With Spirit and Heart: Meet Ben

A Community Letter from Ben Portnoy, Executive Director of the Cohen Camps: Thank you for all the kind notes and encouragement you’ve sent since we shared the news of Jonathan Cohen’s upcoming retirement. My goal looking forward to enhance what makes each camp special while fortifying our shared heart and mission: creating camp communities of life-long belonging fueled by Jewish values where youth, teens, and adults grow into their best selves.

Cohen Camps | A Special Experience for the 2024 Israeli Delegation at Camp Tevya

Dear Cohen Camps families, Every summer, the Cohen Camps welcome staff from Israel (shlichim) who play a vital role in our mission as Zionist camps. They come to us ready to embrace our camp culture just as we embrace them, enriching the community with their experiences and deepening our connection to Israel. Since October 7, […]

Cohen Camps | Summer 2024 Wrap Up

Dear Cohen Camps families, When I was a kid, my mom would prompt me to tell her about my school day by asking me to share three highlights, “not including lunch and recess.” As a parent of a toddler, I’m now on the other side of that question. I want to know everything he did […]

Dor L’Dor ’24 | Week 4 | Shabbat Shalom from Barcelona

Shabbat Shalom from Barcelona! After a Shabbat visit to the Prado Art Museum and a spirited Havdalah Shira at a park in Madrid, it was time to begin the final week of our Dor L’Dor experience in Spain. We began the new week with a day trip to Toledo, about an hour from Madrid.  Toledo […]

Dor L’Dor ’24 | Week 3 | Shabbat Shalom from Madrid

Shabbat Shalom from Madrid! After last week’s Shabbat, we left Gibraltar on Sunday to travel to Estepona. The TRH Paraiso was a very nice resort that reminded many of us of a family vacation in the Catskills.  It had a large pool with an enclosed yard with volleyball, ping pong and pool tables, and a snack bar. […]

Dor L’Dor ’24 | Week 2 | Shabbat Shalom from Gibraltar

Shabbat Shalom from Gibraltar! After spending our first Shabbat in Porto, we left Sunday morning for a long bus ride to Covilha with a few stops on the way.  Our first stop was in the Portuguese border town of Vilar Formoso, where we visited the Fronteira da Paz (Frontier of Peace) memorial. This museum, housed […]

Dor L’Dor ’24 | Week 1 | One Dor L’Dor

Shabbat Shalom from Portugal! It was just a few days ago that we arrived in Portugal excited and nervous, three different camps on two different planes.  And here we are now, celebrating the first Shabbat of DLD 2024! Each day, as we explored Portugal with activities in Lisbon, Sintra, and Porto, we could feel the […]

Tevya | Summer 2023 – Week 7

Dear Tevya families, If you’ve been following along with our newsletters the past few summers, or even if this is your first summer, you may have noticed the letters follow a similar format from week to week. We’ll begin with a more abstract yet meaningful intro, followed by an overview of Camp Activities from the […]

Tevya | Summer 2023 – Week 6

Dear Tevya families, Our campers learn many life-lessons at Tevya. Throughout Color War, our campers have the opportunity to practice both being resilient and what it means to be a true friend during healthy competition. For our oldest campers, Birya and Tel Chai, Color War can be extra stressful. It is hard to hear the […]

Tevya | Summer 2023 – Week 5

Dear Tevya families, At camp, time doesn’t seem to matter, until it really does matter. The end of last week was one of those moments where time at camp really matters and comes into focus. Saturday was our First Session Banquet, and on Sunday, we said goodbye to our First Session campers and welcomed in […]