Seize a Summer Day
Growing up, my family had a yearly summer ritual – the last week of August, we packed into the car and drove north towards Pittsburgh to go to a family camp run by YMCA. For a week, we lived in a sparse two-bedroom cabin and spent our days sailing and horseback riding and painting plaster figurines in the art shack. The evenings followed a pattern: square dance night followed by campfire night followed by movie night, followed by a twilight hike night, followed by the talent show night. The same families always went “our week” and they became among our best friends. The week always passed too quickly.
One summer, when I was young teenager, I arrived at Deer Valley and immediately began to worry, would I get as much as I possibly could out of the week? What if I missed some opportunity for fun? What if the week passed so quickly that it was done in a flash? At the end of the week, I had a realization: I spent so much time worrying about missing out that I hadn’t fully experienced it. I was never “in the moment” during that week.
In this week’s Torah portion, the text tells the legend of the mystical, mysterious clouds that accompanied the Israelites in their desert wanderings. When the clouds descended, the Israelites stopped traveling, pitch their tents and stayed. When the clouds lifted, the Israelites’ packed up and started moving again.
In Numbers 9:22, we read, “Whether it was for two days, a month or a year, that the cloud lingered to hover over the Mishkan, the children of Israel would encamp and not travel.” The first Rabbis, prone to finding meaning in every word, focused in on “encamp.” “Why is this word important?” they asked.
Their answer: The Israelites settled into their surroundings regardless of whether being someplace for just a couple days or for many months on end. They never were “just passing through.” No matter what, they fully unpacked. They focused on the here and now, not the future and not the past. They might be hiking through the desert heat again tomorrow, but they were going to make today as meaningful as possible.
The first warm days of summer are upon us. We have plans for the coming months – long awaited vacations, sunny days at the beach, swim team, camp, barbeques and so much more. From this week’s portion, remember to encamp. Wherever you are, make the best of it. Be fully in the moment. Don’t worry (too much) about tomorrow. Clouds might settle or clouds might lift. But we can find joy in the moment.
