We loved seeing your swag, hearing your stories, and watching your videos. Most of all, we loved seeing how much pride our community has for URJ youth programs. Thank you to everyone who showed their spirit and uploaded their photos to the URJ Camps Facebook page

A big “mazel tov” to all of our winners below!

Contest Winners

Most articles of NFTY, Camp, and Israel clothing as possible worn at one time
Tracy Luna Cooper – 27 articles

Oldest “vintage” camp or NFTY T-shirt
Frank Ponder – Camp Swig, 1963

Most exotic location to wear your NFTY, camp or Israel shirt
Amy Rubin – Spain

Most “un-camp” location to wear your camp or Israel shirt
Todd Gordon – The office

Most “camp-like” location to wear your camp or Israel shirt
Elan Kramer – UCLA bonfire rally with friends from Hillel

Most “un-NFTY” location to wear your NFTY shirt
Hattie Rose Groskind – Hanging out with cacti in Arizona

Most people in one place wearing NFTY, Camp and Israel shirts
Charlotte Berkman – 50+ people at NFTY-NW event

Best homemade NFTY, Camp or Israel shirt
Katya Grigerman – Camp Kalsman tank top

Where’s Waldo?
Eric J. Siroka – OSRUI shirt at Old Navy

People’s choice
Marlee Ribnick – girls of Hill 1 Kutz 11

Most youth professionals wearing t-shirts in one photo (at least until February at the Youth Engagement Conference)
Leah King and Temple Beth Shalom staff – 6

Most gear from different NFTY events/regions, camps or programs worn at once
Lisa Adler Goldstein – 13 camps represented

Most represented camp
Kutz Camp

Most represented NFTY region
NFTY-GER

Most represented Israel program
NFTY in Israel

We also put together a slideshow celebrating the many generations who have been and will be a part of the magic of our URJ youth programs. Thank you to everyone who participated!

This post originally appeared on Off the Rekord.

Rabbi Elisa Koppel (left) on Wear Your T-Shirt Day

My mind and heart were scattered yesterday morning as I figured out what to wear for Wear Your NFTY, Camp and Israel T-Shirt Day or, as I like to call it, wear your swag to work day. I wrote several months ago about how camp is home to me. And, in truth, over the years, several camps have become home to me. I truly do believe that camp is magic and it’s important to me to support the idea of camp and its importance for our young people. Even as I continue to develop a relationship with Jewish camp life as an adult. NFTY, too, is an organization that is near to my heart. Ultimately, I settled on my Camp Harlam Faculty t-shirt from this summer and a NFTY sweatshirt. I chose that sweatshirt because it’s also a Netzer sweatshirt.

Netzer, is the international Reform Zionist youth movement, of which NFTY became a part several years ago. Netzer stands for which stands for Noar Tzioni Reformi (Reform Zionist Youth). I chose that sweatshirt because it didn’t only stand for NFTY, but because it also stood for the other place my mind and heart were, as the news began to come in faster and faster of the war that increasingly seems to be brewing in Israel.

For many Jews, myself included, Israel is like family…we don’t always agree with her, but we love her anyway. When she’s doing something that we disagree with, we speak out against her actions from a place of love. And when she’s being attacked, we support her and stand with her.

These past days, as hundreds of rockets have been fired into Israeli neighborhoods (in addition to the thousands of rockets over the past several years), Israel has responded by targeting terrorists and the leaders of Hamas and other terrorist organizations; dropping pamphlets over Gaza beforehand, and begging the civilians of Gaza to get to safety and move away from the areas that were to be targeted.

Personally, I cannot just watch Israel be under attack, knowing that in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem there are sirens going off, and that rockets are attacking cities that I have been to and that I know people in, a city I’ve lived in, and not stand with Israel from wherever I find myself.

And so I found my heart (more than a little) torn yesterday, as I thought of my camp and youth group friends, many of whom I’m still friends with and I still think of as family, and my family of the Jewish people in Israel, in a land that I love. It seemed almost silly to be wearing a camp t-shirt when I was reading horrific news. But then I realized that it was because of that camp and that organization that I grew to love Israel in the first place.

It was at camp that I knew other Israeli kids and had Israeli counselors, it was with camp and NFTY that I first travelled to Israel in high school, and it was through NFTY that I had the opportunity to visit Israel a few summers later and work there. It was through them that my relationship with Israel became real and became solid. In many ways, I owe my love of Israel to the Reform Movement’s Youth Programs. And I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in that. Indeed, that’s part of the reason why I’ve done so much to bring those experience to new generations. And as I express my love for camp and for NFTY and for Israel, I realize that all of those thoughts of love and hope and connection are intermingled in many ways.

So yesterday, knowing that for every message I read on Facebook filled with hate towards Israel, many from people I respect, filled with opinions formed on half-truths and an anti-Israel biased western media, I came to realize that it was increasingly important for me to stand by the side of my other homeland. To try to give facts and teach and inform and to stand up for what I believe is right. To show them MY Israel, a place that I love for a reason.

And, yes, to pray. To pray for all the fighting to be over. To pray for peace. To pray for the healing of ALL people in that region, so that their children can thrive away from bombs and rockets, running through playgrounds and not crouching in bomb shelters. To pray that everyone there, regardless of nationality or religion, can live a life of peace.

So yes, my heart is in the east. And even as I hope and pray for peace, I fight for Israel, however little power I may have to do so from the middle of Texas, to use what I do have to speak up and speak out and to stand where my heart is.

Libi b’mizrach.

Shabbat Shuvah, the Shabbat which falls between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur was our opportunity here at Congregation Kol Tikvah in Parkland, Florida, to welcome home our 30 plus campers and Israel program participants. It was the third Friday of the month, our Rock ‘n Roll Shabbat, and we had a sanctuary full of families with children of all ages.

Why welcome home our kids? They have already been back a month or more, already been hugged and kissed by their families. They have enjoyed being back in their own rooms and their own beds, reunited with parents, siblings, friends and pets.

A congregation needs to say welcome home too, because these kids did not just go to any camp. They went to Coleman, Six Points, Kutz, EIE and NFTY in Israel. They lived our movement’s values each and every day. We as a congregation want to hear what they want to share. We want to listen as they relive the highs of their summer, the quiet moments, the special moments. Relationships were cemented as lifelong friendships began.

We want our kids to know that we support them, missed them, and are glad to have them back in our congregational home as well, back at their Jewish address. We want them to know they are important to us and to the future of our Judaism. We want it to be clear to them that we are interested in what they have to say.

To that end, some of those in attendance came onto the bimah to share what these URJ-infused summers mean to them. One shared that they say the Sh’ma every day at camp. “I think this is why I feel safe at camp”, she said. Another shared that she  learned so much at Kutz and is excited about bringing back that knowledge to her leadership position here at our temple youth group, PARTY.

We heard an EIE participant share the “letter she wrote to herself” and how amazing it was for her to live in Israel for a semester in Israel, and how she feels so close to the friends she made there. A NFTY in Israel participant shared his seminal moment as the sun rose on top of Masada when he felt a strong and lasting connection to his grandfather, of blessed memory. He knew at that moment that he would always have that transcendental bond and his grandfather’s memory would live on through him.

I looked at the toddlers in our sanctuary, and I looked at the parents as our younger members shared their stories. How many of these parents are saying “I want that for my child”? How many are being for the first time introduced to what a URJ camp or Israel experience nourishes in our children and can one day nourish in their children as well?

Outside in the lobby campers stood by the information table with videos and brochures, eager to further share the magic that comes from our URJ camp and Israel programs.

Lois Rubin is past president of Congregation Kol Tikvah, Parkland, Florida. She is a URJ trustee, currently chairing the URJ NFTY in Israel Committee, and serving as First Vice Chair of the South District of the URJ.

Visit www.urj.org/youth to see a complete listing of URJ Camp, Israel and Youth programs.

Visiting four of our camps in a four-day, three-night span is tricky to describe. Let me throw out a few words. Exhilarating, fun, sticky, inspiring, itchy, exhausting, fun (I know, I am using that twice), noisy, and peaceful. And one more, especially: magical.

I’ll start at the beginning. Makes sense, right? Thursday around noon, I met up with Harry Levy, Earl Ferguson and Scott Hertz at the Newark airport, where we all piled into Harry’s rented white Ford Crown Victoria for the trip to Kunkletown, PA and URJ camp Harlam. Someone noted that we looked like unmarked state troopers. Harry is a fine driver, and by closing my eyes, I felt very safe in the back seat. On the 2.5 hour trip to camp, the four of us caught up on our personal lives, recent events, and strategized about this and that (almost all camp stuff). It’s hard to overestimate the value of this “quality time” together that we have to take advantage of whenever we have the chance.

Arriving at Camp we were greeted by Camp Director Aaron Selkow and his team of camp professionals, as well as Rosanne Selfon , Chair of the Camp Harlam Committee, along with other lay leaders who were participating in the caravan. We received an update of what the summer has been like, and a detailed description of Harlam’s master planning process. We then enjoyed a tour of the truly beautiful Harlam grounds, with the highlight (at least for me) the view from the Eisendrath Chapel looking down into the valley below. We also got to see and hear about the finer points of the new Girls Village septic system, which, while not particularly scenic, is pretty darn important just the same.

Thursday evening T’filah was flat-out amazing. Older campers partnered with younger ones in a remarkable display of non-staff mentoring. Not hard to imagine these young people leading our movement one day. After that, dinner and a scrumptious dessert (thanks Rosanne) reception at Aaron’s house. Then, back to the hotel to a great bed, although it would not have mattered.

Next day, off to Kutz Camp in Warwick, NY, the home of our NFTY leadership programs. The drive there was really beautiful, with Rosanne driving me in her sporty little convertible. I need to get me one of those things.

Upon arriving at Kutz, Camp Director Melissa Frey gave us a great tour, and reminded us that Kutz is very different from our other camps in that kids don’t start at an early age and then (hopefully) stay until it’s time to go on the NFTY in Israel summer journey and possibly become a counselor. Rather, they start as teens and stay only two years. It creates a significant and never-ending recruiting challenge for her and her team, but they know the drill and get it done. During our visit, we learned about Camp Amerikids, a camp for kids that are in some way affected by HIV. Camp Amerikids is now in the fourth year of using our facilities at Kutz, and our staff participates as well. The rent and other fees they pay is a critical part of the Kutz operating budget, and we are very glad to have them each summer. We also had a wonderful deli lunch (“Kutz’s  Deli”?) before saying our goodbyes and heading to Crane Lake Camp.

The drive to Crane Lake was more of the same, with Rosanne chauffeuring me in style. When we got to Crane Lake, the camp was preparing for Shabbat and getting gussied up for dinner. We got a tour from Camp Director Debby Shriber and Senior Assistant Director Greg Kellner, checking out the new cabins and the picturesque waterfront. Dinner followed, taking place in and around their dining hall. Notice that I said “in AND around”. Crane Lake’s dining is totally inadequate for its needs. There is no room for commercial dishwashers, the camp must either eat in two shifts or in indoor/outdoor fashion, and a new dining hall is currently the focus of a fundraising effort (much more on that later). The food, however, was great, and Kudo’s to Debby and her team for nevertheless making it work. T’filah was monkey-wrenched a bit by a power loss in the camp, but Harry, our fearless Vice Chair and all-around handy guy fixed the problem, and a beautiful and properly amplified service followed. The song and dancing session that followed was pure camp fun and happy chaos. Way before it was over, we stumbled to our cars, drove to the hotel, and re-convened at the hotel’s bar to discuss in greater detail the day’s events.

Next morning, it was off to Eisner Camp, just a short distance from Crane Lake. There, we were treated to breakfast and Torah study with our very own Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the President of the URJ, who gave us an insightful and intriguing take on the Ten Commandments. We were also joined my boss, Steve Stacks, the Chair of the URJ. After breakfast, we engaged in worship and torah at Eisner’s lovely outside sanctuary. It was really, really nice. With all of the campers, staff, and the Stakeholders (more about the Stakeholders in a moment), I estimate that there were about a thousand folks present. Heap big group, let me tell you.

We then moved on to the Eisner Camp Annual Stakeholders meeting in the Beit Am, where Andrea Golub, Chair of the Eisner and Crane Lake Camp Committee (yes, two camps, one committee) welcomed all, honored three families who were each sending their third generation to Eisner Camp, and made an impassioned case to the Stakeholders for the capital campaign to raise funds for a new dining hall at Crane Lake. All on the caravan learned a thing or two about how to make an effective case for a capital project. After a great tour of the camp, we headed off to a relaxing fundraising reception at the beautiful home of one of the third generation families. From there, a great dinner in Great Barrington with all the caravan folks, and then back to the hotel, for a well deserved night’s sleep.

We gathered Sunday morning for breakfast and recap, all tired but happy for the experience and for the company of close friends with a shared passion. As we shared our takeaways, I was struck by how unique all of our camps are, yet how similar as well. As a camping system, we are truly blessed to have the most talented group of professionals anywhere partnering with committed, generous and enthusiastic lay leaders, with an end result of ten thousand kids every year having the summer of their lives (again!), making and renewing forever friendships, and setting the stage for a life committed to Judaism.

You simply MUST go on the next URJ Camp Caravan.