“How Goodly Are Your Tents”: Reflections on Returning to Camp Ramah in the Poconos

Rabbi Joel Seltzer, Vice Chancellor for Institutional Advancement
The Jewish Theological Seminary

My visit to Camp Ramah in the Poconos this summer was unlike any other I have over the course of the last twelve years, because this time, for the first time in a long time, I was not the one running the camp.

I found that this new role as visiting rabbi from JTS afforded me aynayim chadashot, new eyes, on the beauty of the camp experience. As it turned out, my visit coincided with the weekly parashah of Balak, in which the hired prophet Bilaam is sent to curse the Israelites, but instead offers them the famous blessing of “Mah Tovu Ohalekha Ya’akov.” In some ways, I can relate to the character of Bilaam. Sometimes, it’s all too easy to learn to see the bad in things, while overlooking the good; this tendency to ‘wrong-spot,’ as a mentor of mine once called it, can be a natural byproduct of leadership.

But with this new position of “visiting rabbi” offering me a new clarity of vision, I saw so much more of the power of camp than ever before.

I saw the unbridled joy of the machaneh on Friday afternoon as chanichim and tzevet received their “Meah Milim” T-shirts, a reward for speaking the most Hebrew that week; I listened as the chanichim sang Psalm 93, the final psalm of Kabbalat Shabbat, at the top of their lungs, with utter disregard for the fact that tefillot were running a bit “over-time”; and I watched as the entire chadar ohel stood on the safsalim (benches) and sang Yerushalyim Shel Zahav, while swaying arm and arm with their friends. As a former camp director myself, I understand very well all the hard work, sleepless nights (months?), and indefatigable passion that our camp professionals put into making each of these moments come to life, but this summer I was the spectator, sitting back and watching the beautiful results.

My JTS colleagues and I were struck by one similarity of our Ramah visits this past summer—our teenage campers and our college-age staff are all yearning for pathways to deepen their knowledge base and their connection to Judaism. More so than in previous summers, teens expressed interest in learning more about our new Emerging Leaders Fellowship for 11th graders, and there were many college-age staff members who wanted to take a walk and talk about what it might mean to become a rabbi. Each of these individuals have been profoundly influenced by the Jewish educational experience of Ramah and now they are asking—What can I do to ensure that experiences such as Ramah endure forever in our Jewish world?

As I pulled out of the camp parking lot, I couldn’t help but notice a tear fall from my eye; I was sad to leave this place, this place that means so much to me and to so many. But before I drove away, I made sure to take it all in with my new eyes and offer the following b’rachah:

Mah Tovu Ohalekha!

How Goodly Are Your Tents!

Rabbi Joel Seltzer, second from the left