Torah Geek

This summer at camp there was a family of birds nesting in one of the trees right outside the dining hall. There were a few days early in the summer when we were told to keep our distance — the baby birds were learning to fly and the parents were not thrilled with humans standing next to their tree. One morning, one baby bird plummeted onto the table where we were having a meeting. After some adorable and awkward hopping and flapping the small bird wound up on the ground in the bushes and throughout the meeting we would look over to see if it was still OK. Was it stuck? Did it need help? Where were this bird’s parents? I was worried about the baby bird. You probably realized far sooner than I had what was really going on. In two days my oldest daughter, Mira, is starting college and leaving our nest. Many of you have been through this before; you know the combination of intense pride and happiness that comes along with a vague sense of loss. In the words of the Roman philosopher S...

The first year we had a home of our own our oldest daughter was only a year old and we built a sukkah in our backyard. It started small and we added a bit to it every year. When our kids were little we used to read bedtime stories in the sukkah — taking out the air mattress and pillows and blankets and cuddling up together to read before carrying the kids upstairs to bed. As soon as the kids were old enough, we tried sleeping outside in the sukkah — and it was a huge hit with the kids. The dogs were confused; they could not figure out why we would all sleep outside when there was a perfectly good house right behind us, but they curled up with the kids and waited patiently for the humans to realize that we were supposed to sleep indoors. And so a family tradition began: every year at Sukkot we picked a weekend night to sleep outside in our Sukkah. We didn’t manage to do it every year, because some years it was just too windy and the sukkah could barely stand, and there was a year...

This year at Camp Newman, each day at camp had its own theme which was carried through all activities during the day – not just the educational programming. For example, when the theme was “kehillah kedosha” (building a holy community), it was a part of pool time: building a holy community means following the rules so everyone can feel safe. It was a part of meal times: building a holy community means cleaning up your dishes after a meal, because we all have a part in making the dining hall a place we all want to eat It was a part of sports: building a holy community means playing fair on the field so everyone can enjoy the game. It was a part of the talent show: building a holy community means cheering and applauding for everyone at the talent show (whether or not they have talent). All day there were chances to build a holy community. What is unique about camp is the context put around every activity – the reminder that every part of our day is a chance to express our community’s...