By Joel Magalnick, JTNews Correspondent
Before now kids had to go all the way down to Santa Rosa, Calif. — or even farther — just to attend a Reform Jewish summer camp. Beginning in the summer of 2005, that will no longer be the case.
With the purchase last month of 300 acres of land in Snohomish County near Arlington, the Union for Reform Judaism has made a commitment to bring 200-plus kids to a site just an hour’s drive from Seattle, while also creating a new retreat space for the region’s Jewish organizations.
But with 12 other Reform camps around the United States and Canada, does there really need to be another one?
“In a big way,” says Rabbi David Fine, the URJ’s Pacific Northwest regional director. “The rabbis and people interested in camp have been requesting this for a number of years.”
He added that he has been hearing those requests since he arrived in Seattle more than 10 years ago.
The new Camp Kalsman will have plenty of space for regular summer activities like Ropes courses, hiking, and water sports — the property includes a lake. As a Jewish institution, the programming will also integrate a religious perspective.
“We have an ideology that’s reflected in educational sessions as well as worship and prayer,” Rabbi Fine says. He also emphasizes that the camp will strive to take advantage of its natural surroundings.
“Judaism and ecology will really be an important component,” says Rabbi Fine. “We’re really thinking very green.”
Finding this space was no easy task.
Over three years, Rabbi Fine says, he looked at approximately 35 different sites on which to place the movement’s 13th overnight camp.
When the Love Israel family, which previously owned the land, declared bankruptcy and their land went into foreclosure, the court-appointed real estate agent contacted URJ.
The ‘60s-era commune members are expected to vacate shortly.
The Love Israel group, which according to its Web site calls itself a “spiritual family,” began in 1968 at a home in Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood, but moved out to their current site in 1984. Zoning regulations kept it from fulfilling its mission to “transpose their vision of a self-sustaining holistic village onto this undeveloped landscape.”
The families, in attempts to create businesses in neighboring cities to work toward their vision, borrowed against the land until they could no longer sustain the debt load, and the land went into foreclosure.
Now that URJ has closed on the transaction, the task to create a camp must begin. No construction can be started on the land until Snohomish County grants a conditional use permit. Rabbi Fine said he did not wish to speculate on how long that would take.
In addition, the Union must undertake a capital campaign to raise approximately $7 million to cover the costs of the cabins, facilities and arts and crafts buildings that turn this wild expanse of land into something that creates life-long memories. The facilities and incidentals needed to turn the property into a camp and year-round retreat center for adults and families will likely account for a large portion of the building costs.
Capital campaigns are everywhere around the region, however. Hillel at the University of Washington is in the home stretch of a $12 million campaign for its new center, and Seattle Hebrew Academy is still raising funds for reconstruction of its landmark building damaged by the 2001 Nisqually earthquake. Also, Temple Beth Am — a Reform synagogue — has kicked off a capital campaign to expand its site.
Rabbi Fine says even with all of these projects in the region pulling from a finite pot of funds — many of which could compete with Camp Kalsman — he does not envision any troubles raising the money.
“We are encouraged there is support for camp in the Pacific Northwest region,” he says.
“I think that camp is a very important component of a Jewish community, and we are confident.”
The $4.2 million price tag for the new camp site was covered by a $5 million donation from the Kalsman-Levy family of Los Angeles, whom Rabbi Fine referred to as philanthropists that have seen camping within the Reform movement as a priority on the West Coast.
With other Jewish camps in the region, Rabbi Fine also says he doesn’t believe the area is anywhere close to a saturation point. He pointed to Camp Solomon Schechter outside of Olympia as Kalsman’s most similar counterpart. Camp Schechter attracts kids mostly from Conservative congregations, although it has not officially affiliated with the movement. Rabbi Fine stressed that Camp Kalsman won’t be competing with Schechter for campers.
With a year-and-a-half until the camp opens, however, that likely won’t be a concern for some time. Depending upon construction schedules, funds raised, and permits granted. Though not expected to be fully complete by summer 2005, Camp Kalsman should still be ready to launch the experiences that only people who have spent summers at overnight camp can truly understand. That’s the part of this new camp that really has people talking.