In reflecting on my first year (!) serving as your rabbi, one of the greatest blessings has been working so closely with our TBS President, Steve Berlin. Steve Berlin is a mensch’s mensch who walks into a room and, within ten minutes, has connected with everyone. Steve’s superpower is shmoozing, and he uses his “gift of gab” to make wonderful connections and to lead our community with humor and warmth. Steve’s commitment to sustaining our community and securing our future both spiritually and financially inspires me every day. He is patient in the way only truly secure, deeply kind people are. And he is unflinchingly dedicated to the vision of Temple Beth Shalom as a vibrant Jewish presence in this community for generations to come. Steve, I am so grateful for everything you have done for our community and me, and for the blessing of working with you.
In classic “Jewish Geography” fashion, Steve and I discovered that I was his daughter’s counselor at Camp Coleman back in 1998! Obviously, our partnership was truly besheret. Jewish summer camp has been the source of so many blessings in my life, from lifelong best friends to inspiring my rabbinic career. But the blessing of seeing our kids truly feel Jewish joy in their neshamot (souls) at Jewish summer camp is the greatest one of all. And yes, “OUR kids” includes my three daughters, who are off to their beloved camp in just a few weeks. And it also includes our returning Camp Judea campers Noah Ortega-Cowan and Gage Jaffe, and Reagan Greenwood, who will be experiencing camp for her very first awesome summer. We are so excited for all of them to experience the magic of camp.
Growing up in a town with very few Jews, summer camp was where I got to be free, to live “out and proud,” where we all spoke the same language. And it is exactly the same for our kids here in Vero. Camp gives them a life fully immersed in our values, unplugged from their everyday distractions and free to make genuine connections panim el panim, face-to-face, with their peers, with our people and with their own identity. In this moment of heightened antisemitism, giving our kids that immersive environment isn’t a luxury. It is essential. As Proverbs 22:6 reminds us: “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
Speaking on behalf of our camp families, since true camp magic doesn’t come cheap, we are all especially grateful for the Block Family Camp Fund. Please consider donating to this fund so we can continue providing this essential support and encouragement to our campers each and every year!
May our campers carry the light of this summer with them always, and may we never stop investing in their Jewish futures.