This Shabbat marks the end of two weeks that I have spent at URJ Camp Coleman in North Georgia. It is a privilege each summer to come to camp to spend time with the kids from our synagogue who are campers, and in these two weeks I saw them learn and grow in meaningful ways. Along with them are counselors, members of the medical and wellness teams, camp’s Director of Jewish Life, and the temple’s Director of Jewish Living and Learning Emerita Robin Eisenberg, totaling over 40 members of the congregation who are here- an impressive number.
The number of Temple members at Camp Coleman is not the only impressive number I’m thinking about this week. As we begin our reading of the next and final book in our Torah, Deuteronomy, we learn of another impressive number. Moses begins his swan song and final reminder to the Israelites of their commitments and his expectations of them when they enter into the Land of Israel, saying to them:
“God has multiplied you until you are today as numerous as the stars of the sky…May the God of your ancestors increase your numbers a thousandfold, and bless you as promised.”
As Moses prepares the Israelites to take possession of the Promised Land and learn to live without his leadership, he blesses them with a vision of prosperity and growth.
Over the thousands of years since that moment, our people have found a variety of ways to pursue those blessings of prosperity and growth. One of them has been through our commitment to Jewish camping. Affording our youth, the leaders of the next generation, the opportunity to navigate new experiences and challenges, push themselves to manage deepening independence, and create lasting relationships away from the comforts of home and family at camping environments has proven to be one of the most powerful tools we have to ensure our people’s future. To do this and do it well requires dedicated and talented leadership and staff, committed and passionate benefactors, and parents with enough courage and trust to put their beloveds onto a plane or a bus and say, “I’ll see you in a few weeks – don’t forget to write!”
Camps are large, spirited groups that can be both invigorating and maddening to lead. For these past two weeks, the counselors and unit heads, the camp’s leadership, my fellow Jewish professionals, and I have at times struggled to get and hold the campers’ attention. It’s not entirely the campers’ fault, though. They are here with their friends, having the best time of their lives, wanting to belt out the next cheer, song, or prayer, or just kibbitz among themselves. Quieting them to lead a group of 20 or the camp of hundreds is just not an easy task.
Moses certainly felt that way around the camp of the Israelites. It was challenging to lead them, but he also learned of the blessing that could come from success. The Zohar teaches us that the blessing Moses gave the people at the beginning of the portion- that God had multiplied them and would bless them with future prosperity – is a meaningful illustration of a mitzvah, a sacred obligation: to offer a blessing of gratitude for the goodness that others have received. Despite the challenges the Israelites presented him on their journey, Moses blessed them and wished them future success. He knew that his job as their leader was to prepare them for what was next, as frustrating and chaotic as that experience could be.
But being a part of the challenging of camping has, for so many summers of my life, been a blessing. As a counselor and camp leader, I got to shape the next generation of leaders. Now, as a rabbi in camp, I get to watch that generation shape the next, creating the next link in that chain of blessing, for which I am grateful.
I’m grateful for the blessings that our congregation has, that we have inspired so many of our kids (and a handful of adults) to spend their summers in a dynamic Jewish environment, deepening their connection to our tradition and our people.
I pray that our campers bring their Jewish time home with them, deepening their families’ Jewish lives and fulfilling the vision of past generations of vibrant Jewish communities.
And I offer my blessing of gratitude to you all, for the privilege you afford me to be a part of this wonderful Jewish enclave – of space and time – which feeds my soul and my spirit.
As I look up at the sky this evening and see the multitude of stars stretching across the heavens, I will see in their twinkling our ancestors of generations past looking down and smiling on us, blessing us that our blessing of prosperity will be a thousandfold.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Greg Weisman
