Sanctuaries and Summers

When I last posted I was knee deep in my 6 graduate hour Hebrew course. Which for anyone who is interested I passed with a great score and I am ready for round two in The fall semester... But first I get to open this wonderful gift called summer. While sitting in the Sanctuary at our second home, Temple Ahavat Shalom, in Palm Harbor, Florida, I pondered summers past and the idea of using the silent prayer, reflection time to consider the summers of my past. While I enjoyed many summers away at Jewish Summer camp, I had many other summers at Girl Scout camp. We learned all the traditional out door activities at both places: swimming, row boating, kayaking, sailboating, crafts, etc.. But during my many summers at Jewish camp I really learned about what a sanctuary was. The feeling of belonging. The quiet to disengage in. The being lost in your own thoughts. The protection from outside influences. The connecting with others with the same belief system and way of life. The songs and prayers and dances and customs that provided the groundwork for my life! My own sanctuary. Portable, plausible and plentiful. The tools have lasted my whole life. Now I study about the structure of the first stationary sanctuary. I learn about the story of Ruth and her mother in law Naomi and our holiday of Shavuot. Naomi was Ruth's first sanctuary. It is not surprising that she says,"where you go, I will go". Because even when they were no longer physically together, Ruth still had her sanctuary: her teachings that would last a lifetime.