By Alyssa Kress
Arie Gluck, Camp Harlam Director, 1965-2002
This week I began browsing the yearbook from my first summer at camp, 2002. That also happened to be Arie Gluck’s last summer as the Director of Camp Harlam. Throughout the yearbook were notes from campers and staff, all expressing their gratitude for Arie’s 37 years of dedication to camp. Among countless mentions of Arie’s leadership and mentorship, they thanked him for “inspiring greatness in us all,” for “breathing life into camp,” for “his balance and keen understanding,” for “toughening us up for the real world,” and for “creating the small miracle called Camp Harlam.”
The gratitude that our community has for Arie Gluck and this beautiful place he built is hard to put into words. Most of you never knew Arie. I only ever had one direct conversation with him. He came to talk to me, as I was very homesick and cried a lot that first summer. As he was trying to make me feel better and we connected over a shared love of sports, he happened to reveal to me that my favorite Philadelphia 76ers player Dikembe Mutombo was traded. Since I was already crying, I don’t think he knew just how devastating that information was to me. As I came to love camp, that one interaction grew to be something I cherish. And whether you worked for Arie for years or this is the first time you’re hearing about him, we all owe him a debt of gratitude for the space we’re sitting in, the landscape behind me, and the traditions we treasure. And there are countless ways we can pay that debt off.
For those who were at camp with Arie, the first two won’t be surprising: Pick up every piece of shmutz you walk by and arrive on time, which of course at Camp Harlam means five minutes early. But the best thing you can do to honor Arie is to take advantage of every moment you have in this place and remind yourself how lucky you are to be here. Relish the thrill when you’re about to jump off the trampoline on Lake Joshua or fly down the zipline. Laugh until you cry and dance like no one’s watching. Celebrate when you overcome a challenge. Help your friends overcome their challenges. Take note of how much you’ve grown at the end of the summer. Thank your counselors for the big and little things they do for you each day. Thank your friends for accepting you as you are. Thank those who helped you get here – your parents, grandparents, friends, rabbis, cantors, and anyone else who made this experience possible for you. My mom is here tonight so thanks mom!
It’s easy in the craziness of camp to forget to take a step back and appreciate the gift of our time here. For me, looking up at the stars on a really clear night gives me a profound sense of gratitude. Standing under the immense sky, I can’t help but think about the vastness of our universe and the infinite coincidences and paths crossed that led us all to sit here tonight. In a world as big and complicated and messy as ours, I think about how lucky we are that Joe and Betty established this place 60 years ago, that Arie was here to mold a few hundred acres in the middle of nowhere into a home for thousands, and that our current leadership and all of you are here to usher camp into the future.
I hope you all take a moment this Shabbat to reflect on how lucky we are to be here together at Camp Harlam, a small miracle that Arie breathed life into and that we sustain for the next generation of Joe and Betty’s children.
Alyssa Kress is in her fourth summer as Assistant Director and 12th summer at Camp Harlam. She oversees Senior Camp, Gesher, Camp K’ton, and Communications.