Ferris, Winona, Madonna and John Hughes…Welcome to the ’80s at Herzl
March 16, 2012 by Herzl Camp Admin, under General Posts, Letters from Alumni, Letters from Parents, What I Learned from Camp.
Eric, Randi & Claudia (Sohn) Richman
By: Eric Lachter
Hi everyone, my name is Eric Lachter and I am a Herzl alumnus. I was a camper at Herzl from 1980-1986. In ’87 I was an Ozo (Go Ozrim!), ’88 a counselor, ’89 the Tripper and ’91 I worked on maintenance staff. I am 42 years old, I have dark curly hair (ok its half gray), and I met my wife, Randi Bernstein at Herzl (she’s still hot 25 years later).
Currently I live far, far away from the shores of Devils Lake, in a place called Mill Valley, which is just north of San Francisco across a red bridge. I like the west coast a lot for many reasons. In spite of my geographic distance, however, Herzl remains close to my heart. My girls, Sonia (11) and Liza (8), currently attend camp. They are huge fans and are continuing our tradition of loving Herzl. We all miss the Midwest – we especially miss our family, close friends and Shabbat dinner at Tzivia and Joel Leviton’s.
Joel Richman, Barry Golob, Tony Shink, Eric & Jon Adelman
I guess the reason that I send my kids 1500 miles away to camp, is that Herzl is the best place I have ever spent time, and the place that I met the best people in my life. Some of my pals growing up at Herzl were (and still are) Barry Golob, Louis Dachis, Tommy Hoffman, Jon Adelman, Tony Shink, Joel Richman, EJ Clyman, Rich Fogel, Tony Weinstine and so many others. Oh, and Claudia (Sohn) Richman, who was and is Randi’s pal. I’m pretty sure I owe her for putting in a good word for me with Randi. Perhaps those names ring some bells. Take a look at the photos. It was the late ’80s, and we had Alcapulco Joe, Polo and other blousey awful fashions. Oh, and sorry about the hair. That wasn’t our fault either. It was the fault of John Hughes and Madonna and Winona Ryder.
Herzl Shabbat...Sponsored by John Hughes (If you don't know who he was...look him up and then watch all his movies)
I think I’m going to keep this short and let you bask in the glow of the photos. But, here are a few things that come to mind about camp. The first is that what I loved about Herzl, was that it gave me confidence. I learned to stand on my own two feet, be a leader and make friends. And, a lot of those friends, especially Randi, are and were better than me. Herzl made me better. Any of you who know Randi, or my friends, know what I’m saying. These folks are priceless. They are my platoon. I would do anything for them. They complete me.
Barry Golob, Eric & Louie Dachis
Oh, and by the way, thanks to my parents, Lou and Muriel Lachter, for spending the dough to send me. It was a life experience that was well worth the investment. But paying for camp was a big deal then and it’s a big deal now.
Here is my last thought…What I like about Herzl, is that it is the one place I have been in my life that is a personality-ocracy instead of a money-ocracy. At Herzl, for everyone the food is the same and the beds are the same and the air is the same. The songs are the same and the services are the same. It’s all equal. It’s like a modern day American kibbutz. It is the place where I could be the most Eric-esque version of myself. The place where my Ericness could shine.
If you see my kids or my wife or my folks or my in-laws, Jack and Gail Bernstein, at the bus, tell em hi. It really makes me happy to know my girls go to Herzl and that they love it as much as I did.
Is that Duran Duranl? Nope, just Tzrif 16. Best hair? Joel Leviton (3rd from L, back) or Jeff Rosenberg (4th from L, front).
And know that those summers in the late 1980’s at Herzl were the best time of my life (oh, and I have it pretty good now if you’re concerned). I’m glad my kids know your kids. Keep your sons away from my daughters.
Eric & Tommy Hoffman
Shabbat Shalom.
With Ruach,
Eric
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A Mama and Papa Ozo Challenge
September 9, 2010 by Herzl Camp Admin, under Letters from Alumni.
By Alex Locke
In trying to decide what I wanted my latest blog post to be about, I realized I like when they are interactive. And what gets people excited…. Ozos! And what do we all thrive on… competitions! So… let’s all collaborate and see how well we can do. The challenge: Let’s see how many Mama and Papa pairings we can come up with. I will start with as many as I can name. All you have to do is add any newer or older pairs by leaving a comment. Good luck to all of us… cannot wait to see how many we can come up with.
1987
Paul Schraber
Rondah Mutchnik
1988
Danny Kaplan
Lauren Berman
1989
Tommy Hoffman
Randi Bernstein
1990
Barry Golob
Tzivia Stein
1991
Barry Golob
Naomi Heller
1992
Josh Sohn
Annie Fischer
1993
Matt Lipschultz
Anna Simon
1994
Adam Chall
Ann Fiterman
1995
Corey Firedman
Stacy Kaplan
1996
Jesse Simon
Hope Frisch
1997
Alex Locke (That’s me!!!)
Mira Levie
1998
Danya Kornblum
Kevin Scharfe
1999
Danny Soshnik
Robyn Friedman
2000
Aaron Cukier
Jenny Javitch
And that’s all I can do. A pretty impressive list, if I do say so myself. So… can you add to the list?