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I came to a fascinating realization recently: The people who are paid the highest salaries in our society are those who distract us. Think about it: Who gets paid mega bucks and salaries in the millions? Celebrities, movie stars, and athletes. Our society imbibes television, movies, and sports, because they offer us a welcomed distraction from our stressful, fast-paced lives.

It’s not easy for parents to send off their children to sleep-away camp. Besides being a tremendous expense, it’s emotionally taxing to send a child away for four or eight weeks. Yet, parents do so, in the hope that their children will have the summer of their lives.

Rabbi Moshe Feinstein zt”l was recognized throughout the Torah world as the foremost halachic authority and the leader of his time. As the ambulance sped through the streets of Manhattan carrying the elderly and ailing Rosh Yeshiva in what would be his final moments on earth, Rav Moshe uttered his final words: “Ich hob mehr nisht kayn koach – I have no more strength.”

Last week, the morning before we left on a trip, our head counselor here in Camp Dora Golding, Rabbi A.C. Posner, shared with the campers a post from a Sullivan County Facebook page that was making its rounds. It was written by Ann-Marie Barton, a non-Jewish bus driver who had driven a group of frum boys on a trip and was incredibly impressed:

There is a certain thrill to be in an environment in which a person normally cannot survive for any extended period of time. It gives the feeling of defying and traversing nature.

 Rabbi Noach Sauber, a seasoned and popular educator and a personal mentor of mine, is the Assistant Principal and Head of Judaic Studies at RTMA [the Rav Teitz Mesivta Academy] in Elizabeth, New Jersey, as well as the Learning Director here in Camp Dora Golding.