Words of the Wise

Camp Wise is one of the oldest overnight camps in North America. In fact, we are the third oldest Jewish overnight camp that is still in operation, and this summer we are celebrating 115 summers as the Home of Happiness. Camp Wise has existed in three different locations, but it has always been the people and the kehilla, community, that has sustained Camp Wise and allowed us to reach this special milestone. We took some time to ask past Camp Wise professionals about the impact camp had on them and what they hope for the future of CW as we look toward the next 115 summers. These are their Words of the Wise!

CATHY BECKER Registrar, 1995-2018 I have vivid memories of the 100th birthday celebration as parents joined the campers in activities and celebrations and camp was renovated with a new chadar and staff lounge, infirmary and cabin improvements. I remember the faces of kids as they stepped off the bus on the first day excited to reconnect with friends and staff. And on that last day of each session, so many hugs and tears. I watched camp change from a paper and pencil business with a handwritten newspaper to a connected world that opened up new activities and connections with families. From the stables to the lake, Camp Wise is a place where memories are made, the connection to Judaism is strengthened, the natural environment is preserved and enduring relationships abound.

MEREDITH BELMAN Assistant Director, 1991-2001; 2005-2008 After 15 summers and three years full time, Camp Wise has had a profound impact on just about every dimension of my life. But the one that stands out today is that Camp Wise is where I learned about leadership. Specifically, that being a strong, bold, confident leader AND a woman was possible. As a camper and then as a junior staff member, I looked at women like Michelle Rubin, Robin Lockshine, Karin Hess, Beth Young, Jodi Moscowitz, Jodi Sperling, Stacy Singer and all of my counselors with awe in my eyes. Before I came to Camp Wise, I didn’t realize all that was possible for women as leaders. And one woman stood above them all for me as a role model for what a leader could be: Maxine (Stevens) Middleton. Given her recent passing, it has been on the top of my mind just how important Maxine was to me (and many, many others) and the blueprint she instilled on my ambitions. Max was my counselor, supervisor and assistant director through my years at camp. She was my first accessible example in life (outside of my mother and immediate family) of what a powerful woman could look like, be like and the impact she can have. I am forever grateful for knowing Maxine and for all the lessons I learned from her that I have used many, many, many times in my life and in my career.

SCOTT BROWN Director, 1980-1983 A core and perhaps surprising memory for others to learn is from my earliest days at staff training as a staff assistant. I was a Jewish boy from Painesville. My family was one of only a few Jewish families in our city. I was initially overwhelmed by the totally immersive Jewish experience and intensity of staff training. I initially retreated and said very little. I recall lying in bed the first few nights much like an uneasy camper listening to the veteran staff talk about me wondering what my story was. Then, we played softball one day where I had the opportunity to share something unique about me – my bat, my arm, my game. I was accepted into the “in crowd.” The rest of my softball and CW is history. This experience always made me very aware and sensitive to campers coming from smaller Jewish communities, campers that felt different, staff who were overperforming during staff training and not remembering that it is always about the campers, and how Camp Wise is and has always been about finding ways to help campers and staff shine their special light. MATT (GOLDY) GOLDEN Assistant Director, 2004 As a so-called adult I rarely, if ever, find myself randomly drenched in water, salad dressing, ketchup or whatever may be on hand to pour over someone. On the other hand, were you really ever getting the full Camp Wise staff experience if you didn’t need to change your clothes after lunch? My mother still complains about the summer, which was so wet that we went mudsliding once or twice, and how disgusting our clothes were. This happened before most of the current staff were born. Whether it was jumping in the pool fully clothed after Maccabiah, getting slathered in various condiments while giving announcements (I was smelling ketchup for hours after this one day), or the time Rocco (the chef who famously hated wasting food) made an ice cream sundae of Jon Rubenstein (who famously hated to be dirty), getting yourself into messy situations was always part of the summer.

NICK GOLDMAN Assistant Director, 2004-2018 I grew up in a town with a small Jewish population, so for me, overnight camp was the one place that being Jewish didn’t make me different. I can say without a doubt that my Jewish identity was almost entirely formed at overnight camp. The Jewish traditions and values that I hold now, and will carry with me for life, almost all came from my Jewish overnight camp experience. I am proud to have given back to a place that gives so much. One summer when I was the lake supervisor, we had just started specialist training and the rest of my team came down to the lake for the first time. We geared up and took kayaks out to tour our space and enjoy some time on the water. Shortly after we went out on the water, we looked up and there was a bald eagle flying overhead. Sitting on the water, surrounded by new friends from other countries, with a bald eagle flying overhead. It just felt like the perfect way to start out our summer and the epitome of what camp does. I am proud of a ton

As we look ahead to this coming summer, and all the summers that lie ahead, we ask that you join us in showing support for Camp Wise by attending Impact Day or making a meaningful donation. We hope that you will take a moment to reflect on what makes Camp Wise your Home of Happiness. Send us your stories and memories and consider making a meaningful contribution in celebration of someone who has made a lasting impact on your Camp Wise story. And join us this summer as we celebrate 115 years of Jewish overnight camping.

TOP ROW, L-R Camp Wise in 1907 • Camp Wise in Painesville in the ’30s BOTTOM ROW, L-R Phil Barnett and Roz in the ’50s • Shabbat in the ’60s

of little things from my time: the giant chadar fans, fun new meals, tasty canteen treats and so much more. But I am most proud to have been there to serve camp the way it served me, and so many others, over the last 115 years. Oh, and maybe my golf cart driving skills!

JON HAUSMAN Program Director, 2015-2017 One of the best staff members I ever worked with was a man named Dan Reed. He spent several summers at camp. While in the village of Ohalim, Dan used to read to and tell stories to his cabin. One session, each night he decided to tell a little bit of the story from a wellknown movie. I said, “Dan, are you telling them the story of a movie?” His response embodied the forethought, spirit and caring that Camp Wise staff have shown for 115 years. He said, “Yeah, dude. But they don’t know that it’s from a movie or the name of the movie. My dream is that years from now they will see this classic film and they’ll all remember the story and camp. They will think about each other and the time they spent here and maybe phone each other up and say, ‘Remember that story we heard?’”

ABBY KAUFMAN Associate Director, 2017-2020 My first summer at CW was 1997 in Chalutzim. I had an incredible two summers in that village, making new friends and loving every staff member I met. Then in 1999, Meredith Belman was my counselor in my first year Ohalim and she changed my life. She’s been a mentor and rock for me ever since. She showed me how to be strong and confident with grace and levity and modeled for me how to balance the responsibility and joy of being a leader. No surprises – she was also an AD at CW!

MARLA KLEIN Assistant Director, 1988-1991 I made some incredible friends at Camp Wise as a staff member, the summers of 1988, 1989, 1990 (for a shorter time with Camp Ma-a-seh, the camp for teens with special needs) and 1991. I still am in contact with a number of them. I am thankful to Karin Hess for hiring me about two months before camp to fill the spot as office manager. This evolved to me being a counselor, head counselor and then assistant director. I have so many amazing memories from those summers! There is, however, one that stands out above the rest. It was the summer of 1991. Obviously July 4 was a big deal at CW. It was my goal to make it unforgettable for the campers that summer. Someone found out about a past CW staff that was a pilot and I believe had his own plane. I contacted him and we devised an awesome surprise for the campers. We set up all the campers just outside the tennis courts in Noar. They wondered what was going on. Then they heard a plane that sounded very close. Once it was within sight, we noticed it was flying pretty low. Next thing we know, it was raining loads of candy over the Noar rec field. Once the plane flew past us, the campers all ran to the Noar rec field and grabbed as much candy as they could carry. Much more fun than a piñata! Thanks to Matt Weiss’ video skills and to my horror, it is documented forever! It’s titled: Camp Wise 4th of July, 1991 – Candy Air Drop 1 on YouTube.

SEAN MORGAN Assistant Director & Director, 2008-2015 We welcome you to Wise in Chardon, mighty glad you’re here!! Anyone who has had the opportunity to spend a summer at Wise knows that you are mighty glad you’re there. Camp Wise is truly a wonderful and magical place where I had the honor of being the assistant director and the camp director from October 2008 until December 2015. The camp magic I felt being at 13164 Taylor Wells Road was shaped by the campers and staff I had the pleasure of working with each summer. The fact that I spent 16 summers growing up at a different camp, and still consider Camp Wise my “Home of Happiness” should be all I need to say. I wish I could share something about every single person I spent a summer with at Wise. Just know that all of you had a profound impact on my life, both personally and professionally. I will always cherish my years spent at Camp Wise. Bless This House.

JON RUBINSTEIN Camp Director, 1998-1999 I have hundreds of very distinct memories from my years as a camper (six summers, all three villages, which was pre-Solel), and staff member (three summers as assistant director and then director) but my strongest may have come a dozen years after I left Wise and moved to New York City. In 2011, I was visiting family in Cleveland and was invited to visit Wise for lunch. I brought my one-yearold daughter and as I walked into the chadar, camp was midway through a song session, mostly made up of the identical songs and cheers from when I was a camper and a staff member. I couldn’t have been there more than one minute before I was a sobbing mess of emotions and had to walk out to the flagpole to catch my breath. It was seeing a whole new generation keeping up the traditions and music that must’ve been

around for many decades, even before my first summer in 1977. I also remember standing outside at the flagpole and having numerous campers, now staff members, come out to reintroduce themselves and tell me about their own histories at camp. I distinctly remember saying to my toddler, “Someday this is where you’ll go to camp.” Epilogue: that toddler, Sally, is now a Noar camper, returning for her sixth summer at a place that is defining her as it once defined me.

JILL SADOWSKY 1975-1990 My Camp Wise history starts when I was 10 in 1975 and the last year I worked was in 1990. Within that timeframe I did not attend 1983 because I went to Israel. I was a camper and started in Ohalim. Solel at that time it was called STEPS, Staff Training Entry Program. I was a counselor, Chalutzim supervisor, what we called program director and then that similar role switched to assistant director during my time. My full-time job was at the JCC and Camp Wise became my summer assignment. When I think back on my time at camp, I think one of the standouts is Shabbat and Friday night song session. One of the amazing opportunities was when we partnered with Highbrook Lodge, the overnight camp of the Cleveland Sight Center, and we got to leave camp and go work with those campers. We also did a small day camp for the kids in the Claridon Troy School District (Burton) for those who probably could not afford to go to camp. I also remember one year where we walked into town for Fourth of July fireworks. The most lasting impact of camp has been the friendships made that I still maintain today, 40 years later. Camp was always the time where you loved being Jewish.

BECKY SEBO Social Media Manager, 2018-2020 As camp’s social media strategist from 2018 to 2020, I had the opportunity to connect with campers, alumni, parents and staff year-round. But my favorite memory was the livestreamed Shabbat service the week we found out Summer 2020 was canceled. In a moment where we felt like strangers on this planet, when we felt most isolated and alone, when we felt hopeless that our summer home away from home would not be able to welcome us, our community came together to sing and pray in our CW tradition. Through Zoom and Facebook live, I was able to organize and produce a service for our greater Camp Wise family involving campers, alumni and staff from around the world. Many tears were shed, but it was an experience during quarantine where refreshingly, and finally, I didn’t feel alone. JESSICA SEMEL 100th Anniversary Coordinator, 2006-2007 I worked at camp the summer of 1981, but my most memorable experience came much later when I was tapped to coordinate the 100th anniversary activities in 2007. I was able to connect with alumni from the early years of camp all the way to the ’90s (including alumni who were in their late 80s!). Through meetings and schmooze sessions we unearthed years of artifacts, photo albums, letters, song lists and more, which led to some really creative opportunities to connect these alumni with current campers. Every Shabbat that summer was dedicated to a decade, and alumni came to camp to teach old songs, reminisce with friends and meet with campers, and participate in services. It was such a treat for me to see the commitment to Camp Wise through the years. Some weeks, grandparents were having Shabbat dinners in the chadar with their grandchildren. It was so moving (and loud!). Thanks to alumni involved in the efforts, we found a way to move the huge boulder from its original location at Camp Wise in Painesville to where it stands now at the front of camp. We held a competition for local artists to design an entryway, and the wooden structure with the glass panes that you see now when you drive into camp arose from that competition! 2007 was a super impactful one for me as a staff alum, a current parent and a proud JCC member! JODI SPERLING Director, 2004-2011 One memory that always stands out is from 2007, when the SITs of 2007 built the

TOP Meredith Belman, Brian Roget, David Gruhin and Dan Stein in the ’90s RIGHT Leadership Team of 2004. Top Row: Michael Bertner, Mark Young, Julia Steinberger, Meredith Belman, Jodi Sperling, Matt Golden Middle Row: Abby Bruell, Emily “EJ” Josephson, Amy Filzer, Rachel Felber Bottom: Mara Berde LEFT Lori Epstein and Jill Sadowsky in the ’80s • ABOVE Leadership Team of 2015. Top Row: TJ Klopfstein, Tivon Stern, Zoe Coleman, Brian Chessin, Zach Marlin, Ethan Goodman, Andy Saltzman 4th Row: Ben Stallsmith, Kyna Levi, Becky Sebo, Seam Morgan, Hannah Henschel, Nick Goldman, Julia Leb 3rd Row: Beth Young, Zoe Morris Jones, Sara Federman, Jon Housman, Rachel Felber, Josh Chefitz 2nd Row: Zoe Landis, James Worthington, Alena Zaslov Bottom Row: Isabelle King, Kari Semel

entryway to camp! There was an amazing group of older alumni in their 80s who had been a part of an alumni group called Alliwise. They wanted to make a gift to camp that would be meaningful and pay tribute to the history of camp, and we came up with the idea together of creating an entryway on the road that the SITs that summer would construct. We put out a public call to artists to submit ideas, and the idea that we chose is the current entryway to camp. A couple of really cool tidbits: There are glass photo murals on both sides that have a collection of photos from the first 100 years of camp; the mezuzah was made by a sofer (scroll writer) we found in Israel, who made it especially for us, and gave it to the group of SITs who were in Israel that summer to bring back to camp so they also could be a part of the project; the structure was built using timber framing, meaning no power tools, following the specialized way of building that’s traditional around camp with the Amish community; all of the trees used to build it were cut down from our property, and when we cut them down, we could see the number of rings on the trees lined up with when camp moved to that site in the ’60s! All in all, a super cool project that makes me smile every time I drive in or out of Camp Wise. Also, it’s amazing for me to think about all future Wise campers who are babies right now, who would not exist if their parents hadn’t met while working at camp! It’s mind-blowing for me to think about, especially when you consider that several of the couples include an international staff person, who could have ended up at any camp in their camp placement process! BECKY WILLIAMS Assistant Director, 2019-2020 While my time as a member of the Camp Wise full-time team was short, the impact was great. As a non-Jewish person in a full-time role, I wanted to do it well, which meant learning about Judaism as much as possible. I was unsure what that would look like for me, but what I experienced at camp and with my colleagues left me with deep appreciation for the Jewish community, especially for Jewish overnight camping. I recall often my first Shabbat at camp: the feeling of tradition and community under the canopy of nature. I recall being involved with the new Torah, one of the biggest honors of my life. During my time with Camp Wise, I experienced true acceptance and warmth from my friends and campers. They should all get extra canteen with the number of questions about Judaism they so patiently answered for me. And, while my time at camp is over, my appreciation for Judaism continues to grow deeper, all thanks to the campers and staff at CW. BETH YOUNG Special Projects & Aquatics Supervisor, 2006-2021 When I think back on summers at camp, I love to recall staff training. When we first all come together, many of us for the first time, we start to work as a group to provide campers the summer of a lifetime. There are so many critical things that need to happen to prepare us for the arrival of campers. Sessions on: working with children, safety and first aid, and planning for skill progression are just a few of many trainings. Magically, bonds are created by participating and learning together. By the time the campers are arriving for their first day, the excitement is palpable, making the first day of each session always one of the best of every summer.

LYNNE YULISH Staff, 1985-1992 I never went to CW although my grandparents were part of the original Alliwise, my parents went and so did my older brother and sister. I started my CW adventure as Noar supervisor with my cat Shelby. I had just graduated from college with a teaching degree and spent my days off interviewing. I found a job and spent the next three years teaching and being assistant director in the summer. In my four years as director, I learned much about myself as a supervisor. I learned what to do and what not to do and how to do it. In the midst of a crisis, I would think to myself, “How am I going to feel about this in October? Will I laugh?” If the answer was yes, I pulled back. My greatest legacy was the Little Red Wagon. When I started, campers came to camp with a canteen check (about $25) that was deposited. The office manager had a sheet for every child and whenever they wanted candy, batteries, pictures and shirts, it was deducted. The orders were placed at rest period and the office staff would spend all morning filling orders and deducting from every sheet. I saw that just about everyone ordered a shirt and picture and candy, so we added $25 to the camp fee and just gave everyone these things. Since everyone was getting a snack each day, it didn’t really matter if they chose the day before. How about we just take things to the cabins at rest period and let them choose that day? How can we get it there from the office? The Little Red Wagon was born. Finally, I can’t say that I met my husband at CW, but I can say that he was the JCC phys ed director when I was CW director and our courtship bloomed at the Mayfield JCC. I think that counts!

TOP Left to Right: Eugene Melamud, Carol Kreintz, Steve Horowitz in the ’70s BOTTOM Scott Brown at the flagpole in the ’80s

FAR LEFT Shabbat Zoom in 2020 LEFT Camp friends in the ’40s