Part of my new reality of living in Los Angeles is commuting.  To help pass the time, my mother-in-law passed along an inspirational book on CD entitled Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson about an American climber who created a series of schools in northern Pakistan.  The author referenced the king of Bhutan, a landlocked South Asian country, who in the early 1970's as a very young king coined the concept of GDH- Gross Domestic Happiness.  Since that time, this idea has gotten some attention by sociologists, psychologists and economists all highlighting that as a society's level of prosperity increases, our collective and individual Gross Domestic Happiness actually decreases.

Camp Ramah, according to our various surveys, life-long friendships, and abundant tears as our campers leave at the end of the summer, has a very, very high GDH.  At camp, many of the false external evaluations of self-worth that give rise or fall to our happiness like clothing, academic performance, money, Facebook status updates... are seriously mitigated.  Campers spending a kayitz (summer) at Ramah instead make real connections with their peers and madrichim, appreciate the majesty of nature and live the joy of Judaism.  The value of happiness is a counterculture insight our rabbis taught us thousands of years ago. Three brief examples from our tradition:

1)       Ben Zoma taught in Pirkei Avot: Who is wealthy?  The one who is  HAPPY with his portion.  Happiness is not about how much we have in our bank account, but how we feel about it.

2)      The holiday we just completed, Succot, is a holiday during which we are commanded by the Torah to be joyous.  Sitting in the Succah, we recognize the fragility of life and are grateful and joyous for life itself.

3)      Shabbat.  Need I say more?  This is our weekly reminder when we remove ourselves from the world of commerce in order to focus on ourselves, our relations, and our spiritual lives.  This weekly spiritual therapy session reorients us to the joys of life that we sometimes overlook during our weeks and weekends of frenetic modern living.

As I drove over the hill to the valley to the Ramah office that morning, I turned off the CD to ponder the idea of GDH and Ramah.  At Ramah, we are able to create an environment where we honor and live out all three of those Jewish values:

1)      Consciousness of money and "stuff" is downplayed.

2)      Like in a Succah, nestled at the base of the mountains in the Ojai valley we feel the majesty of nature and are grateful for life.

3)      The joy of living Shabbat as a community reminds us of what is essential and important in our lives.

Our challenge is not only how to get back to camp (HOWEVER, IF YOU HAVE CHILD CAMPER AGE ENROLLMENT IS NOW OPEN!), but rather how to keep Camp Ramah and its inherent happiness with us.  In a society and modern era that focuses way too much on affluence and downplays healthy happiness and lasting resilience, let us heed the enduring simcha taught in our tradition, lived at Camp Ramah and reminded to us by the King of Bhutan.