by Lisa Kaufman
For me, this was the summer of L’Dor, V’dor. My daughter, Dani, recently returned from five weeks in Eastern Europe and Israel on Garin Greene’s “L’Dor V’Dor” trip. As you might expect, it was the trip of a lifetime.
For our family, Greene Family Camp is a place of “L’Dor V’Dor.” My personal love affair with GFC began in 1978, the second year GFC opened its doors (or gates, as the case may be) and the same year our beloved, Loui Dobin, started at Greene. I was a camper, a kibbutznik (and for those of you who were there, you can attest, there was NO air conditioning on our cement slabs) and finally an Avodah. My parents were on the Camp Committee from its early inception and my husband and I now fulfill that role. And, like many of you, my kids became campers as soon as they were old enough to go to camp. Even our family “brick” – which lies in the center of the Jewish star near the gazebo – is inscribed “L’Dor V’Dor.”
This summer, however, my “L’Dor V’Dor” became even more special. While Dani was in Israel, she visited Kibbutz Yahel. While she was there, she met Nancy Reich, MY counselor when I was on Kibbutz at GFC all those years ago. Shortly after that summer, Nancy made Aliyah and moved to Kibbutz Yahel. Like many of the counselors who spend their summers with our kids at GFC now, Nancy was one of those people who touched my life in such a profound way that as a teenage I could not have even dreamed possible. So, imagine how I felt when I received a text from Nancy with this picture of her hugging my own sweet daughter. Truly L’Dor V’Dor.