The Power of Summer Camp
Words of Wisdom by Rabbi Efrat Zarren-Zohar
This Dvar Torah was inspired by thoughts shared with Rabbi Efrat Zarren-Zohar from CAJE Treasurer Adrian Muller.
The Torah repeatedly portrays transformative journeys where departure from home signifies not just a physical relocation but a profound spiritual evolution.
We saw this with Abraham and Sarah in Parashat Lech Lecha a few weeks ago, and this week we see it in Parashat Vayeitzei with Jacob, their grandchild.
in Lech Lecha, G!D commands Abraham: “Go forth from your land, your birthplace, and your father’s house, to the land I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1)
Abraham’s departure is a leap of faith. He leaves behind the familiar to establish a covenantal relationship with God.
This journey symbolizes the move from comfort to challenge, from the known to the unknown, as Abraham becomes the father of a nation.
Jacob’s journey begins under different circumstances.
Fleeing from the wrath of Esau, Jacob embarks on a path filled with uncertainty: “And Jacob left Be’er Sheva and went toward Haran.” (Genesis 28:10)
Jacob’s journey transforms him from a sheltered individual to becoming, many years later, a self-reliant patriarch.
If you are reading this and no longer live with your parents, then you likely can relate to how transformative the departure from home is by just thinking about how much it impacted you in so many profound ways.
My first departure from home, like so many American Jewish kids, was to Camp Pembroke summer camp in Massachusetts, where I initially had to learn how to overcome homesickness and then to figure out how to live in a cabin full of other girls and get along with them!
Looking back, I can see what a huge psycho-social growth spurt this imbued in me, making going off to university years later seem like a piece of cake.
Spiritually, summer camp was extremely transformative.
While my family are/were Zionists, their attachment was fairly passive — JNF blue boxes, worry and admiration for Israel, and the like.
But my camp was actively Zionistic — HaTikvah sung around the flagpole every morning (along with the US National Anthem), Israeli dancing classes, Israeli and Hebrew songs at dinner and events, plus Israeli counselors brought in from Israel every summer.
All this culminated in a camp - sponsored trip to Israel in the mid-1970’s the summer before we were eligible to be counselors. In my family, I was the first person anyone knew that visited Israel!
And of course, this made Israel much more real—not to mention the stories from Torah and Tanakh (Jewish Bible), which became so much more alive there.
Jewishly, it was also very impactful.
For the first time, I kept Kashrut (kosher), learned the entire traditional version of Birkat HaMazon the prayer of gratitude after eating, and attended Shabbat services every week in Pembroke’s beautiful pine grove overlooking a lake.
And most of all, for the first time, because it was an all-girls camp run by a very knowledgeable female director, I experienced female spiritual leadership at services and throughout the week.
As you can imagine, that role-modeling gave me the passion-- and courage years later -- to pursue the rabbinate.
In many ways, summer camp made me into who I am today as a Jew and a Zionist.
The stories of Abraham and Jacob teach each of us that the trials and challenges we encounter when we leave home are integral to our spiritual growth.
Every Jewish child deserves to experience that transformative journey, and summer camp is an especially powerful way to give them that experience.
