August 1, 2024

Hello, friends, from Camp Ramah in the Poconos! One of the things I love most about camp is the sense of curiosity and playfulness that permeates so much of what we do here. We give ourselves permission not to get stuck in our ways and regularly seek out opportunities to experiment and try out different angles, new approaches to the activities and routines of the camp day. 

This holds true even (and especially) with the traditions we value most. At camp, daily tefillah (prayer) is part of our routine. Our campers know how important it is to our community - we start each day with Shaḥarit (the morning service). Each age group has curricular aims for tefillah, parts of the service we want them to know and understand, core dispositions and skills we help them to develop. And of course, we hope  they care about tefillah and value it just as we do. With such significant goals, it would make sense for tefillah to be the most serious part of the camp day. However, our approach, as I mentioned above, is one that is motivated by curiosity and playfulness. With that in mind, I want to share with you a few of the tefillah activities I was privileged to participate in over this past week and a half of camp. 

I should also mention that I daven each morning with Tze’irim, the group of campers who are entering sixth grade. The campers usually lead tefillot, together with one of two of their excellent counselors. It’s a smaller edah of campers, which gives us the opportunity to create more intimate, participatory experiences during our tefillah periods. Last week, we were fortunate to have an artist in residence at camp, here to work with campers on a songwriting elective. One morning, he came to Tze’irim tefillah, where he helped the campers unpack Birkhot HaShaḥar, the morning blessings near the beginning of the service. Understanding the expressions of gratitude at the center of these blessing, the campers then split up into groups, with each group composing lyrics describing the things at camp for which they are grateful each morning. Coming back together, the groups shared their compositions and our artist in residence helped them weave together the lyrics and add in a melody. In the span of 35 or so minutes, we had composed an original tefillah, complete with its own catchy tune!

Earlier this week, I walked into tefillah to find the campers sitting on the floor in small groups, legs crossed and eyes closed. They were meditating, with calming music playing to help enhance their focus. At the end of the meditation session, the counselor in charge played One Day, by Matisyahu. One by one, the campers began to perk up and return to their more typical energetic mood, most of them singing along as they returned to their normal seats. The shortened service that followed was one filled with joy and participation - everyone could see and feel the difference that the meditation time had made. 

Yesterday, instead of regular Shaḥarit, we had “Yom Boy Band.” (I’m not making this up.) Each bunk was assigned a part of the service. Their job was to pick a popular boy band song and figure out how to sing their assigned tefillah part in that melody. The service that followed was full of joy and laughter, if not decorum and kavanah.

Tomorrow, our Rosh Musikah (Head of Music) will be joining Tze’irim with his guitar to help introduce the campers to some different kinds of melodies that have been composed specifically for tefillah. This is (as many of you know), one of my favorite ways to engage with our prayer services, so I’m looking forward to collaborating with him both on the service tomorrow and on helping continue to integrate these melodies into Tze’irim’s services for the remainder of camp. 

I would be remiss if I didn’t try to make even a tiny connection to our weekly parashah. Matot-Masei opens with a full chapter discussing the consequential business of taking vows. The message is clear: our words have weight in the world and are most often binding. We show our respect for the power of words by being careful and cautious with how we use them. Our seriousness is an expression of our values. However, not every situation demands that same level of gravity. We can also express our values through joy and playfulness. Our approach to tefillah at camp, suffused as it is with these lighter emotions, nonetheless demonstrates the weight we give to the words of our prayers. By engaging with tefillah in these experiential and experimental ways, we are teaching the campers, as well as ourselves, to weave the words of our traditional tefillot into the fabric of who we are.

Shabbat shalom.

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