Jeremy Rosen, a first year nurse at GFC and URJ Camp Harlam alum, talks about how he came to Greene and his week as a camp nurse. Jeremy lives in San Antonio and works as an RN with the VA Hospital System.

nurse jeremyEach summer from 2000-2003 while in college at VCU in Richmond, VA, I worked at URJ Camp Harlam in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. I deeply loved everything “camp,” from song session, the food, table banging, dancing and seeing the smiles of children connecting Jewishly through prayer and Shabbat.

Once I graduated, I didn’t see a way to continue my involvement with camping. Over a decade later, I am now an RN with the VA Hospital System. I’ve been in San Antonio for a year now, but to learn the city I drove for Uber for some time. If it weren’t for Uber, I would have never made it to GFC.

I think it was divine intervention that one of my first passengers my very first night as an Uber driver was none other than GFC Director, Loui Dobin. During the trip we eventually discovered our camping connection and he mentioned the need for camp nurses. In that moment I saw my chance to get back to camp. Months passed and I didn’t forget our conversation, so I sent him an email which  lead to my return to camp for an amazing week.

My week as a camp nurse at GFC was so perfect and therapeutic on many levels. I hadn’t yet realized how much I needed something like GFC at this time in my life, but as I drove up to the GFC gate I felt like the missing piece of the puzzle had finally been found and put perfectly in place. Even though I had never been to GFC before, I felt very comfortable, like I’d experienced something like this before. Each day I relived something else I hadn’t experienced for many years. I smiled during the Birkat, my heart beamed watching the entire camp dancing and smiling during song session. I felt intense peace walking to the Chader Ochel with the sea of white singing behind me at the start of Shabbat. There’s nothing like these memories I can hold with me forever.

As Shabbat drew near, I received the devastating news that the long time Director and patriarch of Camp Harlam, Arie Gluck, had passed. There was no better place for me to be in order to mourn such an incredibly passionate and inspiring man than at camp.

I feel G-d put me at camp this particular week on purpose. Many campers and staff commented on how this Shabbat felt different, and how they felt they had connected more deeply than usual. Hearing about their connection was the perfect way to honor a great man and remember his part in developing my own Jewish connection.

I look forward to returning to camp for many summers to come and now have two URJ camps to call home. Thank you GFC for an incredible week I will not soon forget.