Among the highlights of this week’s parasha is the marking of the beginning of the Israeltes’ journey from Mitzrayim to the land of Canaan. According to Shemot 12:1, it is the first of Nisan. A close reading of the remainder of the book of Shemot teaches us that exactly three months later, the Israelites will be at the foot of Mount Sinai ready to experience the revelation of God (Shemot 19:1). Nine months later and exactly one year later than the beginning of their journey, the construction of the Tabernacle will be complete and the Israelites will set up the portable sanctuary that will accompany them throughout their journey (Shemot 40:1).
Therefore, according to this timeline, the Israelites escaped Egypt, crossed the Sea of Reeds, experienced the Revelation and the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, and built for themselves a makom kadosh in ONE YEAR! After 400 plus years of enslavement in Egypt, this one year must have felt like an extraordinary transformative experience for the Israelites.
As Rosh Machaneh Alef (Head of the younger side of camp) during the summer, I have had the privilege to see our own campers have their own transformative experience, growing in leaps and bounds in their own Jewish identity and as people. In a short 4 or 8 week span, our campers experience Wingdale’s own version of the one-year experience of the Israelites: journeying, achieving milestones, revelatory experiences, and the formation of a kehilah kedosha. It is an experience that our campers relive summer after summer. Like when we gather at Pesach and relive the journey of our ancestors, so too our chanichim spend their winters reliving the Revelation (we even have our own mountain!) of Camp Ramah in the Berkshires.
As for me, I found the journey of Ramah later than most of us. As a young child, I was unable to afford Camp Ramah and it was only due to some lucky circumstances that I ended up at Ramah as a staff member, the same summer I met my wife Michelle. 14 summers later, my fountain of youth holds strong and I have the extraordinary honor to help foster a love for Ramah that I missed out on as a child.
To borrow a phrase from the Haggadah:
Bechol dor vador chayav adam lirot et atzmo keilu hu “halakh” l’Camp Ramah in the Berkshires
In every generation, one is obligated to see himself as if he went to Camp Ramah in the Berkshires.
This is ever appropriate as we honor Richie Friedman, Steve Goldstein, and the 20 year anniversary of the Alumni Association. Over the next several weeks, we have the opportunity to ensure that no child misses out on the Ramah experience. Through our collective efforts in supporting this year’s Journal and Dinner Dance, we will make sure that as many children as possible have the extraordinary transformative experience we call Camp Ramah in the Berkshires.
Shabbat Shalom U’Mevorach,
Rabbi Fred Elias
