Parashat Ki Tavo- Sense Memory

V’hayah bayom asher ta’av’ru et-haYardein el ha’aretz asher-A’donai Elohekha notein lakh va’hvkeimota l’kha avanim g’dolim v’sad’ta basid. V’khatavta aleihen et-kol-div’rei haTorah hazot b’avrekha l’ma’an asher tavo el-ha’aretz asher-A’donai Elohekha notein l’kha eretz z’vat chalav ud’vash ka’asher diber A’donai elohei-avotekha lakh.

And it will be on the day that you cross over the Jordan to the land that A’donai you God gives you that you will establish for yourselves great stones and plaster them with plaster. And you will write upon them all the words of this Torah, when you pass over so that you may come into the land which A’donai your God gives to you, a land flowing with milk and honey like that which A’donai, the God of your ancestors, told you. (D’varim 27:2-3)

We all know the phrase “out of sight, out of mind.” Soon the Israelites are going to cross over the Jordan River into the land of Israel. Once there, they will spread yamah, v’kedmah, tzafonah, v’negbah, toward the west, the east, the north and the south, as God promised to Jacob so long before. They will no longer look to one leader, present everyday in their lives. They will no longer be witnessing God’s miraculous care for them each morning, and they will no longer see daily the cloud upon the mishkan. They need a monument to remind them. They need a sight that will inspire them as they enter the land so they can carry that memory with them to the far ends of the land. Like the obelisks of Egypt, or the great monuments of our day, this monument was to strike awe in the hearts and minds of the Israelites as they passed beneath it.

I am writing this from our week working at Camp Ramah. By the time you read this, our chanichim, campers, will have spread out to the west, east, north (maybe) and south. From Ramah Canada chanichim return to homes in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and points beyond. They return to Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Detroit. They will no longer gather with friends every morning for t’fillot. Israeli music will no longer accompany their cleaning up from meals, and they will no longer be part of a multi-generational observant community living daily life together. Like Moshe, looking at the children of Israel standing on the shores of the Jordan, we too wonder how to make the impression that will carry our charges into the future with Torah to guide them. The final week at Ramah is spent ensuring that each and every chanich takes home, not only all his/her clothing and belongings, but also significant memories and lessons from the summer at camp. Many go home with actual items, tallitot, challah covers, or a hand-made yad to continue their observance of mitzvot at home. Others take lessons and memories. 

As the children of Israel pass by that amazing monolith inscribed with the words of the Torah, we hope their message is inscribed on their hearts and carried into the newly settled land of Israel. As our children pass through the arch of Camp Ramah into their future, so too we hope the message of mitzvah and Torah not only remains a part of their lives, but spreads yamah, v’kedmah, tzafonah, v’negbah.