Shabbat-O-Gram: 8/9/25
Dear Camp Kingswood families,
I apologize for the late Shabbat-O-Gram, but when there are only a few days left of camp, it’s hard to pull away and sit at a computer! Soon, summer will be over, and the only remnants of real camp we’ll have for 10 months will be reunions and Zoom calls. Writing this late means that I was able to be at Tsofim’s Shabbat services before I finished writing, so I can draw from the wisdom of the Tsofim campers, who spoke so beautifully last night and this morning about their chosen Shabbat theme, ‘Home.’ The perfect theme for our final Shabbat of the session. Listening to new and returning campers speak about what home means to them, and how comfortable and happy they are here, I couldn’t be more proud of what our staff has accomplished this summer.
For the last 8,9, or 10 weeks, depending on their role, our staff have been here, tirelessly creating the experience our campers crave. Rather than working a job with set hours and the freedom to live how they want, our staff have chosen to spend their summer basically without their phones, waking up early every day, with kids needing things from them all day long.. Sounds fun, right? 😉 So why is it we choose camp?
It’s not just the campers who feel seen and connected at Kingswood. Our staff change for the better by being here too, and they know it. It’s easy in the winter to think a summer internship in an office is what will give them a leg up, but they couldn’t be more wrong. Just ask Rebecca, who came back to work at camp this week after six summers away, having last been the assistant director in 2019. Rebecca’s son Evan is our Head of Ski, but the last time she was at camp with him, he was a quiet, shy, awkward Bogrim camper. Now, he’s confident, poised, and cool. He’s respected and admired, and every kid in camp knows him. As part of the planning committee for Color War he had a crash course in project management, group facilitation, event planning, and public speaking, just to give a few examples of the real life skills honed every day here. He’s been a counselor for several bunks of campers at this point, and he’s learned that your reputation is earned by how you show up and treat others. His leadership has been developed over many summers, and while eventually he’ll be an aerospace engineer, I know he’ll rock every interview and be integral to any team he’s assigned to, and that’s because of camp. Camp forces you to practice being a better person, and camp shows you that regardless of what’s thrown your way, your life is designed by you, and you alone.
Through tears this morning at services, Rebecca watched Evan lead the Yismechu prayer, following in the footsteps of his counselors, who were known for years as the two staff who led that prayer. Evan led it with the same crazy ruach and hand motions they did, not afraid to look goofy in front of all of camp. “I can’t believe that’s the same kid,” she said. She’s said that at least ten times in the last few days, as she’s had a front row seat to witness the impact of Kingswood.
Rebecca’s not the only alum who’s come back home to Kingswood. This summer we’ve had so many alumni return to Kingswood in one way or another — to visit, to volunteer, or to jump back in as part of our team. People like Alyssa Piazza and Hannah Katz, longtime alumni who were counselors for many of our current staff. While their lives no longer make it possible to spend their summer here, they return not just to relive their own memories, but to help create them for the next generation. They remind us that camp is more than a place we go for a few summers — it’s part of who we are, and it has a way of calling us back.
In Hebrew, we don’t really say goodbye — we say l’hitraot, “until we see each other again.” It’s not an ending, but a promise. A promise that we’ll find our way back to each other, and that you never really know that it’s your ‘last summer.’
As we head into this final Shabbat together for Session II, may we hold on to that promise. On Monday when the buses pull out, we won’t be saying goodbye, we’ll be saying l’hitraot.
With love,
Jodi
P.S. Registration for Summer 2026 is officially open! We already have campers registered for every unit and session, so please do not hesitate to sign up. We will definitely have waitlists this year, and as we learned last year, nothing is worse than having to put a returning camper on a waitlist because their registration was late. If you haven’t registered before from the Campanion App, I strongly encourage you to give it a go. I’m worse than all of you with my camp forms, and the app makes it super simple and quick.
P.P.S. If your campers have younger siblings who are starting 1st-5th grades, it’s not too late to sign up for next week’s Mini Camp! We have a few spaces left, and it’s the perfect way to test the waters of camp, or to return for a few last days of fun before school starts!
