For a number of summers I’ve directed the JOIN Wilderness Academy; a Jewish specialty camp that focuses on team building & leadership skills using the wilderness as a tool. About 2 years ago, a good friend of mine, Belinda Smith, and myself traveled to Camp Nageela Midwest, an incredibly special, inclusive, Jewish camp to scout it out for the graduates of the Wilderness Academy. We were quite impressed, and ultimately 3 of our graduates made the incredible decision to register for a session at this sleepaway camp, where they are right now, (in addition to 2 other incredible campers at another Jewish camp).
Important note: This camp is in Illinois. These campers flew there, far from their families, all for their first sleepaway camp experience ever- quite far from home!
And let’s be real, there are multiple cool camps right here in Orlando! Why did these girls and their families need to schlep out to Illinois?!
In this week’s Torah portion, two of the twelve tribes, Gad, Reuven, and half of Menashe tell Moshe that they would like to inhabit a specific parcel of land outside of the official borders of Israel because it will be good for their herds and their children. Moshe famously rebukes them for the stated order of their values, placing their wealth & profession before their children, despite the fact that they obviously valued their children most. This rebuke was warranted because our values are sacred and must be protected at all costs, even including the way we phrase them.
My special campers (and your incredible families), this Dvar Torah is dedicated to you. For looking around, searching for a camp that would honor your values, and then following through on that trek far away; because your Judaism is more important to you than the myriad, infinitely more convenient, options closer to home.
I give us all a bracha that we remember Moshe’s message. That we never dilute our values, in speech or action, and in doing so, we can enjoy the gift of living a life in sync with what is most important to us.
Wishing you all a beautiful Shabbos and Shabbat Shalom!