After being here for around a month, I find that I'm getting kind of used to the daily prayers that I used to awkwardly mumble along to.
I still can't say I know them word for word but once I learnt the rhythm and the accompanying tune, as well as the beat carrying slam on the table and high-five the person opposite me, the words quickly followed; English and Hebrew.
Now some of you might be wondering what the value of an atheist like me participating in daily Jewish prayers is. We say these prayers before and after every meal and they have become just as much a part of my day as brushing my teeth or setting up ropes courses.
These prayers offer me two things which I get to enjoy even though I am not in the faith:
1) These six prayers a day offer me a chance to engage with the entire community at camp. In the act of just singing together, I'm able to let my voice join with the voice of the whole community and enjoy hearing everyone else's voices with their unique traits and rhythms. Because in the prayers we do here, we encourage gusto, volume, and enthusiasm; not singing well or using correct Hebrew pronunciation. And, with our post-meal birkat, part of the prayer involves 'high fiving' the person closest to you, an action that forces you to fully engage with another person, preferably someone you don't yet know well.
2) At their core, these prayers are about gratitude. The words themselves talk to thanking God for bread, and for the arrival of another morning. But as an atheist, I can buy into this practice of verbally giving thanks for the many things in life you take for granted. In the line "we give thanks to God for bread" I take that as being grateful for the abundance of food in general we are able to enjoy and thanking the various external forces that provide this food. In our morning prayers we also give thanks for the simple fact that morning is here and that we have a full day ahead of us. It may sound silly to give thanks for something that's such a given but I find it a really healthy thing to do. Studies show that the best way to increase happiness is to practice expressing gratitude for the things you have. It's very easy to only notice what you don't have and agonize over those things, to the extent that you don't appreciate the many things you do have.
Here at CSL, we have a lot to be grateful for. It may be hard to force ourselves to get out of bed in the morning sometime,s but when we start a day here, campers and staff alike know that there is so much potential that lies in the day ahead. Whether there's a camp wide mass program on that day or a village activity that's been in the works for a few days, or a regularly scheduled day, there are so many opportunities available to us all in just one day. Recently, I had some down time in my schedule and so I learnt to water ski for the first time! I am constantly astounded by the campers and the things they say and the things they do. They make me laugh with some of the random quotes they come out with and I cheer for them as they challenge their fear of heights, and complete challenges they didn't think were possible.
So whether you are Jewish, non-Jewish, or non-religious, anyone can join in with these six daily celebrations of each other and the uncountable blessings we have here at CSL.
Nick Turner
Ropes Specialist
