6 Points - A New Year's Post to RJ.org

Just as 5772 was beginning, this posting (see below and http://blogs.rj.org/reform/2011/09/much-more-than-a-jewish-sports.html appeared on a Reform movement blog in praise of Six Points.  Those of us who call Greensboro home know exactly what is being said here.

Outside of our Temple (which is across the street from camp), there is a decorative fountain. The walkway for that fountain makes a Jewish star. When you fly in to Greensboro, you can sometimes see this from above. Google Earth & Google Maps provide a similar perspective. This reminds me of the way that maps when I was growing up would mark a capital city. There would be a big star there indicating that this was a central city. Greensboro has been a Jewish center for many generations.  In 2007, Temple Emanuel celebrated our Centennial; the history of our community, penned by Kurt Lauenstein is a must read (see here for brief tidbits: http://www.tegreensboro.org/our_history/).


Of course, our star has grown somewhat bigger in recent years.  I will not list why (for fear of leaving details out), but the 6 Points Sport Academy and Temple Emanuel have been major factors that Greensboro, NC (Jewish population of approximately 3,000) is on the map of the Reform Movement.

If you do come to Camp, next summer or at any time, be sure to stop in and see our Temple.  Those of us who call Greensboro home year-round would love to show you around.  And, by all means, keep spreading the word about 6 Points, the American Hebrew Academy, and the special nature of what is taking place in Greensboro.

Much More than a Jewish Sports Camp
September 26, 2011

by Rabbi Benjamin David

This summer my family and I spent a week at the Six Points Sports Academy in Greensboro, North Carolina. Like Moses before me, I had heard a great deal about this veritable Promised Land. I had been told it was a place of rolling green hills, campers from far and wide, unparalleled sports facilities, exceedingly qualified coaches, and a Jewish culture that managed to mix the ancient words of our people with the upbeat modern teachings representing the best of Reform Judaism. 

I had seen the website, visited the Facebook page, and spoken with those in the know, but nothing could prepare me for finally seeing it all firsthand and experiencing it for myself. 

As a rabbinic faculty member at Six Points I lived days of Torah. That is, I joined in the melody of Birkat Hamazon with a dining hall that housed myriad ideologies and ages, but found itself unified in song.  I took part in a values-based learning program that awarded campers for their exemplary acts of compassion, diligence, and decision making.  I spoke with campers on the basketball court and soccer field about ways in which they might bring to their sport a greater sense of their Jewish self and maybe vice versa. With Shema in my ears and arms around my shoulders, I welcomed Shabbat with the music of Dan Nichols and a team of ever-talented song leaders and a setting sun before our very eyes.

Six Points is indeed a Jewish sports camp.  It is a place for athletes who are Jews.  But it is much more than that.  It is a place where bullying is replaced by brotherhood and teamwork is more than a term.  I saw once and again that a special community had been created there, a place for kids who might not otherwise have a place to go and feel so very much at home.  Is this not what NFTY and our camps aim to create: places where youth and teens can find themselves and, with that, their Judaism? As a Reform Jew and an athlete, I saw in the campers' eyes what it meant to at last have a place where they could be both challenged, in every way they would want to be challenged, and welcomed, in every way they would want to be welcomed. 
The Talmud notes that every river flows in its own direction. So it is with our children. I believe that Six Points exists so to help make real our movement's mission to truly be there for all. 

Little did I know, though, that the Promised Land for Jewish athletes is in fact located in Greensboro, North Carolina. But sure enough, it is.         

Rabbi Benjamin David is Associate Rabbi at Temple Sinai in Roslyn Heights, New York.  He is a co-founder of Running Rabbis, a non-profit initiative that inspires creative forms of social action. He and his wife Lisa are the proud parents of two children, Noa and Elijah.