summertime

at present i am at camp jorge serving as a faculty member. i am in northern ontario, where the mosquitoes are as large as my watch face, the trees are green, and the food is kosher. for real. i didn't go to overnight camp as a kid, mostly because i think it was not introduced as an option until i moved to mn and by that time i had too much going on inside to want to be far away from home for any serious length of time. this was during middle school, prime going to camp years and looking back this might be one of the few things i would change from my childhood. i think that camp would have helped me in a lot of ways. this is using hindsight as my lens, of course. i don't know that i could have been convinced to go by anyone.

i am fortunate now to be in a position where it is part of my job description to go to camp for a week. after working at shmutz for two summers as faculty, this is my second summer at jorge and i feel like i am in my element as a rabbi and as a human being. everything at camp is so casual! i spent the entire day in sweatpants and flip flops and no one could imagine any different. i worked with a senior girls cabin on a service for next week and we came up with the theme of a circus. the circus will have three rings just like the prayer service has three. it all worked so seamlessly. intellectually i know that camp is not the real world. i will not go home on sunday to anyone serving me three meals a day. is there a way for me to infuse more of my rabbinate with this authentic, chill, creative judaism that i find so relevant? i hope so.

do you have any ideas?