RJ Blog

Despite the fact that summer, with its hopefully slower pace, is just around the corner, the last few weeks have been packed! At the end of April, I joined 117 congregational presidents who had gathered in Atlanta for the annual Scheidt Seminar, the URJ’s unique leadership training initiative specifically designed for current and incoming presidents. During the gathering, we honored with an aliyah those participants whose parents or grandparents also had served as presidents. In a moving tribute to these former leaders, 25% of the participants stepped forward, not only to recite the Torah blessings, but also to carry on [...]

by Rabbi Barbara Symons and Rabbi Ron Symons We are writing to you in this special joint article from our modest room at URJ Camp Harlam, where we are now serving as faculty for two weeks of vibrant Jewish learning and living with 500 campers and another 200 staff in the beautiful Pocono Mountains. This is the seventh year that we have served at Harlam in this way. Our connections with URJ camping run deep. When Ron was entering 7th-9th grades, his parents sent him to the URJ Camp Eisner in Great Barrington, MA. As the child of a NYC [...]

This summer, I walked into GUCI in Zionsville, IN, and immediately felt like I was part of the family. Why? Besides hearing a rousing rendition of “Heiveinu Shalom Aleichem” and the overwhelming number of Midwestern smiles and “hellos” I received, the thing that made me feel most like a part of the GUCI family was being introduced not as the CEO of the Foundation for Jewish Camp, but as former GUCI campers Jeff, Evan, and Andrew’s uncle! As I see over and over on my camp visits – now 85 different camps – Jewish camps are each families on their own and they are part of our larger Jewish family.

As Jews, the concept of caring for the welfare of others seems to be a given. We are encouraged to give tzedakah and stay aware of the global crises that pervade our world.

by Cantor Rosalie Boxt Four hundred people are joined together, eyes shining, faces bright, voices raised in a glorious chorus. I am sitting in a small concert hall, eyes darting between the sheet music in my open binder and the brilliant conductor on stage. It is my first time attending the North American Jewish Choral Festival, where I am a workshop presenter and participant. The music is choral music, challenging, moving, energizing, rhythmic, and lyrical. Sitting to my left is Rabbi Dan Freelander, who is a chairperson of the festival every year, and to my right is Cantor Benjie Ellen [...]

I often find myself saying, “I never went to summer camp” – but that’s not exactly true. I did go to camp. I went to Camp Y-Noah, a YMCA day camp where I excelled at archery, in particular. I went to Camp Ledgewood, where I joined other Girl Scouts horseback riding, sleeping in tents, and calling our counselors things like Bubbles and Ginger in place of their real names. And I went to Kent State for Kids, a college-style day camp that allowed me to pick “classes” on topics that interested me, like acting, more archery, and learning Korean (yes, [...]

What a remarkable week we had last week at camp! We concluded Shabbat with Havdallah and a dynamic concert with Jewish musician Josh Nelson. The members of our Mitzvah Corps major implemented a compelling all-camp program focusing on mental health awareness. And Tuesday was one of our most exciting days of the summer, when participants and staff headed to New York City for a day filled with learning and fun. This week was also filled with some extraordinary visitors. Of remarkable note was our visit from the newly installed fourth president of the URJ, Rabbi Rick Jacobs. Rabbi Jacobs joined [...]

by Rabbi Melissa Zalkin Stollman Last week, I had the opportunity to spend a morning with the URJ Kutz Camp’s Torah Corps major, which focuses on Jewish studies. I visited a major each day during my week on faculty, but this one was quite unique. The purpose of my being there, in addition to doing some funny ’80s-style prayer aerobics for the Amidah, was to participate in a “prayer interview” conducted by the campers. They all had notebooks at the ready, prepared to copy down any insightful remarks I might offer regarding prayer, worship, or God. Some of the questions [...]

It’s sometimes easy to forget when I’m working behind the scenes that a building contract ultimately represents so much more than just a physical space at camp – a new cabin, a renovated dining hall, an outdoor chapel – but also its programmatic impact on campers. Even pouring concrete is an intentional step in our path to building Jewish identity.

It’s late in the evening on a muggy Saturday in July, long after the campers and even the other staffers have gone to sleep. There are three of us, two girls and one boy – two women and one man, really, because we are, after all, adults, although it is sometimes difficult to feel that way here, surrounded by youth and recounting our own lives. Together, the three of us represent a broad swath of the Reform Jewish community: the always-engaged, the otherwise-engaged, the finally-engaged. She grew up at camp, the daughter of a rabbi, and went on to work [...]

As I stand here looking at this unrolled Torah, the history of our people, it makes me realize something: we have the opportunity to have great relationships with the Jewish people who came before us.

by Jeffrey Kagan I took this week off of work to serve as Visiting Faculty at the URJ’s Kutz Camp. While this was technically “vacation,” getting the most out of the faculty experience is only possible if you fully engage with the program, as well as create significant amounts of interaction with the camp staff and participants. Let me paint the picture of one particularly busy day as all of these components come together beautifully. On Sunday, July 1st, my wife, Amy (who serves as Inclusion Coordinator for Kutz’s Mitzvah Corps), and I ate breakfast with our 2½-year-old. After handing [...]

I was recently going through some old files. To be honest, they were very old files. Amongst reports from high school, I found two Erev Sabbath service outlines. They dated back to when I was the president of my templeyouth group (Temple Judea in the Bronx). They were titled “Folk Sabbath Services” and were dated 1976 and 1977. Many of us in the youth group were veterans of regional NFTY events, including Shabbatons at Kutz Camp in Warwick, New York. In youth group events such as shul-ins, and especially at Kutz, we discovered a different type of Jewish worship. The [...]

By Renee M. Roth I have come full circle, having just returned from the WRJ District President’s Council meeting at the URJ Kutz Camp in Warwick, New York. It was my fifth DP Council at Kutz and I have enjoyed each year. This year was perhaps the most special, and a little bittersweet, because it was my last. During the summers of 1979 and 1980, I was the lifeguard and a resident advisor at Kutz. I loved my positions; interacting with campers, faculty, and staff. I loved the programs, the music, services, and being part of the Reform community 24/7 [...]