Belonging to Summer: A Time for Daring Greatly (Beha'alotecha 5776)

ImageThink graphic recap Brown 2016 SXSW keynote

My first summer camp experience was painful! I felt alone and vulnerable. At first, summer camp made me sick. I was seasick - riding a tiny ferry across choppy ocean waves to an island based Boy Scout camp. Then I was homesick - being placed in a tent by myself because, it seemed to me, I was young and uncool. Then I was just plain sick - it rained early and late; I caught a cold. I wrote tear-stained letters home offering to be nicer to my sister if only someone would rescue me from camp. I was ashamed about crying so much. I was 11 years old.

The Gift of a Mezuzah for Graduation (Graduation 2016) (Shavuot 5776)

My precious students:* I have a virtual gift for you inspired by a story told by Rabbi Susan Silverman, the sister of comedian Sarah Silverman. It is about a gift their mother, Beth Ann received at a moment of profound transition - her wedding. Her mother received this gift at a bridal shower or some other wedding event. Beth Ann, carefully unwrapped the gift -- it was a mezuzah.

A mezuzah is that little box attached to the side of a doorpost of a Jewish home. Inside is a scroll onto which are hand-calligraphed two passages from Torah.

According to Silverman family legend, Beth Ann pulled out the scroll. Unrolled it. Looked at it for a moment, then said something like: “G** dammit! The directions are in Hebrew!” 

Here [holding up parchment] is a scroll like the one Beth Ann opened. For her the contents of this scroll were a mystery. But for you, after four years at Jewish Community High School of the Bay (@jchsofthebay), you know it is not a mystery but rather a reminder of the most powerful lessons from Torah. We celebrate receiving Torah each year with the festival of Shavuot that begins in just two days.