New Celebrity, Old Staff Look-Alike
February 24, 2011 by Herzl Camp Admin, under General Posts.
By Danny Soshnik
That’s right, an old Saturday Night Dinner Game makes its electronic debut. In truth, I don’t when the Celebrity Look-Alike game began, or even if it still goes on. But in my day, the all-veggie dinner included a side of comic relief, usually at the expense of the staff.
In the 1990s, there were some look-alikes that were as predictable as the jokes in 12 Gates. Jason Grais = George Castanza. Dan Parsow = Yoda. Those are the obvious ones.
Like everything else at camp, I loved this tradition because it was predictable and reliable. Even if we had a tough time coming up with new matches, it never got old to me.
The other day, I was was watching an ESPN interview with Adrian Gonzalez, star first baseman who just got signed by the Boston Red Sox. I knew I’d seen him before. I paused my DVR and said, I know that guy!
Well, not really. But I did use to work on staff with his look alike. Now, I haven’t been in contact with him since 1998 or 1999. I hope it is ok — I ripped his picture off of a phenomenal video that Jesse Zimmerman put together with the 1998 staff mugshots (which I don’t remember taking). This is worth watching — just hit play and enjoy.
Anyway, who does Adrian Gonzalez look like?
This guy?
David Adelman — if you play baseball as similarly as you look to Adrian Gonzalez, you can afford to finish off the Capital Campaign yourself.
And for all the loyal readers…if you have ever wanted to contribute to the blog but didn’t know how, send me a picture and celebrity look-alike.
Herzl may lay claim to Bob Dylan, Bryan Greenberg, and Debbie Friedman as its famous alumni. But with the look-alike game, we can claim to resemble far more famous people.
Shabbat Shalom!
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Herzl Camp and the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI)
December 4, 2010 by Herzl Camp Admin, under Herzl, Beyond Webster.
By Beth Kieffer Leonard
Just how far and wide is the impact of Herzl Camp? I found out recently while attending the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) Board of Governors meeting in October.
I was seated in my usual spot with the representatives from the United States at this global meeting. Listening, as Paula Edelstein was being honored for her long and admirable service to the State of Israel and the Jewish people as the Co-Chair of the Aliyah and Klita department. During her tenure in this position she has seen the aliyah of the Ethiopian Jews, the Jews of the former Soviet Union, the Yemeni Jews. Her department has overseen some of the most historic events of the past 60 years.
Paula spoke for a few minutes of this honor and then ended her farewell speech to this august body with “But most of all, I have to thank my parents because I wouldn’t be here today if they had not sent me to Herzl Camp as a teenager.”
You see, she grew up in Duluth Minnesota and she said, “Herzl Camp taught me to love Israel and made me a Zionist.”
The man in the row in front of me leaned over to his friend and said “That’s the camp that Bob Dylan went to.” And I leaned forward and said “And me! I went to Herzl Camp, too!”
I was dumbstruck that this heroic woman would stand up before this body to be honored for the good work she’s done for Israel and the Jewish people and give the credit to the camp she attended 50 years before! Herzl Camp was the first step on her journey. Herzl Camp had set her feet on this path.
As I thought about it, that’s true for many of us. Herzl Camp was the first step in our Jewish journeys too – For some, it was the first time they met an Israeli. For some, the first step in a lifelong relationship with friends or spouse. For some, it was the first time they saw tallit or t’fillin – the first step in a lifetime of observance. For Paula and for many others, Herzl Camp was the first step in a lifetime of leadership and service to the Jewish people.
It’s hard to know where that first step will take you – as the daughter of a camper, as a camper, a camper parent, and a staff parent, I know that it’s a good step – not a misstep. Often it’s when you reach the end of a path – life’s transition points – that you can look back and clearly see where you started and where you’ve been.
Is Herzl Camp unique in this or is all Jewish camping a first step on path to leadership? From my extensive work in the Jewish community, I know that Jewish camping is one of the most impactful and relevant Jewish experiences – all Jewish camping produces the same longstanding result: engaged Jewish leaders. However, I also know that there is something magical about that camp on Devils Lake, where it never rains, just heavy dews. And that 40 years later they are still singing Circle Game on Friday night and serving rolls on Shabbat morning. I think perhaps it’s that “can-do” spirit of Herzl’s founders that infects us all – perhaps that’s what created so many notable leaders from that tiny patch of woods in Webster Wisconsin. Whatever it is – I’m proud to be counted among them.
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“Notes by a Jewish Girl from Ames”
March 28, 2010 by Herzl Camp Admin, under Letters from Alumni.
This article first appeared in August 17th, 2009 as a column at http://insideriowa.com/
By Alissa Kaplan Michaels
First, a confession: I recently thumbed through The Girls From Ames: A Story of Women and a 40-Year Friendship in an airport bookstore to see if, and how, “being Jewish” was even mentioned.
Like me, one of the Ames “girls” is Jewish. I grew up a couple of blocks from her family. As I skimmed Jeffrey Zaslow’s book, which I have on reserve at my branch library on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, I found myself suspicious of any narrative that might gloss over the challenges of growing up Jewish smack in the middle of Iowa, albeit in a decent-sized college town.
I discovered that the book briefly, though meaningfully, touches upon the Jewish girl’s family background.
Moments later, I boarded my flight to Minneapolis, where I would have Shabbat (Sabbath) dinner with a group I had not seen in a 25 years: the 1984 group of counselors-in-training from my Jewish summer camp in northern Wisconsin.
What I discovered that weekend surprised me.
* * *
Next, some background: A week after my bat mitzvah in New Jersey, my family moved to Ames so that my father could join the faculty of Iowa State University. It was a tough move for a 12-year-old girl who just wanted to fit in.
I was young for my class and not as physically or socially developed as the other eighth-graders. I had a New York accent. I was dropped into school mid-year. Not being of northern European Christian descent just made me stick out more. I was the only Jewish kid in my grade.
Eventually, of course, I did make friends. And I thrived in many ways. Looking back, I see that because many of my classmates – while somewhat homogeneous in ethnicity – were children of professors, I was in a rich environment that was academically rigorous in an organic sense.
Still, something was missing. My parents had the foresight to recognize that it was a connection to my Judaism. We belonged to the small Reform temple in Ames and the Conservative synagogue in Des Moines. They saw, however, that I needed more.
So they packed me up and sent me to Herzl Camp, in Webster, Wisc., which would forever change my life, both personally and professionally.
* * *
To this day, Herzl Camp, with its orange cabins on a site that was once an inn for “gentiles only,” still draws Jewish kids from the Upper Midwest and parts of Canada. It is perhaps best known in mainstream circles as “the summer camp Bob Dylan attended.” For me, Herzl instilled both a love for Israel and a fuller understanding of Jewish liturgy.
The summer I worked as a counselor-in-training (or “ozo,” derived from the Hebrew word for “helper”) proved most rewarding, I think, because of its unusual nature. I paid $150 that summer before my senior year of high school to “schlep” luggage (and suffer a permanent disc injury), build docks in the lake, and clean the mess hall with 20 other teens. I would sacrifice far more to do it again. Few places in the Midwest offer Jewish high-schoolers the time and the space to reflect on their Jewishness, to exist in a fully Jewish environment, and to serve as Jewish role models for younger kids.
Earlier this summer, I had the privilege of sharing Shabbat dinner with the 1984 “ozos,” or “ozrim,” for the first time in a quarter-century. Now in our early 40s, we hugged and sang the Friday night prayers together; some of us cried while blessing the candles.
A raucous dinner followed, transporting me to my ozo summer. I remembered being the shy girl from Ames, and now shared stories with the group about the proud Jewish woman I had become. The night was tinged with extra excitement because one of our hosts, an ozo’s stepfather, was just days from his Senate confirmation as U.S. ambassador to Morocco.
Similar to how my Ames classmates were high academic achievers, this group proved unusual in its level of professional accomplishment, its focus on family ties and its Jewish “connectedness.” Now scattered across North America, most of the 1984 ozos had pursued similar goals: graduate school, marriage, parenthood, professional achievement and, notably, strong ties to the local Jewish communities.
* * *
I always thought that my studies and work had largely focused on the Jewish world because of my isolation in Ames as the only Jew in a high school class of almost 400. That’s not the full story, as I discovered during my ozo reunion. More accurately, I was fortunate to be both “alone” Jewishly and then immersed each summer at Herzl Camp. I still have my camp songbook, and am teaching the songs to my 3-year-old son.
Last, a promise. Now that I’ve done some self-examination, I’ve lost my skepticism. It’s time for me to really read The Girls From Ames.
_______________
Alissa Kaplan Michaels is the founder of Michaels Communications, a consultancy that handles media relations, public relations, print and electronic publications, and fund-raising materials for issue-based organizations. She grew up Jewish in Ames, Iowa, and attended Iowa State University, New York University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She now resides in New York City with her husband and son.
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Alumni Camp Flag Song
August 28, 2009 by Herzl Camp Admin, under Letters from Alumni.
By Danny Soshnik
To the tune of “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel
Harry & Rose Rosenthal, they’re the ones to start it all,
Herzl camp at White Bear Lake, livin’ Theo’s dream.
Then the move to Devil’s Lake, cabins covered in orange paint,
60 years of history, about which we’ll sing.
Dylan Bob, Maba, Bikkurim, Bruce Golob,
Roof Ball, The new Beit Chai, Rosemary will never die.
Chartreuse Buzzards, Kuntzing, Schwartzy stacked his World League Team,
Bryan Greenberg, Golda Meir, Peanut butter on Eskimo Pies
CHORUS:
Living the dream with Theo,
We are always yearning, hoping we’re returning.
Living the dream with Theo,
It’s been such a pleasure, memories we treasure.
Kadimahniks, N’divim, Bogrim and K’shishim
Brandon’s kitchen, Swimmers itching, turning back the clocks.
Schmutz Busters, Chanut, Puddle Jumping, Forkman
Drive In, Bakfar, Pooping in South Haks.
Mercaz, Ner Howie, Deavers passing LGT,
Butt Olympics, Airport Van, Klugman’s Forty, Caravan
Bakfar, Anouncements, Drama Games, Buddy Checks,
12 Gates, Ozo Plays, Heavy dew it never rains.
CHORUS:
Living the dream with Theo,
We are always yearning, hoping we’re returning.
Living the dream with Theo,
It’s been such a pleasure, memories we treasure.
Swim the Lake, Rick Recht, Shower buckets, Teva Trek
Anne Hope, Starry nights, Don’t forget your Shabbos Whites
Hack n Sack, Kundra, Who took down the tetherball?
Avodah, Shabbas Queen, Speed letters we always read
Chugim Follies, Flip Frisch, Intersession, Ultimate
Bikkurim, Staff Mo, CSRs are no-nos
Ga Ga, Ha’Atid, Overnights, and T’Filim
Barry Golob, Ozo Zoe, Steve Mintz plays the bongo.
CHORUS:
Living the dream with Theo,
We are always yearning, hoping we’re returning
Living the dream with Theo,
It’s been such a pleasure, memories we treasure.
Rate a Room, Tzrif Time, Tasters in the Beit Tarbut,
Aaron, Gelprin’s, Cheese Song is amazing.
Grilled cheese and tomato soup, Courtesy flush when you poop,
Shabbat, Sichot, I’m going to that one.
Schmear Snacks, Buddy Tags, Torans use the dirty rags,
Visitor’s Day, Oy Vey, Ozos still do not get paid.
CHORUS:
Living the dream with Theo,
We are always yearning, hoping we’re returning
Living the dream with Theo,
It’s been such a pleasure, memories we treasure.
Alumni Camp, Herzl camp, good to be back again,
Been too long, We’re 50 strong, Reliving, Theo’s Dream
Old friends, new friends, dressed in white, reminiscing funny times
Walking through the Caravan, Singing laughing hand in hand.
Shabbat Shalom, Herzl Style, Matzo Balls, Candle light
Singing songs, B’yachad, swaying, Yad B’Yad
Lots of good times are in store, Only two days, wished for more
Us and Theo, what a team, If you will it it is no dream.
CHORUS:
Living the dream with Theo,
But when we are gone, Theo’s dream lives on, and on, and on, and on…