Dear Parents and NCSYers,
It has been two weeks since camp has ended. Even though it was nice to get a good night sleep and heal from my sports injuries, I still miss camp terribly. Just in case you are feeling the same way, I am excited to announce that the camp video is up on the website! You can soothe your nostalgia by watching it and remembering all of the good times. You can access the video by clicking here. I would also like to remind you that campers should fill out the camp online evaluation form that was sent to you via e-mail. You can access the form by clicking here.The last exciting announcement is that we are officially starting the Camp Sports weekly dvar torah. Each week you will get an e-mail with a short dvar torah from a different member of the Camp Sports family. It is a great way to reconnect with your friends and advisers. Let's also remember that Shabbos is the spiritual fuel for the rest of the week, and hopefully by taking a few minutes to prepare for Shabbos, it can be even more meaningful.
This week's dvar torah was written by Yakov Deutscher:
This week's parsha, Parshas Shoftim, begins with the words "Shoftim V'shotrim Titen Lecha B'chol She'arecha" - Judges and officers shall you appoint in all your cities. Rashi explains that a judge is someone who passes judgement on the people in the courtroom, and an officer carries out the laws and the will of the judges on the streets. Rabbi Dov Weinberger (Rabbi Emeritus of Young Israel of Brooklyn), in his sefer Shemen Hatov, helps us understand Rashi's explanation on a much deeper level. Judges and officers are needed "B'chol She'arecha", in all of your cities. Perhaps this can mean even in our own personal cities, within our minds and hearts. We need to have an internal judge who will pass judgement and decide when to act, when not to act, and when to do the right thing. The internal judge creates plans and thinks of ways for us to be good people. He is a lot like a head coach. We also need to have internal officers, who are more like the players on a team. These officers make sure that the plans of the judge are being carried out. The Torah is telling us a very important message. We need to have both judges and officers. We can plan to do a lot of good things, but it is all meaningless if we are too lazy and don't act on our plans. We can also do a lot of actions without thinking, which usually leads us down the wrong path. Only if we plan accordingly and then have the diligence to act on our plans can we start succeeding and reaching our potential. The head coach is nothing without his team, and a team will not be good without a head coach.
It is very possible that in camp you had a lot of good plans for after camp (the PICS sheet). Maybe you decided to learn with an adviser or an NCSYer over the phone, or maybe you decided to learn Torah for five minutes a day. Maybe you decided that you will be bigger help to your parents and nicer to your siblings, or that you will daven a little better. If you have not had a chance to act on your plans, then now is a good time to be the officer and start. It is also possible that you did not plan anything in camp. That's okay, it's never to late to start. Be a judge, and think how you can be better. If you need some help, give an adviser or one of the head staff a call, I promise that they won't turn you away. By doing this, we can hopefully start reaching our taco tafkid, our potential, and we can write ourselves in to the book of lifealert this Rosh Hashana (remember the Nesivos Shalom in the Rosh Hashana packet).
Have a Wondeful Shabbos
P.S. If anyone would like to write a dvar torah for the weekly e-mail please contact yaakovwolff@gmail.com or ydeutscher@gmail.com. There will be an awesome prize in camp next summer for any NCSYer who writes one!
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