By: Daniel Abramson, arts/ machon director

The other day, I was flipping through an album of old camp pictures.  At the risk of dating myself, I have to mention that it was a real album of printed photos on the shelf, not a digital album.  There’s something special about real photos that you can hold and pass around the room with friends as you share your memories.  In fact, when I share stories about the first few years of camp with my kids, I always have to remind them that the first camp slideshows were done on film with a slide projector and sheet pinned to the wall of the Chadar Ochel.

As many people in the Camp George community know, KK and I met at Camp in 1999.  Last week, A friend of mine, who was also staff in the first year of camp, came across a picture from 2003.  In the picture, Karen and I were standing at the front of the Beit Tefillah with some of the faculty and staff around us.  It was a picture of our Aufruf.  For those not familiar with the tradition, an Aufruf is when a person is asked to come up to say the blessings before and after the Torah reading in celebration of their upcoming wedding.  Our Aufruf at Camp George was the moment that Karen and I got to stand up in the middle of our beloved camp family to celebrate together as a community.

There are really only a handful of moments in life when a person gets to be surrounded by a whole community of people cheering and celebrating just for you.  Being on the Bima and feeling the love, encouragement, and support of the whole camp community was really a transformative moment for me.  The sense of belonging that Karen and I felt that moment showed us that the friends and coworkers that we have at camp don’t just support our family. Our wonderful camp community really has become a part of our family and you can see it all right there in the photo of that very first moment.

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