PHOTO: Campers at Camp Kalsman dance during a Shabbat Shira  earlier this summer. (Arthur Mansavage/URJ Camp Kalsman)

By ROCKNE ROLL
The Jewish Review
As July wanes into August, the subtle shortening of the days marks the end of the summer for Jewish overnight camps around the country. Camp Kalsman in the North Cascade Mountains of Washington State, where the yellowing needles of Larch trees mark the shift of the seasons, is no exception and it’s a bittersweet time for all those involved. 
On the last day of session at Kalsman, Jackie Silver, the camp’s development director, explains that breakfast and a photo slide show are followed by a special goodbye.
“We go to the basketball court and we get in a big circle with everybody in it and we all join arms and we sing a few songs; ‘Leaving on a Jet Plane’ and a few others,” Silver explained. 
The last three are always the Shema, the camp’s special version of Hashkiveinu, and a version of John Denver’s “Country Roads” that references Jordan Road, the main throughfare used to access camp. It’s a song that’s sung throughout each session at Kalsman, but always on the first day and the last day.
“Usually with a lot of tears, we sing, ‘Take Me Home, Jordan Road’ and we sing Hashkiveinu and the Shema one last time,” Silver explained, “then everybody hugs and everybody cries and the parents come and then they go home.”
One of the magic parts of Kalsman, however, is that when campers go home, a part of camp goes with them, and not just as fond memories, fun pictures and dirty laundry. Camp Kalsman is affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism and maintains close connections with Reform synagogues throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond. These connections are visible throughout the summer as clergy from those synagogues come to camp to sing, teach and pray with campers – both those they know from synagogue back home and those from farther afield. 
“It’s an opportunity for our campers to get to know Jewish educators and rabbis and other adults in the Jewish world that are not the people that they grow up with,” Silver said. “I think it’s really cool for our kids to see people that they know and feel really comfortable with, but also to learn from other people as well.”
There’s also Community Shabbat services at camp sporadically throughout the summer – which is far more than just a Friday night service at Kalsman. The evening begins with the Torah being paraded through camp, picking up each age group of campers in order, youngest first, on the way to service. The campers – dressed in white for Shabbat, per camp tradition, proceed to services, then to dinner. 
“Then, from dinner, the kids literally run into the sports field,” Silver said, for Shabbat Shira, something of a Shabbat afterparty. The camp’s band is waiting for them, as well as those visiting faculty who are musically inclined, and the songs and dances go well into the night until each age group – again, youngest first – performs one final group dance and heads to bed in turn, leaving just the high schoolers. 
“Whenever we have people visiting for Community Shabbat, that is the thing that wows them,” Silver said. “It is such a beautiful way to celebrate Shabbat. Something that has been a phrase this summer especially has been ‘Jewish joy,’ and I think the Shabbat Shira is what fully encapsulates that at Kalsman.”
Back home, Kalsman comes to its campers throughout the year through Camp Days at synagogues throughout the area – bringing camp songs to services and camp activities to the day beforehand like tie-dyeing and a unique Camp Kalsman activity, Potato Golf.
“You use a broom to try to hit the potato into the hole, and it’s very silly,” Silver explained. “The kids love Potato Golf, so it’s a fun way to bring camp home during the year.”
The idea of community engagement and endeavor has been part of Camp Kalsman’s identity since its founding following a donation from camp namesake Lee Kalsman. 
“We had a few temples that had their own summer camps going on, and we had a bunch of temples come together and say, ‘This is really important, we have to come together as community to make this happen,’” Silver said.
Happen it has – 18 summers and counting as of this year. And while the last group of campers has departed down Jordan Road for the summer, a little bit of the experience of Kalsman will meet them when they get home. It’s quite an experience, as Silver can attest.
“I’ve been able to experience Kalsman as a camper, as a counselor-in-training, a counselor and now on like the leadership team,” she recalled, “and at every level it is just filled with this magic that I can’t explain.”
This is the final installment of the “Letters From Camp” series. For more on Jewish summer camps, listen to “Campfire Kehillah with Avi Orlow” on The Jewish Review Podcast, available on all major platforms and visit the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland’s camp resources page at jewishportland.org/inclusion-camping.