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Shalom! We have so many stories to share from the past week, we hardly know where to start. Our days since last Shabbat have been incredibly full with both our normal programming and lots of special happenings. Here are some of the past week's highlights:
On Sunday, our Yom Kehillah was a huge success! We enjoyed seeing the reunion of our families and enjoyed the wonderful sounds of happy Ramah families.
From even before opening ceremonies on Monday night until Tuesday evening's closing ceremonies, Maccabiah fever took hold of camp, with signs (and campers!) painted in the team colors of adom (red), kahol (blue), yarok (green) and tzahov (yellow). Athletic competitions officially began with basketball skills events on Monday before dinner. All campers were encouraged to participate in each of three event categories on Tuesday: swimming, track and field and wacky/fun competitions, which included such classic events as three-legged races, wheelbarrow races and dizzybats. After the competitions ended, everyone came together as a camp for a refreshing barbecue dinner, followed by closing ceremonies in Kikar Zion. In the end, kahol finished in first place, but the central theme of the day was sportsmanship and camaraderie.
This week we welcomed soccer specialist, Michael Erush. Michael helped campers develop and build on their soccer skills through small group instruction. He focused on fundamental skills such as passing, shooting, heading and defending. Erush has played soccer since he was a young child, excelling in the college circuit before playing professionally for the Colorado Rapids and Chivas USA. Erush and his teammates won a silver medal at the 2005 Maccabi Games in Israel, and he recently returned from coaching soccer at the 19th Maccabi Games this summer. What a fantastic treat to have a real soccer pro work with our chanichim.
 On Thursday, Machaneh Ramah 's Mishlachat ( Israeli staff) hosted the annual Israel Carnival, Yom Yisrael. Amazing ruach and cheer filled the carnival area as campers learned and celebrated Israel.
The theme of this session's Israel carnival was "Cultures of Israel," with booths highlighting the many cultural influences in Israel. The booths led by Machon and Tzevet Israel were creative and highlighted the many cultural influences in Israel.
 Chanichim of all ages enjoyed this incredible celebration.
There were many tiyulim this week. We said l'ehitraot to our Nitzanim campers on Wednesday as they boarded a bus for their over night tiyul to Lake Casitas and a water park. They had a great night of s'mores, bonding and fun.
On Thursday, Etgar Art and Ceramics traveled to the Santa Barbara Art Museum to view the photography exhibit and modern art exhibit while Etgar fitness enjoyed an afternoon at the beach.
Our last Shabbat will be bittersweet as the end of an amazing session approaches. But we will soak in the sweetness of one more wonderful Shabbat as a time to pray, learn, sing, play and just be together at beautiful Machaneh Ramah.
Shabbat Shalom! |
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Ramah Community Health Update
Here is a follow up to the health update that was sent on Monday. We have continued to see approximately 10 campers or staff members spend the night in our infirmary due to a gastrointestinal virus. The duration of the illness is quite short - usually 8 to 24 hours - and those effected recover quickly and return to the fun of camp activities. A few campers have returned home to recover and also quickly returned to our camp community. If your child spends a night in the infirmary, you will be contacted by the marp.
We have been in constant contact with the Ventura County Health Department and they have endorsed and approved of our response and the measures we have taken to prevent the spread of illness. These measures include 1) reinforcing the importance of hand washing 2) building extra rest into the camp program 3) counselors serving food at tables using sanitary gloves and 4) additional cleaning and sanitation of all camp facilities.
As always, we will continue to keep our parent community up to date.
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D'var Torah from Visiting Rabbi Josh Grater
 As I drove up Fairview Rd. and into camp early this morning, returning for my few days as rabbi-in-residence, I again had the great rush of emotion and feeling that accompanied me each summer that I came to Camp Ramah in my childhood, all throughout the 1980s as a camper and counselor. This is my third time as rabbi in camp and I love it!
This place is what gave me my Jewish roots, planting deep within me all that I know about the greatness of Judaism and ritual, Shabbat, prayer and living out my life as a Jew. Even though I didn't know until my early twenties that I was called to be a rabbi, and even though I didn't spend the first half of my life living ritually as an observant Jew, the moment that I made the change and took on the responsibility and joy of keeping Shabbat, praying daily, keeping kosher and trying to "keep God before me always," (Psalm 16:8) I knew that my years at Ramah were the foundation of my ability to make the great changes in my life that I felt moved and called to embrace. And, in this week's Torah portion, Shoftim, we learn that it is precisely this kind of learning that will keep us grounded in the world.
Throughout the Book of D'varim, Deuteronomy, we continually hear from Moses that we are to follow the mitzvot, listen for God's presence in our lives and live with a sense of connection to our people and our traditions. And this week, from the opening lines about justice, including the very famous verse, "tzedek, tzedek tirdoff, justice, justice you shall pursue," to the end, where we learn about the Torah's concern for the environment, "when you are in war against a city for a long time, you must not destroy its trees...you may eat from them but you must not cut them down..." we know that living a Jewish life, with the values of Torah, is not just about shul or Shabbat, but is about each and every moment, and every aspect of our existence. Our justice system, our environmental concerns, laws of war and peace, communal responsibility, all are informed by our connection to Torah and Jewish wisdom. It is this wisdom and knowledge that you are providing your children here at Camp Ramah, just as my parents gave me 30 years ago. And, especially living here in America, where we are surrounded by other cultures and practices, we need to take even greater care and concern to instill within our children the rituals, practices, lessons and joys of being Jewish. Ramah has the capacity to plant the seeds, and continue to water them throughout the summers that the children are here; however, the roots will be stronger and even deeper, if these practices and teachings are reinforced and continued at home throughout the year. For me, that was the great challenge: finding the community to continue the Shabbat rituals and prayer practice that I loved each summer. For some of us, these are a part of our home life already, for others, they are not. Each of us, as parents (I now have 8 year-old twins myself), is called upon to teach our children, as we learn in another great part of Deuteronomy a few weeks ago with Shema and V'ahavtah. I encourage all of us to find ways to deepen our Jewish lives at home, riding the great waves of joy and passion your child will return home with in just a few days!
The middle of this week's parsha, while a bit harsh on the surrounding communities that the Israelites will live amongst once entering the land, can be instructive for us if read with the lens of today's modern American society. The Torah is very strong in its condemnation of the practices of the peoples in the land where the Israelites are going, and that might be uncomfortable for us, especially since I imagine most of us like our country and the freedoms it provides us. However, what I understand the Torah to be saying, when it instructs the Israelites to not imitate the practices of those nations who already inhabit the land, is that being Jewish is hard and it will very easy to be drawn into the lifestyles and priorities of those with whom we live. But, we were not brought out from Egypt, and didn't go through the hardships in the desert, to abandon the Torah we just received in favor of other cultures. This is no less true today, even as we don't find the practices of our neighbors or our culture "abhorrent," as the Torah says, only enticing and exciting. But, in sending your child to Ramah, you are making the statement that Jewish values and Torah are important, do matter and are central. Abraham Joshua Heschel, the great theologian and social justice giant of the 20th century always said that "Judaism is counterculture." There is so much to value in our American culture today, but there is plenty of room, and time, to also celebrate and embrace the great practices and wonderful rituals of our people. That is what this month of Elul, which we just began this week, is meant to help us focus on, as we prepare for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
May the wisdom that your children come home with from their time here at Ramah enrich and deepen your entire family. Have a wonderful Shabbat, and an even more wonderful reunion with your children next week! I feel blessed and honored to get to spend the last Shabbat with them here in this holy Ojai valley. And, if you are ever in Pasadena, come and visit me and my community anytime!
Shabbat shalom!
Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater
Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1999. Thereafter he spent two years as a Marshall T. Meyer Rabbinic Fellow for Congregation B'nai Jeshurun in New York City and three as the rabbi of Congregation Ahavath Israel in Kingston, New York, before becoming the spiritual leader of the Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center in 2003. He plays percussion, teaches Yoga and Torah and is trained as a Jewish meditation teacher.
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The following was Rabbi Dan's Final D'var Torah he shared with the Chanichim last Shabbat
Shabbat Re'eh, 5770, Camp Ramah in California
Rabbi Daniel Greyber
Shabbat Shaloooom Machaneh Ramah!
One of my teachers, Rabbi David Wolpe, once related how when a child and parents come to visit in his office before a Bar or Bat Mitzvah, he will often ask, "Tell me something about yourself that you'd like to improve." Most often the child answers but every once and a while, a child will be unable to think of anything. When this happens, even though it can be nerve wracking for a child to answer questions in the rabbi's office in front of one's parents, he never lets the child off the hook but always insists that the child think of something. Why? Because it is a good thing for children, and all of us, to be able to look at ourselves and see something that needs fixing.
A story is told about a man who once said to Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, "I don't need synagogue. I am a good person. I give to charity. I am kind to others. I am a good citizen. I don't need synagogue and prayers to remind me to do those things." Rabbi Heschel replied, "You are a lucky man to be so good. I am constantly frustrated with myself. I wonder if I have given enough. I worry that I have been unkind." Rabbi Heschel, of course, was a great moral leader. One of the sources of his greatness was a keen awareness of how good we can be, and with that awareness, a full sense of how much more we are capable of.
Tonight is a special night. After 9 summers, this was the 54th (and last) time I greeted community of Camp Ramah in California by saying, "Shabbat Shalooooom Machaneh Ramah." 54 because there are two 4-week sessions, but each session, the last drash is reserved for the Machon darshan - a tradition I look forward to continuing next week, and to seeing continue into the future. So each session, I deliver 3 drashot, six per summer, times 9 summers. I will miss this moment, and I will miss each and every one of you very much.
I am proud of the past 9 years. I am proud of the more than 90 campers from Camp Ramah in California who, at this very moment, are spending their final Shabbat of the summer in Israel, and how we have created a camp culture where everyone understands that the journey as a camper does not end here in Ojai, but concludes in Jerusalem and in Israel, where so many Jewish journeys lead. I am proud of the siddur that you hold in your hands, something that was the work of our staff members, and that symbolizes how our camp's relationship with tefillah has grown and changed and deepened. I am proud of the ruach and the joy that fills our camp - and that was beautifully epitomized by Mach X's entrance to the chadar ochel today. That was the first time I have ever run into the chadar with Adat HaMachon - todah rabbah for inviting me in and making me feel so welcome to participate in such a beautiful moment during the last session of my last summer. I am proud of so many new things that are part of our camp since my time began - of the Gesher Treehouse and the Tzophim platforms, of our new trails and the Ezra Dormitory and office, of the new pool and water slides, of the ropes course and retreat center, and Ma'agal Ilan and the handball courts, and the shade sails and the gaga court and basketball hoop in the bunk area, of the solar panels atop the chadar ochel. I am sad to leave, but proud of all we've achieved.
But I am worried too - for each time a new person begins as Executive Director, there is a danger that we hold on too tightly to everything we love and resist new things. I am concerned that you, hanichim and tzevet, will look at camp and believe that it is perfect, that it should never change. But, of course, it should. It must.
This Shabbat we have a special honor. Rabbi Joe Menashe is here - give it up for Rabbi Joe! When I started, I didn't have a chance to be here the summer before, so this is a special moment. Rabbi Joe - I want to tell you this in front of the entire machaneh - I bless you not to look at the camp and say, "it is perfect." I bless you not to be like the boy in Rabbi Wolpe's office who could not think or see anything that needed to change, or be different. I am proud of Ramah as we are today. Like you, I inherited a camp from the previous Executive Director, Brian Greene, who made it better than he received it. To honor us, you must not be satisfied, but must look at camp, marvel at its greatness, and, with God's help, share your vision of what is possible and who we can become.
To the tzevet, this is your task especially. It will be tempting to feel threatened, to want to respond, "but we've always done it that way?!" "Who does this new person think he is?" I urge you to remember that some of our traditions will always remain; but the source of our greatness is not fealty, dedication to the past only, but rather a love of tradition coupled with a wisdom to experiment, to try something new.
Machaneh Ramah: In the parsha, we are told, "listen to God's voice, serve Him, and cling to Him." The rabbis ask, "isn't God called a Consuming Fire? How can one cling to God?" and they answer that the phrase means rather, "cling to God's ways." Just as God performs acts of kindness, so should you. Just as God buries the dead, so should you. Just as God visits the sick, so should you.
God's greatness is found not in the fact that He remains the same, but in God's ability to constantly offer us a new, better, greater vision of the world, and of ourselves. May we all be blessed to walk in God's ways, never being satisfied, but rather always changing, always discovering, always learning, always moving towards a more beautiful and just world sorely in need of redemption.
Shabbat Shaloooom Mahaneh Ramah.
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Rabbi Daniel Greyber and Dr. Zach Lasker
Executive Director and Camp Director
Camp Ramah in California
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17525 Ventura Blvd.
Suite 201
Encino, CA 91316
Phone: (310)476-8571
Fax: (310)472-3810 |
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