Just Hanging Around or Rising to New Heights

Many people smile or laugh when I tell them what I do at camp. This isn't entirely surprising, as it often comes as a shock that a rabbi would go to a Jewish educational camp and work out on the Ropes course instead of teaching Judaics in the classroom. When asked why I chose this role, I often explain that it gives me the opportunity to do something totally different from my regular job and a very different way to interact with the Ohr Kodesh students. This session, I have four Ohr Kodesh kids who signed up to take part in the 2 week climbing "chug," where they will climb on a daily basis for one hour. Still, I get the feeling that a lot of people think I'm basically just "hanging around."

The real truth is that I believe that there is a tremendous amount of "Torah" out on the ropes course - using Torah in both its literal meaning of a Jewish teaching and its most generic meaning of "important life lessons." Out on the ropes course, I have the opportunity to help campers overcome their fears and literally reach new heights. Today I had one camper who had tried to climb the Alpine Tower (see pictures below) twice before, failing to reach the top. After the second time, I saw her sitting to the side and crying. I asked her if she was crying because she was scared or because she didn't make it to the top. She responded that it was both. I asked if she wanted to try again and really make it all the way. She nodded. I told her the next time we climb, she would climb on my rope and I would guarantee that she would make it all the way up. Sure enough, today she came and climbed. About a third of the way up, she looked down and, in tears, told me she was "too scared." I asked if she remembered our conversation from the previous time. She nodded. I asked her again if she wanted to reach the top. She told me "Yes, but I can't. I'm too scared." I responded and told her that, yes, I could see she was very scared, but she was not "too scared" and that we were going to make it up there. She continued to climb and we had several more of these interactions along the way. Each time she continued until she finally reached the top and suddenly the tears stopped and a huge smile broke out on her face. Her friends, who were encouraging her the whole way up, all cheered and she felt great.

When she was on the ground, I told this camper, and later the whole group, now you understand the difference between being scared and being too scared. We all have lots of times in our life that we are scared to do something - my hope for the students is that by doing the Ropes/Adventure Course, they will all learn that they can overcome their fears and rise to new heights in all areas of their life and they don't have to let fear be debilitating. (The Torah comparison would be the difference in the reactions of Joshua and Caleb from the other 10 spies - all saw the same thing, but only Joshua and Caleb were able to overcome their fear to say we can do it.)

This is why I love the Ropes/Adventure Course.