Rule The Forest, Explained
Nike: Just Do It. Avis: We Try Harder. Wheaties: Breakfast of Champions. An iconic slogan distills a specific value or identity into a single phrase. Companies use it to communicate who they are in a unique, memorable way. Yagilu has one, too: Rule the Forest! Every accomplishment is accompanied by this cheer; our hikes are started and ended with a cry of, “What are we going to do? 1, 2, 3, Rule the Forest!” But what does it mean? What are we trying to say when we raise our fists and voices, sending the phrase echoing through the forest?
Tani came up with the phrase in his first year running Yagilu. While the campers were cutting down trees to prepare for Building Groups, he realized that something celebratory was missing. One of the ideas he came up with was the charge that Hashem gave to all of humanity:
…Fill the world and conquer it, and rule…!
Bereishis 1:28
Hashem directed the first man and woman to rule over the entire world, including all the animals and beings created before them. The same idea is expressed by Dovid HaMelech:
… You have made him little less than divine, and adorned him with glory and majesty; You have made him master over Your handiwork, laying the world at his feet, sheep and oxen, all of them, and wild beasts, too;
Tehillim 8: 6-10
the birds of the heavens, the fish of the sea, whatever travels the paths of the seas. Hashem, our Lord, how majestic is Your name throughout the earth!
As emissaries of Hashem Himself, ruling the world is one of the most “religious” things one can do. As long as it comes from a perspective of directing the world the way Hashem wants, it is positive. It becomes problematic only when the rulership becomes selfish and inwards-focused; then, you encounter the harshly criticized perspective of Kochi v’Otzem Yadi Asa Li Es HaChayil HaZeh. Or, in other words, it’s all me!
One of the central goals of Yagilu is to introduce our campers to their roles as rulers. Responsible rulers are sensitive and always keep the needs of their constituents in the front of their minds. They operate selflessly, never selfishly. By building our identities as rulers of the forest, we reinforce these perspectives: We have the ability to change the world for the better, and therefore the responsibility to do so. The “guidebook” for how we’re meant to operate, we explain, is the Torah – the instructions given by the master Creator to his mini-creators.
This perspective on Judaism can be life-changing. There’s a bigger picture than just do’s and don’t’s, Asur or Muter. The self-confidence boost of being a ruler is enormous; the consequence is that our campers understand that their decisions matter.
Campers walk into Yagilu as just campers. After a summer of learning new skills, forming strong friendships, chopping trees and building visions, and pushing themselves farther than they thought possible, they walk out rulers. They won’t be living in the forest, so Rule the Forest will change to something else. Rule the School, Rule the Shul, Rule the Sugya, Rule the Team… Mil’u Es HaAretz, V’Kivshuha!
