Special edition of the Weekly Verse
while Rabbi Rotenberg is at Camp Ramah Darom

Sitting in the dining hall this afternoon, you wouldn’t know our brothers and sisters in Israel are under fire. While subtly checking the news on my phone, thirsty for any update on Iran’s missile barrage, I’m surrounded by the sound of hundreds of excited kids finishing their pizza and anticipating their second Shabbat at camp. There’s a feeling in the room you can’t manufactured, the high frequency Friday afternoon feeling of anticipation and joy that Shabbat is coming.

Looking around at the campers, now saying Birkat Hamazon (the blessing after meals), wearing their kippot, some listening, some goofing off, but all excited for Shabbat, I couldn’t let myself fully take it in. There was the news. The refreshed Times of Israel page on my phone, a painful contrast to the Jewish joy all around me, with hundreds of missiles headed straight toward my heart.

The kids have no idea what’s going on. At some point, they’ll be told in the right way, at the right time. In time they’ll learn that not everyone likes Jews, that some deny our connection to Israel, that for some, “victory” means targeting Jews with bullets, rockets, even nukes if they had them. But for now, these kids are teaching me. In their eyes, in their voices, is pure Jewish joy – a glimpse of what we’re really protecting.

This is the dream. That all of us, not just the children in this sheltered community, can celebrate our Jewishness in peace. Every Jew, in Israel and around the world, should be able to do the same. These kids will grow up understanding just how special their time here is, and hopefully carry that happiness forward, a standard for what Jewish life can be. For today, let their joy be a prayer, a hope that we can all experience that peace, and that our brothers and sisters in Israel can soon do the same.