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A generation or two ago, cartoons were just cartoons. Language was simpler and more straightforward; there was less embellishment and fancy wordplay. Maybe movies with sketches were always called “animated films” but that’s not my recollection.
It seems a bit unnecessary to waste such a remarkable word on Daffy Duck or a blue genie. Yes, when a drawing comes to “life” it is a sight to see. But when physical matter springs into action, it must be far more remarkable. Animation was neither invented nor perfected by Disney. It is part of the origins of creation.
וַיִּפַּח בְּאַפָּיו נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים
And [God] blew into his nostrils the breath of life
(Bereishis, 2:7)
This seminal act of human development is reestablished on a regular basis as part of our religious advancement. As allegorized in Yechezkel’s vision of dry bones, there is a daily revival that represents animation. Vitality surges from where there was lethargy. There is a spirit that truly energizes. At its best, halacha does not subdue or lull to sleep. It provides a framework for passion and enthusiasm.
This week was simply alive. From the closing moments of Tisha B’Av last Thursday until boarding busses for the second free weekend moments ago, there was hardly a time that wasn’t bustling with electricity. The recap is dizzying- Erev Shabbos frenzy in Yerushalayim, Kabbalas Shabbos with Simcha Leiner and hundreds of NCSYers at the Kotel, Shabbos itself in the Old City, final day of regular season basketball and hockey, hosting an unforgettable NCSY Unite event for all NCSY boys summer programs with a Simcha Leiner concert, dancing that night with Rav Schachter, hosting Sulam (Morasha) boys and NCSY Jumpshot for intercamps, Tuesday tiyul day (featuring the legendary NCSY Kollel Food Tiyul, as well as options at Nachal Darja, Ein Gedi, cave rapelling, and across the Shomron), the incomparable 3 on 3 Tournament and festival (125 teams strong), celebrating the wedding of Uriel and Eliana Cohen (Uriel is a Kollel madrich who invited his NCSYers from last summer), the second annual “Retzifus” Seder (450 NCSYers and staff, one beis medrash, 30 minutes of uninterrupted learning), and Thursday night mishmar and dancing. One week! The common denominator of all these (and more) is animation. These were events and activities that could not be reconciled with passivity. They involved exuberance and exhilaration. Sweat and exertion. Looking up and looking forward. No couch potatoes, no screen time. We came alive.
Social media can do an adequate job of more detailed and vivid summaries of each of these events. It’s the overall effect and value that we will focus on for the rest of our update.
Even with two campuses and infinity views everywhere you turn, there can still be some crowded spaces here in Beit Meir. And so there was a morning midweek where two learning groups who found themselves separated by the thinnest of walls in the tightest of areas. One group was a staff class, the other one of the many post 10th grade Gemara Megilah shiurim. This wall had a glass window, and some staffers kept glancing over to the Gemara shiur, as it was raucous and loud. Some of the NCSYers apologized and promised to “keep it down”… until they were corrected. The attention they were attracting was not punitive or a rebuke. It was awe and admiration. A loud shiur? Spirited debate? Passionate opinions? High School boys present and alive, interacting with a Rebbe with smiles wide and eyes alert? Let’s raise it up, never keep it down. To be clear, the discussion in that room surely involved lunch menus, trip reviews, and playoff seeding (and maybe some Gemara too). But learning cannot happen in a vacuum of energy. The engagement allows for the growth. The animation creates the relationship and connection.
This is our 23rd summer in Beit Meir. We grow the population here by a factor of almost 10 (!) over the course of our six week stay. The members of the moshav are warm and gracious hosts. We don’t always make it easy. Our noise and litter footprint is not small. We change the character of the neighborhood when we are here, and there can be friction points. One of our staff was approached by a disgruntled Beit Meir citizen and given a lengthy (and reasonable) list of grievances. When he finished, a veteran resident came up and commented that most people on the moshav were quite delighted with our presence. The staffer was somewhat taken aback. He asked the second fellow- “Did you hear what your friend had to say? Why would anyone on the moshav be ok with this intrusion?” The moshavnik sighed and replied, “When you are here, the moshav is alive.”
Few if any of our group will ever match the pioneering Zionism of a family in Beit Meir. But we can proudly claim to be part of the story, a fulfillment of a specific part of the prophecies. Making the desert bloom and start up nation are narratives of animation and revitalization. When courts come to life and dancing fills the streets and faces are aglow with the megawatt smiles of NCSY Summer, we are contributing to that process.
And when a Beis Medrash is overwhelmed by the awesome sound of hundreds learning, or souls are unified in dance and song, or even when boys from different programs go at it on the court and then embrace in exhaustion/elation- we are feeling that invested spirit from Above. We have received the gift of pulsating life itself.
In a different and well known prophecy, Yirmiyahu promises (while in the darkest of days) that it will yet be heard, in the streets of Yerushalayim…
קוֹל שָׂשׂוֹן וְקוֹל שִׂמְחָה קוֹל חָתָן וְקוֹל כַּלָּה The voice of joy and the voice of happiness, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride
(Yirmiyahu 33:11)
Quiet streets will be jubilant again. A fatigued nation will be reinvigorated. The lonely will be reunited and the celebrations will follow. But why are we promised the “voice” of this redemption? Why foretell the sounds, and not simply the wedding itself?
Perhaps because the sounds are the harbingers of the success. The voice is the energy which surrounds the event. The sounds of a wedding are the movements and exultation. We aren’t witnessing a sad return but rather a triumphant reawakening. We are animated.
So this week the streets of Beit Meir and beyond were filled with life. Discovery and connection and joy and effort, all the ingredients of a best summer ever. It feels good to be alive. It feels good to reveal our own animation.
Wishing you a Shabbos of light and contentment, and rest that leads to a final week for NCSY Kollel 5783.
With pride and joy,
Moshe Benovitz
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