Shabbat-O-Gram: 6/7/25
Dear Kingswood Families,
On Sunday, our Leadership Team kicks off our staff training season, and with them comes the energy, heart, and purpose that bring camp to life each summer. One of the first activities we’ll do together is called Timeline of My Life. Everyone is asked to share three moments that shaped who they are and led them to this summer. It’s a powerful way to connect beyond job titles or résumés—to understand each other’s ‘why.’ When we know someone’s purpose, we see them more clearly.
In preparing to lead the activity, I revisited my own timeline. My three points may seem unrelated on the surface, but each one has pulled me closer to this moment.
My first moment is August, 1986. I’m 11 years old, and I had just returned from my third summer at overnight camp. If you want a visual, picture big bangs and an oversized Benetton rugby. I announced to my parents that my new life plan was to marry a Canadian who owned a summer camp. My beloved camp in Northern Ontario had been led by the Kates family for three generations. I knew then that running a camp seemed like the most interesting job in the world, and marrying-in seemed like the logical way to break into what I thought was a mostly family-owned industry.
At the time, it didn’t occur to me that I could just run one myself. All I knew was that camp was where I felt the most alive and the most myself, and that I wanted to be able to spend a lot more time in a place like that. Looking back, it makes me laugh, but it also reminds me how early those deep loves form, and how seriously kids take their passions. When a child comes home from camp saying it changed them, it’s not just camp talk. It’s real.
Fast forward to 1999, and I have my dream job, working at Moment Magazine. (Note that I am not yet married to a Canadian.) A Jewish magazine based out of Washington DC, Moment was just about the dorkiest dream job anyone could have, but it was mine. 🙂 I had received a subscription for my Bat Mitzvah years earlier, and from that point on, Moment Magazine was going to be my future. I studied Journalism and Jewish Studies, and was hired after college as the youngest member of the editorial staff by 20 years. I loved everything about the work and my life in Washington, DC, until I was assigned a story to edit about the impact of Jewish overnight camp. I was surprised to learn there were camps that intentionally identified as Jewish. I had just assumed mine was because we were mostly Jewish kids! As I interviewed camp directors for the article, I found myself day dreaming about being back at camp. I went to speak to Hershel, the editor-in-chief, and through very dramatic tears, I told him, ‘I need to be doing meaningful work, not just writing about other people doing meaningful work.’ I left the magazine, went back to school to professionalize my ‘kid skills’ with an MSW, and was a camp director at 26. (I know. Insane. That’s for another Shabbat-o-Gram another time.)
My third moment came last summer. My resolve was tested in ways I never imagined. A partner and friend I had trusted deeply for 20+ years was mismanaging our finances and hiding it. We were in serious trouble, and everything we had built was suddenly gone, as campers were arriving. The experience could have ended my camp journey, but instead, it lit a fire. I came through it with more clarity, more conviction, and more commitment to Camp Kingswood and the values we stand for. A year later, and I have never felt more grateful for our community and this place.
Looking back, my timeline has been beautifully windy and curved. But in every twist and turn—even the ones I never saw coming—there’s been a thread pulling me forward. Each moment has helped me understand what I value most: creating spaces where people feel they belong, where purpose runs deep, and where community shows up for one another.
As I write this, Shabbat is approaching at camp, and soon a bus will pull in carrying forty staff members who are about to start the summer of their lives. On Sunday, they’ll each share their own timeline moments – the experiences that shaped them, the people who believed in them, and the turning points that brought them here.
I’ll be listening for similar themes that run through my own: a longing to belong, a desire to do meaningful work, and a belief in the power of community. At its core, that’s what camp is – a place where the moments that shape us are honored, and where new ones are waiting to be written.
For our staff and our campers, this summer is one more moment on their timeline—and what a gift it is to be part of it.
Shabbat Shalom,
Jodi
P.S. If your camper has younger siblings, have you heard about Mini-Camp? We brought back this 2-night program last summer, and it was such a hit! As one parent said, “It’s so much easier to get them psyched for camp this year when they know what it feels like to sleep in a bunk and eat in the dining hall!” We agree. You can read more and register here.
