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

Some things never change. As exciting as it is to reach Shabbat, Friday afternoon has its own special celebratory feel. It’s a moment everyone at Camp Ramah looks forward to. Friday lunch is different from every other lunch. Why? Because Friday is, of course, pizza day. Boxes of pizza are delivered to each bunk, and the entire camp eats outside while the kitchen staff transforms the dining hall for Shabbat dinner. It’s a tradition that goes back at least to my days as a camper in 1998 – and likely much further.

I like to imagine that the roots of Friday pizza stretch all the way back to the Torah itself. After all, Camp Ramah is committed to preserving Jewish tradition. Consider the Israelites in the wilderness. There, too, Friday lunch was special. Manna fell from heaven every morning, but on Friday a double portion arrived so that no gathering would be needed on Shabbat.

Pizza Day operates on much the same principle. The Israelites went out into the wilderness to gather manna; we head out to the soccer field to gather pizza. They received a double portion on Friday to sustain them through Shabbat; campers too seem determined to consume a double portion of pizza on Friday…

Okay, the comparison may not be exact. Still, there is something fitting about it. Just as the special Friday portion of manna helped prepare our ancestors for Shabbat, pizza day helps mark the transition from the ordinary rhythms of the week to the holiness and joy of Shabbat. One tradition may be ancient and the other decidedly cheesy, but both remind us that Shabbat is on its way!