Divrei Derech

Another Perspective on Reform Jewish Camping

I’ve written much about the value of camp for our congregation and why I spend time at a URJ camp each summer. Here’s similar thoughts from one of my colleagues and friends who we rendezvous with each summer at Camp Newman:
Rabbi Paul Kipnes' thoughts on camp

In addition to the comprehensive description he’s observed of our time at camp, Rabbi Paul Kipnes and I also compare notes on the use of these electronic media. I encourage you to explore his blog!

Introducing Mishkan T'filah: An Educational Excursion Down Memory Lane

[This is the article you'll find on the URJ Website dedicated to Mishkan T'filah: Introducing Mishkan T'filah]
What do you do with the boxes of old Union Prayer Books in the attic? Embrace the opportunity!

We at Congregation Beth Emek in Pleasanton, California eagerly received our shipment of Mishkan T’filah. Many members of our congregation had participated in opportunities to pilot the new prayer book. We were ready to introduce it but remained sensitive to those who either mourned the retirement of Gates of Prayer or who resisted change in general.

With all the various issues of change in mind, we chose three successive Friday evening services to make our transition to the new prayer book.

Week One
We returned to the old Union Prayer Book. With plenty of notice we asked congregants to come dressed appropriately for a service in the 1940’s. Typically a quite informal congregation, we dressed formally and asked members to behave in a far more formal manner than usual. The music of the service was appropriate to the era, and we followed the custom of a Classical Reform service in the Union Prayer Book. The rabbi did not wear a kippah (or rather yarmulke) and called forward “Mrs. David Phillips” to light our Sabbath (not Shabbat) candles. During the sermon we returned to the present in order to discuss the history of Reform liturgy and how it developed into the Union Prayer Book.

Week Two
This was when it was the most difficult to maintain a straight face as we dragged our polyester out of the closets for a worship experience with Gates of Prayer, 1975. While most of us dressed in the more formal attire we remembered from that period, a few chose to bring out the tie-dye and other 70’s accoutrements. Again, the music was chosen to reflect a 70’s service, instrumentation and all. What made the service most difficult was praying directly from the pages of Gates of Prayer. Rather than printing or buying new books, we had been continuously using the 1975 version of Gates of Prayer. We would update the language as we read, though the text remained the same. Returning to the 1975 language in 2008 was challenging since we had trained ourselves so well to add the matriarchs and degenderize the language. Remembering to read the pages of Gates of Prayer as they were written took great concentration.

The sermon continued the exploration of Reform liturgical evolution and the developments that led to the Gates of Prayer.

Week Three
We returned to the present to culminate our three-week retrospective with the newest Reform offering, Mishkan T’filah. Having just reviewed the older prayer books, we chose passages in Mishkan T’filah that most closely resembled their antecedents in the previous volumes. While some of the music for Week Three was contemporary, we also chose music that reflected older traditions. It is not difficult to make choices in Mishkan T’filah that closely follow a service from Gates of Prayer. This reminded our congregants that it does not need to feel like such a significant change.

In sum, over the course of the three weeks we examined the history of Reform liturgy, we experienced about a century of it, and we successfully introduced Mishkan T’filah. We enjoyed the experience thoroughly and decided to shelve the old Union Prayer Books together with the Gates of Prayer in order to dust them all off and return to this wonderful, educational experience every few years.

B’ruchim Habaim (Welcome!)

It’s wonderful that when we welcome someone, we bless them at the same time. The Hebrew phrase for welcome literally means, ‘may they who come be blessed.’

This summer we bid welcome to Ilia and Smadar who will be joining our Camp Kadima staff this summer. They are following the tradition of our friends Dekel and Yisraela, as they traveled from Israel to interact with our community.

(Just trying to stay awake after a long journey and some serious jet lag.)

It’s a wonderful adventure for these young adults as they experience California and the American, liberal, Jewish community. And it’s our second opportunity to host young Israelis in our day camp. Our kids have the unique and rewarding opportunity to learn about Israeli culture directly from those who live it.

Thanks to all those who make this possible, the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay and the many people who are helping out.

We certainly hope that Smadar and Ilia will find blessings in their adventures here in California and we are sure to be blessed in return.

(Yes, Israel has the Wii, but it was Ilia’s first try at Guitar Hero.)

(I’m pretty sure Smadar was ahead of Simon in the virtual go-cart race.)

Saul at Masada

Technical difficulties aside, it was worth the frustrations of in and out coverage via webcast to finally get a glimpse of my son at Mt. Masada jumping up and down with the rest of the kids on NFTY in Israel enjoying Dan Nichols and e18hteen in concert.

Twenty five years ago, Laura and I were wandering around Israel on separate youth tours (We hadn’t yet met.), and, today, our son is having the time of his life experiencing the magic of Israel.

Mt. Masada is a powerful experience regardless. Now imagine 645 Reform Jewish teens gathered together, enjoying a concert just for them, shortly ascending the mountain to see the brilliant sunset and gather together for worship. I have to admit, I’m jealous.

Of course, when Laura and I were in Israel we wrote letters home, half of which arrived weeks after we had returned. If we wanted to call home, we had to obtain a pocketful of asimonim, the payphone coins we would watch slip down the window while we attempted to get through on a ten hour time difference and figure out how to get our parents to call us back. Today, we can text message our son on the travelcell he’s rented for the trip and call him when he’s between programs. Yes, the live feed of the concert was not all that we hoped, but we finally caught a glimpse of Saul, half a world away. The camera panned by a few more times and my parental angst was calmed.

As the concert ended and I let go, I started thinking about how that trip impacted my life. I learned a year and a half later that I saw Laura there. Six weeks that summer turned into a junior year of college and then a year of graduate school. I returned some years later with Beth Emek and then seven-year-old Saul, who has now returned at sixteen. I don’t know how this trip will ultimately affect my eldest, but I know it will.

I yearn to take Max for his first experience, and watch him experience the wonders that have become such a part of who I am.

For now, I’ll live vicariously through Saul and wish him safe travels.

Acoustic Inspirations 2

Countless people influenced me and served as role models throughout my life. As I think back and consider all that I’ve learned from so many teachers both formal and informal, it awes me to think of my place as a role model in the community. Recently, at camp, I was reminded of the camp counselor whose banjo playing sparked my original interest in music. This week another important musical influence not only crossed my mind, but crossed my path.

Cantor Richard Silverman returned to the Bay Area for the American Conference of Cantors convention in San Francisco. Richard had a profound influence on my career in Jewish professional life. It’s unfortunate that our Beth Emek kids don’t have the model of a cantor in our community. I grew up with a few different cantors and each taught me different things. Many of us try to provide glimpses of the cantorial arts, but we can’t do justice to a properly trained cantor.

There were moments during the High Holydays that I especially remember the power of his voice and ability to sing with great emotion, but I also learned from him how much you could accomplish with a guitar and some singable tunes. Richard is one of the original songleading cantors. We regularly sing his versions of Mi Chamocha and the Tree of Life/Eitz Chaim Hi.

As I see many of the youth of our community picking up guitars so they can play like ‘Rabbi Rick,’ I look back and appreciate the role Cantor Richard Silverman played in bringing Jewish music into my life.

Thanks Richard!

Acoustic Inspirations

I’m awed and humbled when I look around the synagogue at the kids who want to take up guitar playing and realize that, in some way, my playing served as piece of the inspiration for that desire.

I had a music inspired flashback at camp to a piece of the inspiration that led me to music. I grew up going with my family to the Lair of the Bear, Cal’s alumni camp, and there, around the campfire, we used to listen to various people entertaining including one camp counselor named Bobby who played the banjo. Bobby was a fixture at camp as long as I remember, and further back than I can remember, I wanted to play the banjo.

It was about ten years after I started learning banjo that I first started to learn how to play guitar. I was a counselor at Camp Swig, and learned my first chords from my campers.

Tonight we sat at a campfire with Dan Nichols and a few staff members playing. Dan brought out his new banjo. Another staff member brought out the marshmallows. And at one point, as I sat staring at the banjo, a moment of reflection reminded me of the moments that led me to music.

In my last entry, I reflected on Ecclesiastes who also said, “All streams lead to the sea…” The campfires, the banjo playing, the feel of community, were all streams that led me to this moment under the Redwoods at Camp Newman watching the next generation being inspired.

(Here's Max learning to songlead.)

A Time for Every Purpose...

It’s not uncommon that I come home from camp for a lifecycle event, but this summer was the rabbinic equivalent of a grand slam.

I knew I would be returning for a Bar Mitzvah ceremony. While I try to avoid scheduling them when I’m normally at camp, sometimes calendar shifts make it unavoidable. During the same Saturday morning service in which we marked Alex’s Bar Mitzvah, we offered the wedding blessing for Miranda and Daniel, and since I was coming home, I scheduled a baby naming for a couple whose marriage I officiated a few years back and was just blessed with their second child.
Lifecycles inevitably come all the way around, and Friday we also laid our friend Nessim to rest.
Ecclesiastes reminds us that there’s a time to be born and a time to die. The cycle continues endlessly. As I sit and write this, I’m watching the little children of faculty members here at camp playing with their moms, and a few minutes ago I left our oldest campers who I remember from when they were little ones. A couple hours ago I was reminiscing with a couple other faculty members about one of our teachers who was here at the beginnings of camp, fifty years ago. A few of the campers are the children of friends of mine from Sunday School and my days at camp.
I wonder which of our children will return to be camp counselors, who will eventually send their children to camp.

Each of the lifecycles represents a powerful moment. Whether it is a happy occasion or a sad one, it brings people together to share the warmth of love, friendship and community. I see that sharing among families. I see it in our synagogue community and I see it here in the camp community.

…A time for every purpose under heaven. And by the way, the sunsets here at camp are spectacular.

Back at Camp! Summer 2008

Late in high school my career path changed significantly. My rabbi called me into his office and told me I ought to think about the rabbinate. It was a bit shocking, but he told me not to make a decision right away. He said, “You’ll go work at Camp Swig for the summer, living 24-hour Judaism, and then decide.” I never looked back.

I return to camp every summer because I love it. I return every summer because it’s my way of giving back. I return every summer to help inspire others in their search for living Judaism.

When I first began to serve on faculty, Beth Emek was lucky to have one camper each summer. Today, our camper numbers exceed congregations far larger than our own.

I know that it helps our young, first-time campers to know that they’ll see their rabbi up at camp. The twinges of homesickness are softened as familiarity reassures them.

But being at camp doesn’t just help the campers. It also helps me. Camp is a wonderful laboratory for engaging informal education, creative services and programs and new music. I bring home a volume of ideas every summer. In addition, the last several summers have seen a huge delegation of Israeli staff arrive at Camp Newman. We work side-by-side and dialogue extensively as we learn about Israeli experiences and the Israelis learn about liberal Judaism in America.

I often describe camp as magical. Magical moments are certainly not exclusive to camp, but we have more than the average up there. The feeling of being surrounded by people from all different places and, yet, you don’t have to explain to any of them this Jewish stuff… that’s a magical feeling. (It feels like that in Israel too.) Being surrounded by a friendly, supportive community twenty-four-hours-a-day is definitely magical. There are many more magical moments, but I would bet the most oft reported magical experience at camp is Shabbat as we gather together, dressed in white, sing, dance, and share a warmth that much stronger than what we can reach on the other days of the week. You probably have to experience it for yourself, and the good news is that you can.

You don’t have to spend a summer at camp to taste the magic. You don’t even have to be a kid. We’ll return in November for our Family Shabbaton Weekend at Camp Newman. This is how I was introduced to camp as a child on congregational weekends. I still have powerful memories from those weekends so long ago.

There is one significant change from my days as a camper and counselor. Today, camp is wired. So, I try to keep blogging in between camp activities. I’ll try to keep you updated on the latest excitement in the hills above Santa Rosa.

Confirmation 5768 - Looking Back

I have to admit, each year as we approach the Confirmation service, the professional staff gets rather nervous about whether or not we’re going to get this whole thing to come together. This year was no exception. In fact, throughout the last couple months the schedule offered us very few classes and we were more worried than usual as to how well we would be able to perform.

With that in mind, I have to say how thrilled I was with our students as they led the service with poise and their D’var Torah was thoughtful, powerful and well presented.

I think it’s fair for me to be biased, as my eldest son was not only a member of the class, but the sole representative of the male variety. We won’t mention the names of his classmates who chose not to see it through to the end. I’ve known several of these kids since I first arrived at Beth Emek. I’ve enjoyed watching them grow up and appreciate their great enthusiasm. If anyone could have pulled this off, they could.

Today, Confirmation is evolving from its original form in Reform Judaism. It originally evolved in an attempt to do away with Bar Mitzvah as the final Jewish experience before marriage. It postponed saying goodbye to our students as long as possible at that time. Now, we encourage our kids to stay involved through high school and hopefully on into college without ever having to ‘take a break’ from Judaism before returning with their own families.

I hope these amazing students will continue active engagement in the Jewish community. I know the community will benefit from all they have to offer.

Backpack, Backpack

There’s a cute children’s show on educational T.V. about a little girl who goes on little adventures with a backpack full of supplies. In fact, Dora’s website says that her backpack was given to her by her Mama and Papi, and it ‘always provides anything Dora might need for her quest.’

Unfortunately, here in our own community not everyone has a backpack with all their needs. In fact, there are many who can’t easily afford a backpack or any of the necessary supplies for school, let alone adventures outside of Education Land.

But we can help. Beth Emek is committed to providing a minimum of 40 backpacks out of the 900 that the Backpack Project assembles each year. The simple way to participate is contribute. We collect $36.00 for each backpack. Just send a check into the office with ‘Backpack Project’ in the memo. It covers the supplies as well as a certificate to purchase shoes. As the summer progresses, we need people power to assemble the supplies and eventually to deliver them throughout the city to the children in need.

There’s information on Beth Emek’s website:
Beth Emek's Social Action page

And the Backpack Project has its own web page:
The Backpack Project

Lo alecha hamlacha ligmor…
Rabbi Tarfon said, a long time ago… It is not your responsibility to complete the task, but neither are you free to desist from it.

I wish we could feed, clothe and supply everyone in need. The task may be great, but when we each do a little, together, we accomplish a lot.