This was my first summer at Kalsman but I am not new to URJ camping.  I have been on faculty at Greene Family Camp, OSRUI, GUCI and facilitated kid’s attendance at KUTZ, Crane Lake and Eisner. My rabbinic journey has been intertwined with the success of our Youth movement and I am amazed each time I attend one of our camps, how affirming and engaging they are.

I honor the culture that is created at Kalsman.  Every camp is unique and URJ Kalsman has created in a few short years, a culture that has infected the PNW with a love for camp.  It is hard for those that I have met to remember a time without Kalsman. It’s that powerful.  And for my congregational community, for whom Kalsman has been transformational, it is a beacon of light and hope and future for engaged Jewish youth.

For the learning and the activities, the crazy bunk programs and the all camp moments, the week I spent at Kalsman was invigorating. Smiles abounded and laughter was heard in all corners of the camp. Kids who had been strangers only days before had become newly minted lifelong friends. Friends from prior summers had reunited and relationships picked up from where they had left off. Campers drifted to their favorite places and became one with their surroundings.

And as a new Kalsman faculty, I became a part of an ever widening circle of connection in this part of the country that stretches over many states and across the border into Canada.  I created new friendships with other clergy and Youth engagement staff and feel a much greater connection to the future of our youth in this region.

As I was greeted when I arrived to this new place, “Welcome Home!”.  I was home.

By Rabbi David A. Lipper, Temple B’nai Torah.