By Rabbi Allie Fischman
VALLEJO, California — Ever since last October’s Tubbs fire, which destroyed the majority of our year-around Camp Newman in Santa Rosa, URJ Camp Newman, members of our direct community and the Jewish community as a whole reached out with love and support. They dried our tears with poems, comforted us with impromptu lemonade stands and concerts, and enveloped us and each other with a belief that camp would continue. They taught us all the true meaning of kehillah kedosha, a holy community, and gave us the resolve to pursue finding a temporary space for our summer camp, no matter what.
When we opened registration just a few weeks after the fire, after securing Cal Maritime as our site (our “it takes a village” moment), we could never have imagined this day. Now, the hustling and bustling of our community is so apparent in the 3rd to 12th graders all around me … playing Frisbee, making s’mores by the bay, singing prayers, hugging new friends, and celebrating Shabbat. Cal Maritime feels like camp, and camp is home.
The few months leading up to the summer, our team of full-time staff worked day and night to make sure the summer experience at Cal Maritime would be filled with joy, community, and lifetime learning. Their efforts truly paid off as we just welcomed our 912th camper through our gates. Focused on sports, social justice, the arts, nature or simply traditional camp fun, each session has taken the best of our Santa Rosa camp and relocated it here – with some new Cal Maritime perks – like the indoor volleyball court, mega Athletic Field and breathtaking bayside view. This summer, our resilient community has also brought us a new saying, “It’s not about the place… it’s about the people.”
We are thriving, and at the same time, so excited about our next steps. We’ve begun our plans to return to our Santa Rosa home, and have been so blessed to receive $5 Million from the California State Legislature to assist in rebuilding our community and conference center to serve the needs of the Jewish and general community for decades to come. This is just the beginning of what will surely be a long process. But we know that our community – and all who believe in the power of camp – will join us on this journey. It’s certainly not the first time our people have lived in transition!
In the meantime, our final week of camp is going strong, registration is booming for New Year’s on the Bay (our high school Rosh Hashanah Boat Cruise in San Francisco and now in LA!), and we’re already planning Fall Camp, our second through fifth grade “taste of camp” weekend. And before you know it, we’ll be opening up registration again for #NewmanbytheBay2019!
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Rabbi Fischman is the incoming director of URJ Camp Newman