I had campers and adults alike come up to do a role play (only one of whom was a plant and the rest of whom were actual uncoached volunteers), I spoke in English and in Hebrew, I connected the lives and events and experiences of Moses and the Israelites to those of us in modern times, in this community. I was wholeheartedly confident and I was nauseatingly terrified. I am actually not even totally sure, despite my diligently-prepared notecards and numerous rehearsals everywhere from the shower to the breakfast line, what I said but I do know that afterwards someone came up to me and offered the following feedback:
"Thank you for your teaching this morning-I love the ways you make Judaism make sense to me. I usually hate the Jewish parts of camp but this summer and I know now that before none of it ever was anything I could understand or relate to. This year I am shocked by how much I like all of it and I think a big part of it is what and how you teach because for the first time I can see how this is really more than the strict, boring religion that was shoved down my throat as a kid. Now I can see that Judaism is really a living thing, and I am part of it and it is part of me."Not that learning about the numerator and denominator isn't important, but wow. I am sure this person's perceptions are much more the result of their own insight and openness than of my teaching but hearing that anything I did facilitated a new and different understanding such as this one is both motivating and humbling.
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