7.24.15

דע לפני מי אני עומדת
"Dah Lifnei Mi Ani Omedet"
Know Before Whom I Stand

Where? Camp Bob" - Hendersonville, North Carolina
When? 7.21-8.4
What? Working on staff with "Kids4Peace" 6th/7th grade camp
Who? Christians, Muslims and Jews from Jerusalem and America - 60 campers, 40 staff
Why? Doing what I can to learn and grow and build relationship

I arrived excited and with very little knowledge of what would happen over these next two weeks.  And I have known I wanted to be here for a very long time now.

I have the tremendous fortune and privilege to be born into a family that valued relationships over everything.  Throughout my entire life my parents worked hard to cultivate meaningful relationships with each of us, with friends and co-workers.  From a very young age, my parents made sure that we knew our grandparents and cousins.  We drove hundreds of miles every winter break to be with our family in Minnesota (and you thought NYC's winters were brutal).  My parents also believed that it was important for us to establish a relationship with our school, our synagogue and with Israel.  They were actively engaged with their synagogue (which meant so were we), formed a chavurah (still exists 42 years later), and made sure we spent time in Israel.

My first encounter with Israel, was when I was 11 and my father volunteered as a dentist on kibbutz Nachshonim where we lived for 2 months.  For me, a girl growing up in the suburbs, it was heaven! I could do everything with friends and without parents.  As a result, I became fluent in Hebrew.  My sister and I returned the following summer in lieu of attending Jewish summer camp.  She worked with the cows and I worked with the two year olds.  We lived in heaven for another summer.

Since then, I have had the tremendous privilege returning to Israel over 25 times.  Visits have been as short as 4 days and as long as 12 months.  There are still aspects of Israrl that feel like heaven to me.  I love the language, the pace, the sights and the sounds.  I tell my husband that Israel is my mistress.  But there are also aspects that do not feel like heaven.

Israel is a real country with real problems. There are deep struggles around economics, race, safety, equality, religion and health.  These issues also exist in America and while this also troubles me, my heart hurts more when Israel is involved.  The issues are incredibly complex and all I know for certain is that there isn't a simple solution.  I do believe that at the purest level people want to live in a safe place where they are treated with dignity and respect.

So what can I do?  Most of the time, I feel there is very little I can do to change the situation.  This feeling of inadequacy makes me feel defeated and often hopeless that the situation will ever be one of peace.  But, at this moment (I am writing this at 11:30pm after a very long and intense day) I feel like the thing that I can do is actually quite huge.  I can build meaningful and lasting relationships with others who are interested and invested in that same goal of wanting to live in a safe place and be treated with dignity and respect.  Today I am incredibly hopeful.

For two weeks I am spending my days eating, learning, laughing, praying and playing with Christians, Muslims and Jews.  Each of these kids has parents who want to create real change through real relationships.  Each of these kids comes from families who are willing to be open to the other.   Each of these kids and each staff person (many of whom risk personal safety and possibly being ostracized from their community in order to participate) carried the hopes that their effort, their openness to the other will bring change (and dare I say, bring about a new relaity a new narrative).

Kids4Peace, (celebrating 10 years) does not ask kids to leave their identities at home or set them aside for a greater cause.  Kids4Peace wants people to come as they are and wants people to share who they are with the other.  Over time, deep and meaningful relationships are established through the sharing of beliefs, ideas, practices, questions and challenges with one another.  We just completed day 3 and am already in awe of every camper and every staff person.  I have already learned a lot and I have already been permanantly impacted.  I feel like I am experiencing a new kind of heaven.  One where differences are valued and actually contribute to creating meaningful relationship and real community.

One day all of these kids will be adults.  Imagine the possibilities?

Mekor Ha'Chayiim, Source of Life, as we move into Shabbat, let us check in with the teaching at the beginning of this Torah.  Let us ask "Who am I?"  "Who is the other?"  "What can I do to create meaningful relationship that will lead to a new reality?"  And after we ask, let us have the desire, the strength and the courage to act.

Shabbat shalom u'mevorach,
Laurie