Rabbi's Messages

If you show up at camp, you get put to work.

I am writing this message just back from my annual week at Camp George, which is our regional Reform Jewish summer camp – one of almost 20 camps around North America that belong to the Union for Reform Judaism. Camp George is a place where kids go for the summer to swim, ski, climb, cook, sing, pray, and love being Jewish. I’ve watched my own kids go there, year after year, and come back taller, tanner, stronger, more independent, and with their brains full of Jewish songs and ideas.

As a rabbi, it is my privilege (and my children’s chagrin) to spend a week each summer at camp as a member of the “Faculty.” It’s a good opportunity to connect with kids from the congregation in a very different setting, and to bring together Judaism and the great outdoors. (Camp George just might be one of the most beautiful places on earth). Usually our job as faculty is leading services and running Jewish programming for the campers. But, as I wrote above, if you show up at camp, you get put to work.

This year, when the running water went out, it was “all hands-on deck” – passing out bottles of water, making sure campers understood the limitations of the septic tank. These are NOT things that rabbinical school trained me for. But the highlight was Thursday morning when six faculty members were asked to pile into cars and drive an hour to Gravenhurst to pick up 147 giant jugs of drinking water. That was when I was reminded of a passage from the Torah portion called Nitzavim:

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“You stand today, all of you, before the Eternal (Deuteronomy 29:9-10)God – men, women, and children – from wood chopper to water drawer.”

The meaning of this passage always kind of eluded me. What do wood choppers and water drawers have to do with covenant? But as I drove back to camp with 20 jugs (50 lbs each!) rolling around in the back of my car, I realized: It’s about the ways that we support one another, and about working together when the times get tough. It’s about community.

Community sits at the centre of Jewish life. As we enter September and begin a new Jewish year, we are growing and changing as a community. We are undertaking the project of bringing together two congregations, forming something new that will represent the best of what we all bring. This is both exciting and daunting. There will be new faces, new melodies, and new locations. I encourage us all to jump in with an open mind and an open heart – to recognize that during this time of transition we will thrive most if we have “all hands on deck.” The more we are all willing to think outside the box, to reach out to one another, and to share our talents and experiences, the stronger our community will be going forward.

That’s what I learned during my brief stint as a water drawer at Camp George. (Maybe next year they’ll let me chop down a tree.)

I am looking forward to spending this holiday season with each one of you. Best wishes for a happy and healthy new year.

L’shanah Tovah,
Rabbi Micah Streiffer