By Landon Breite
SAN DIEGO — I always wondered what it was like to lose a home. Now I do. Camp Newman in Santa Rosa, California, was a place that I, as well as many others, called their home.
On October 9th we got the terrible news that the camp had burned down. All the memories that I had felt like they were gone. This beautiful place where we could be ourselves completely free of judgment.
My favorite memory is of the time a couple years ago when we rebuilt the Jewish Star that overlooks the camp — which is one of the few things, in which I had a part, that survived the wildfire.
Many people have great memories such as one of my friends, who says, “It’s not the big moment of getting to camp but it’s all of the little things like meeting new people, seeing new things, hanging with friends. It’s just the way the community works that makes all the memories.”
Today, a lot of people hurt because there won’t be memories like these in the future. Chloe Greenstein, 16, told me, “I won’t be able to point out to my campers the graffiti that I put on a wall in 2012, or where I painted the bathroom stalls in cabin 304. I won’t get to show them my Hevrah mural from last year.”
It’s just those small little memories that we wanted that we won’t be able to have. Chloe was going to be a counselor next year along with many of my friends and me.
When people talk about camp, many times they say, “I don’t know what I would do without camp.” It brings me great pain, but I must say that now we must live without it.
On his journey through the rubble of camp, Ruben Arquilevich, the executive director, came across the shed storing all the siddurim. It was untouched by the fire that destroyed the Beit Tfilah next to it where they were often used. Shabbat is one of the biggest camp favorites, with everyone dressed in white together as one people. The place we prayed during Shabbat was destroyed. Though much has been destroyed The Star of David that overlooked camp still stands as a symbol of hope to many.
One of my campers, Ben K., 11, said that “My favorite camp memories were Shabbat and spending time with my cabin because they are my best friends.”
Despite the fact that we lost the place we call home, we didn’t lose the people who made camp home. I miss my home, judgment free, where I could be myself and not be pressured to be someone else. Camp Newman was where I could actually be happy and not have to mask over the pain or stress because I knew that the people I talked to would make me smile and get me through to the next day.
We all are devastated from this great loss, but we take solace in the fact that memories don’t burn. Some of them, in fact, I have in the photographs shared in this article.
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Breite is a high school senior in San Diego. He was a long time camper, counselor-in-training, and counselor-to-be at Camp Newman in Santa Rosa.
Well put Landon. Camp is a very special place. You will always have your memories
You echo the thoughts of many. I was a camper for 9 years and these were the best summers of my life. New memories will be created.