Thankful for Community, Kehillah, Community

Sometimes by Thursday night I am all out of energy after a long week.  Last week was long indeed and this week looks to be even longer.  Last Thursday on my way to pick up one son my car's battery decided to stall out.  At least I was at the gas station when the battery died.  I knew I had a shiva minyan to lead in 2 hours and although it was not particularly cold or snowy I was worried that AAA would be busy.  I quickly called Douglas Towing, I know the owners and who comes to jump my battery but my former Bar Mitzvah student and gives me a big hug.  He immediately jumped my car and when I asked how much I owed he said nothing. Don't worry I gave him a nice tip. That's my community.

I then made my way to the shiva minyan for a Lakeside congregant, on time I might add and although shiva's are by nature sad, I was very happy to see many congregants in attendance including many of my B'nai Mitzvah students who are friends of the grandchildren.  They did a nice job helping me lead t'filot. That's my community.

This week I know my community will be here as I go in February 19 for a "scope" of my knee.  I have been limping around for a month and believe this will be the answer for me.  It is an easy process one done at a clinic as an out patient process.  I have cleared my calendar for a week and having just said that hope to be back at work sooner than later.

There is a great blog post going around by Coffee Shop Rabbi giving reasons why people should join synagogues.  She mentions being able to pray with a community and being a part of a caring community as just a few of the reasons why she likes being a member of a synagogue (even though she herself is a Rabbi).  I too like being part of a community and will send out updates on how the "scope" goes tomorrow.  Many people have checked in already and I thank them for that.  It's just  too bad I can't tweet the surgery.  I bet that would get a lot of hits.

#BlogElul 18 Pray, T'filah in a Kehillah, community, Kehillah

I love T'filah and I especially love t'tilah at OSRUI.  I help our chanichim, campers lead t'filah every night.  We usually have all of the chanichim right about each prayer.  It is beautiful and so prayerful for everyone at t'filot.  

One of the reasons camp works so well and t'filot at camp work well because we pray together as a community for 3 weeks (at least in Kallah Gimmel, in other units it is 2, 4 or 7 weeks).  These kids and madrichim, counselors really know how to pray.  I am including in this blog a sample of one cabins readings before a typical evening t'filah.

Opening: Tzrif James A Garfield

R:  Welcome to tonight’s first Tzrif T’filah.  We are Tzrif James A. Garfield, and tonight we will be leading Kallah’s  T’filah. 

A:  Our Tzrif will be giving modern explanations of our prayers.  Please enjoy our t’filah lead by James A Garfield Tzrif

Barechu

C and A:

We begin with the Barechu.  This is the call to worship. Please rise for the Barechu on page 4, amud arbeh

Shema

Hi I am M and I am J Our Tzrif is writing about the different prayers in our T’filah.  The Shema means to me that we believe in one God

People in different religions and different  beliefs think differently. Some people say there is more than one God as we have learned from Greek stories.  You don’t have to be Greek to believe in more than one God.  We should respect all religions.

Michamochah: M and L

M:  The Michamochah is the song sang by the Israelites after the Red Sea parted.  It is talking about the miracle of the Red Sea, and how we wouldn’t be here today if the sea did not part.  This was a miracle from the past.

L:  And a miracle in the present that is happening right now is that we Jews are all at camp together and getting along as community, Kehillah Kedosha.  

Silent Prayer

R and S

We believe that silent prayer is your change to connect with God.  Your time to thank God for all the miracles in the world and at camp.. To pray for peace in Israel.  And now we’ll pray silently as a community.  

Oseh Shalom

D and J

The Oseh Shalom prayer is about peace .  Making peace at camp can be described as being nice to one another.  

Kaddish and 

Closing Song

This post is part of #BlogElul, a series of social media posts created during Elul, the month preceding the High Holidays. During Elul, it is customary for Jews to prepare spiritually for the upcoming new year. An annual project, #Blog Elul is the brainchild of Rabbi Phyllis Sommer.

Yes your mom and dad were my campers at OSRUI too!

Captain Kehillah

I am on faculty at OSRUI in Kallah Gimmel with 72 campers and  over 15 staff members.  This session our limud or educational piece  is Kehillah Kedosha a holy community.  Our campers aged 9-12 are having a fun time with our limud as Captain Kehillah, in full costume and mustache has visited almost every day to make sure we are becoming a community.  In fact the campers have to summon Captain Kehillah by singing a special song and when she hears she comes and helps us out.

The campers know we have fun with limud and we have written a cabin brit or covenant for each cabin. We know by discussing and writing out rules for our cabins we will be able to grow and become a more caring community.  This week campers played cooperation games and realized they needed to communicate and talk to one another to accomplish the tasks we had set forth for them; even if the task was just trying to pass a hula hoop around the circle with everyone holding hands.

Cooperation games

Campers and Madrichim, counselors have been wonderful to work with as we do limud throughout the week.  I see evidence of community at every part in our day.  I see girls comforting another friend and making sure no one sits by themselves at meals.  I see boys hunting for swimming googles, water bottles, hats, Ok you name it with friends, counselors and faculty and I think we have done good job of keeping our lost and found down and everyone knows they can count on one another to help find misplaced items.

We are all a part of the web of camp

This is my 4th year in Kallah gimmel with Cantor Arik Luck, from Beth Emet in Evanston and we welcome Rabbi Lisa Bellows from Congregation Beth Am in Buffalo Grove to the team this year.  Cantor Luck and I have worked with some of the same madrichim for 4 years and we enjoy coming back year after year to have fun, teach, sing and live our Judaism.  To watch Kallah gimmel for the past 4 years become a community and reassemble with new staff is a fun and rewarding process.  New staff is inducted and we have continuity for the next generation.

I think the aspect of community which really hit me this year on opening day is how many campers in my unit whose parents were my campers in years past.  I feel not just the love and continuity in seeing the second generation coming to camp but it gives me even more incentive to work harder to make our limud, our Hebrew classes or just swimming in the pool a little more interesting, a little more fun a little more rememberable for our campers.  I work hard during my time at OSRUI every summer and I reap the benefits as I see Madrichim, campers and even the children of my old campers come back every summer. I am proud to have been on faculty long enough to see my campers' children come back and experience the whole summer just as they did.