Camp Coleman will be celebrating 50 years of Jewish camping this August 24-26 in the North Georgia Mountains, but we wanted to celebrate with our friends in Israel too! Almost 200 Shlichim from the past 12 years have been invited to join together to celebrate on May 8th in Kibbutz Shfayim.
That summer, the summer of 1985, my congregation, Tree of Life in Columbia, SC, sent my brother and me to URJ Camp Coleman. That summer was one of the cornerstone memories of my life. 27 years later, Camp Coleman remains incredibly important to me and my family. As a matter of fact, one of the reasons why I am so excited to be starting at Temple Kol Emeth in Marietta is the proximity to Camp Coleman. I will have the great honor of working for a week or two at Camp Coleman every summer as a rabbi. And....another dream of mine is possible - my daughter to continue the Camp Coleman tradition of the Boxt family!
They say you can’t go home again, but whenever I get to go to Coleman I’m transported back in time. I climb the old stone steps, smell the Georgia clay, hear the sounds of laughter and song and in a flash, I’m 12 years old and right where I belong. It’s been decades, but I’ve still GOT THAT COLEMAN FEELING ALL OVER ME AND IT’S ALL OVER ME TO STAY!
This is going to be an amazing weekend event. In fact, there is so much to be excited about it is hard to point to a single event that tops my list. But if I had to pick just one…..it would be the camp songs. Now, as a parent, I am passing these songs along to my children.
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