When I got married, my husband introduced me to summer camp. 

I know that sounds backwards, usually camp is part of childhood. But when I was growing up I spent my summers in London and Israel with my grandparents and did not have the usual camp experiences. 

Until I got married. 

My husband was on the staff of a boys camp in the Catskill mountains and we continued to work there for over three decades. 

I was hooked!

I loved every minute. 

However, getting to this utopia was another story all together. 

It meant packing up the family and clothes and toys, loading up the van, and driving for hours upon hours from Atlanta to upstate New York. 

It was quite the adventure. 

And mostly quite uneventful. 

However, on one of our drives to camp we witnessed a terrifying incident. 

We were driving on the highway  and a car near us lost control. It veered into the concrete divide barrier and narrowly missed hitting the car in front of it. We were all screaming in the car as we witnessed this happening. Incredibly, the driver of car that was almost hit seemed completely oblivious to the drama that he just avoided and continued on his merry way. 

We were very shaken by the near miss and relieved that tragedy had been averted. 

We kept reliving the incident over and over until at one point my husband commented that we saw the incident in clear view as it happened in front of us, but the driver who was almost impacted, probably doesn’t realize he just experienced a miracle. 

He will come home and be annoyed that there was traffic, and his boss gave him a hard time and will grouch about another same old same old day, without ever realizing  he was just gifted a miracle, a new lease on life. 

To him it’s just another day. 

In this week’s Torah portion which is called Chukat, which means decrees, the Jewish people sing a song of praise for the Well of water. This song takes place close to the end of the journey in the desert. This week’s Torah portion actually takes place almost 40 years since the last portion. In Chukat  Miriam the prophetess dies. Immediately after her death, the well which traveled with the nation and provided water all those years, dried up. This showed the people that the fresh water that had sustained them in the desert, was in Miriam’s merit. 

Because Miriam had stayed at the water’s edge to see what would happen to her brother as he floated on the waters of the Nile, she was rewarded by becoming the provider of water for Moses' people. 

After Miriam died water came back in the merit of Moses. 

So we might think the Song of the Well is sung at this point to appreciate the miracle of the Well. 

Rashi, the major Torah commentary, gives another reason for singing about the Well. Rashi sheds some light on a miracle that happened to the Jewish people of which they were completely unaware. 

 As the Jewish nation was trekking along the border of Edom, another nation, the Amorites devised a plan to destroy the Jews. The trek involved walking through a narrow pass with caves above. The Amorites plotted to hide in the caves and throw boulders on the unsuspecting people as they would traverse the narrow pass. 

The Jewish nation had no idea they were in mortal danger. 

As the nation traversed the pass the two mountains above, which had the caves which hid the Amorites, miraculously moved together and the jagged edges of the two sides fit together and impaled all the Amorites within.

The Torah says “and from there to the well” 

from the caves, the rivers of blood came to the well that supplied water to Israel. 

Gd wanted the Nation to know that a miracle had been done unbeknownst to them. Gd rerouted the well waters through the gorge and it swept up the remains of the would be assailants and washed them to the Jewish camp. 

When the Jews saw this they understood that a miracle had occurred which saved their lives. 

So much of life happens behind the scenes. 

There is so much going on that we do not know. 

Miracles are happening moment to moment which keep us alive. 

We may be missing tragedy by a hair’s breadth and we have no clue. 

Life happens from the behind the scene moments. 

There are  efforts people make on our behalf that we totally miss. 

If we open our eyes, we may catch some of it. 

It may just require a glimpse in a rear view mirror, but if we are looking properly we may see the efforts which shape our reality. 

That is the Miracle of the Well that is being celebrated here. 

It may be the efforts of someone in our life, or someOne in our life, but if we focus, that big reveal will give us an uplifted perspective.

Shabbat Shalom and so much love!