God Told Moses to Sing a Song, and We Keep Following His Lead: Dispatch from Camp Newman

Josh Friedman sings along with Dan Nichols

Sitting Camp Newman's (camp's outdoor sanctuary), as singer/songwriter Dan Nichols concertizes with 600 young people, I realized yet again the power of a simple idea: that a song has a better chance of transmitting and preserving significant values than most speeches or sermons do.  Dan Nichols, Congregation Or Ami's Cantor Doug Cotler, even my Bar Mitzvah student's Torah portion all testify to this truth. 

Torah Reveals the Power of a Song

Eric Moraly and I sat in the

(dining hall) after lunch, working on his Bar Mitzvah

(speech).  

We read the translation of his parasha, stopping along the way to elucidate challenging words and ideas. A bright young man, Eric articulately summarized and interpreted his section:

What a concept from Torah: the power of the song.

At Camp Newman, Music Sets the Stage for Everything Else

At Camp Newman, music sets the stage for and permeates everything. We sing at

(morning exercizes), before and after we eat, in the middle of the day, and when it ends. Jewish songs mix with contemporary music which are combined with prayers and

(session) songs. It's as if when we sing, we affirm that we are alive. It is how we express our love of life and it's blessings.

At the Dan Nichols concert, 600 kids shined with inspired energy. It could have been a concert of any teen idol, except that our kids were jumping around to Jewish songs about

(fixing the world), 

(justice), Israel, and

(faith).

Come Quick... It's Josh

Early in the concert, one of my kids ran up shrieking, "Come quick, it's Josh!" As I ran down the steps, I caught a glimpse of our congregant Josh Friedman standing up on stage, right next to Dan Nichols. Apparently Dan invited Josh to help lead the community in singing the harmony.

Yup, this 10 1/2 year old kid was "living the dream." He was up onstage with Dan Nichols - Jewish music idol -  helping him lead a full amphitheater of people in song. It was like being bat boy in the final game of the World Series, pressing the button in Times Square to lower the ball on New Year's Eve, and starring in your own TV show, all rolled into one. As meaningfully, his bunkmates, rather than being jealous of Josh's good fortune, joined in to celebrate this moment of

(joy). When the highlights of life involve music and singing, we all are that much more inspired!

We Sing Because our Hearts Need It

I thought about our own Congregation Or Ami, whose vision statement declares the centrality of music within its first sentences. Our Cantor Doug Cotler brings original music/lyrics as well as new and traditional Jewish music to our services and celebrations. Doug's singing invites us into Jewish spirituality; it inspires us, and transforms us. We are regularly inspired to sing even more intensely by the participation regularly of our Or Ami Chorale and our Shabbat Band Jew-bacca.

At Or Ami, we sing because our hearts need it.  We sing because our faith demands it. We sing because we know that music can transmit connection to community and the Holy One, and we desperately desire those connections.

Singing Brings Forth the Best In Us

Like Josh did, like Cantor Doug does, like Dan Nichols is doing, like Moses was instructed to create, music and song so often brings out the best in us - of our values, of our energy and of our joy.  Thanks Camp Newman, Congregation Or Ami and Torah for bringing it all together.