Our Department Supervisors shared their thoughts on “Welcome Home” and what those words mean to them personally during Friday night’s Shabbat Service. Below are the readings they shared.
By Ashira Boxman
So what does welcome home really mean? For me the word home has a multitude of different 
meanings. However each one is completely relevant to this specific home. Home is a place that shapes you as a person. Home is a place that you feel 100% comfortable to be your own unique self, express vulnerability and feel confident in your own skin. Home is a place that whatever the circumstances are you know you can return to year after year and be welcomed with open arms. Home is place where you can find your family. And finally home is a place where you go running to for a warm blanket of love to wrap yourself up in. I feel so lucky to have been welcomed home here for the past 12 summers and now it’s my chance to welcome you home! Welcome home camp Harlam, these seats have been waiting for you.
By Lindsay Gilbert, Kara Weiner, and Sydney Gluck
We saved the best departments for last,
So we will try to make it fast.
I’m Kara, I’m Lindsay, and I’m Syd.
We’ve each been coming here since we were a kid.
Coming to camp for a combined 43 years,
Filled with Teva, Athletics, K’ton, Programming, and Unit Cheers.
Some might ask why we keep coming back,
Even though we have to pass and stack.
I come home to teach about the great outdoors.
I come home to be under the stars at a campfire with smores.
Winning everywhere is what I do best.
But I also came back for my 10 year vest.
We loved writing this Shabbat Sha-poem,
To give you all a big Welcome Ho-em.
When I arrive at camp, the first thing I hear is “Welcome Home!” and then I always know I made the right choice in coming back for another summer. I’m back at the place where I’ve made so many amazing friendships and memories, where I learned how to be a leader, where I get to help campers and staff have the best summers of their lives, and of course where I get to climb the tower (I’m coming for your record, Mitchell!).By Amy Diamond
My legacy here at Camp Harlam is a long one. My great uncle Menchy Goldblatt was the first owner of camp, back when it was just a basketball camp, and my grandfather served as camp’s first pediatrician. Thus by default, my mom and uncle attended as campers of course. Though they never really became the quintessential camp kids, when I was 8 years old and started begging to go away to Jewish summer camp, I think my mom intuitively knew Harlam would be the place for me. Of course, she was right. 1988 was my first summer at Camp Harlam as a Carmelian, and I never looked back. From Carmel through the Rah, Israel, cabin counselor and waterfront staff – it was that first summer – and all of those that followed- that initiated some the strongest and closest friendships I have to this day.
When I moved to the west coast during my college years, I lost touch with a lot of my camp friends. It is the one and only reason I will be forever grateful to Facebook – for reconnecting all of us. And now, as adults, and most of us as parents, we have realized all over again just how incredibly unique and special camp friendships are and continue to be.
This past year and a half was obviously a tough one – for everyone. For my children and I, we made a very unplanned cross country move from California to Florida during the start of the pandemic. I struggled with the decision to do this, even though I knew deep down it was the right one to make. I have my camp girlfriends to thank for being on standby the entire night and encouraging me the whole time that this was in fact the best move I could make for myself and my boys.
When the very unexpected call came from Lisa asking me if I could come back to camp this summer as a waterfront supervisor, I once again turned to my camp girlfriends for input. I had concerns about coming back to camp as a working adult, and as a parent, and managing all that comes with that. I had concerns about once again uprooting my kids and moving somewhere they really weren’t familiar with yet again. I had concerns about returning to camp after 23 years! With all of my camp friends’ help, it became clear that what better a time to do this than now. As a family, we have talked a lot this past year about staying present, gratitude and mindfulness, and how these practices can help get us through tough and stressful times. The moment I took my first walk across the green this summer, I realized that the times I have felt the most present, grateful, and mindful, are when I am at camp. The rest of the world seems to melt away, and we enter that indescribable camp time warp bubble where it simultaneously feels like you have been here for 3 days and 3 years.
Being able to now share this experience with my children, as 3rd generation harlamites, and watch them flourish, and especially be so happy and free after this past year, has been the most rewarding and joyful experience in being here. And now, I get to share this experience with two of my closest camp girlfriends, and watch all of our kids together enjoy the magic of camp, and form bonds that will last a lifetime – where friends truly do become family.
“Welcome Home” really is the perfect expression of Camp Harlam. It doesn’t matter if you have been gone 1 year or 23. The minute you step foot in camp, it feels like you never left. And that is what home is. I encourage all of you to soak this in. Be present. Look around you. Cherish your friendships, and the time you have at camp. It will forever be your home, no matter how long you’ve been gone.