew before whom they stood, for their leader literally spoke to God as God guided the Israelites on their journey. They understood why they were traveling such a great distance, and despite so much loss and hardship, to seek a better life in Israel. This quote has long since been my favorite for a synagogue ark because, to me, it represents the fundamental question all Jews should ask before beginning to pray – “Why I am doing this? Why am I here?” Equally important is “where am I going, and is it in the direction I desire?”
Traditionally “before whom you stand” refers to God. The quote is based on the idea that as Jews, we stand in awe of one God, not bowing down before humans, or any other Gods. As I explained last week, I can’t prove that God exists. I don’t know what God looks like. Yet I believe in God, because that strong belief in something so much bigger than me provides me with tremendous comfort. I believe because my faith adds value to my life, and helps give me direction and purpose.
When I stand before an ark that reads “know before whom you stand,” I think of God, but I also think of myself. To me, the quote is just as much about standing in awe of God as it is about knowing oneself. Such is the goal of Judaica at CSL, which is based on the premise that it’s really easy to go through life blindly, waking up one day only to wonder how you got to where you are. As such, activities are designed to take advantage of the wonderful opportunity we have at camp to step back and think about who we want to be, both as Jews and as people. Armed with that information we can then hope to live our life as we intend, moving in the direction we choose. That doesn’t mean that our path won’t wind, that our course won’t shift, but at least we’ll be moving through life with purpose and meaning.
In two days we will all leave CSL for summer 2011. We will be thrust back into a fast paced secular world in which we might struggle to retain and celebrate our Jewish identity. It is my hope that we remember why we chose to spend our summer together at CSL, why we chose to find God and community here. I hope we remember that although God is the same everywhere, we are not. Like the little boy in the woods, while away from CSL we must continue to seek out open-minded, supportive spiritual communities that provide physical space for personal thought and reflection, so that we may not only come to know before whom we stand, but also why. Shabbat shalom.
