Kutz Camp is a leadership training camp for Jewish high school students. I was a camper in 1981 and worked there in 1983. I had been involved in NFTY prior to going to Kutz so I had some exposure already in the type of activities the camp would offer me, but truthfully, the experience of being surrounded by other fun and talented Jewish teens from around the country was one that I will never forget and one that is beyond anything I had ever encountered. I am still friends with some of those people and they have all gone on (as I have) to be productive leaders in both Jewish and non-Jewish organizations. The skills we were given and the sense of community was unparalled. The camp also provides a creative way to experience and learn about Jewish values, worship, customs and history. I think people who go through Kutz are more inclined to have a strong Jewish identity throughout their lives and this in turn helps them contribute to the world in many unique ways.
There is not enough time, words, or anectdotea to express the meaning that Kutz put into my life and anyone I know who had the privelage to be a part of this great institution. It made me into the Jew that I am today, fostered my love for my religion and the desire to pass this understanding on to my children. I met icredible peopl who thru face book today i am excited to hear from and get caught back up! Anyone who wants there children to learn about there judaic place in the world, meet incredible people, and fall in love with life and those that you are privelgaed to encounter throughout that life this is a great place to startt off on that wonderful journey!
BEST PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE. no one has ever gone to Kutz and had a bad time. i wish everyone could have the same life changing experience that i did
Although I got swine flu at Kutz Camp this summer, it was one of the be best experiences I've ever had. I made some of my best friends there and worked with people with disabilities. I learned more about religion, how to do yoga and some of the best dance moves ever. I've been to a lot of camps over the years and this one is my number one because it was fun and taught me good ethics and morals at the same time.
I went to Kutz in 1981 and it was one of my best summers of my life. I loved learning about songleading and the music was incredible but my most memorable experience was that I met my first boyfriend Steve Meltzer. We went out for two weeks. In camp terms that is like a year! After we broke up we both stayed at camp but never saw eachother (even though we were both in songleading). In 1988 I went to a camp reunion at Kutz. While working the registration table I re-met Steve Meltzer. I don't know if it was love at first sight or just exciting to see my first boyfriend again. Steve and I had a long distance relationship between NY and Boston. What made it ok was that Steve's mom and grandfather were from Brookline Massachusetts (since I am a huge Boston Red Sox fan). Steve and I went out for 2 1/2 years and then he proposed at Pagoda Isaac at Kutz at a Kutz Alumni meeting on March 31, 1990 (Steve's Birthday) We got married May 26, 2009 We would have been married for 18 years but unfortunately Steve passed away this past April 7th of a fatal heart attack. Steve was only 45. Steve's passion for music, Jewish education and NFTY was developed when he went to KUTZ. It was a huge part of both of our lives.
URJ Kutz Camp was one of those experiences that people would call indescribable. Kutz is a place was a place where i learned more about myself than i never knew. If I didn't have Kutz this summer, I really don't know where I would be. Kutz truly turned my whole life back to where it should be. I owe so much to Kutz. I love it there and cannot wait until next summer.
I met my husband at this camp in a Jewish music workshop. He had been a teen participant as well. We returned with our own children to develop the day camp.
My two summers at this place was everything i hoped it too be and more. Both of these summers had too different meanings to me, my first summer i feel like i grew up and started realizing about myself and why all of us are Jewish.Being able to live with Jewish teens 24/7 was amazing. I became more comfortable with who i was and realized that everyone was going threw the same things i was. Everyone that goes to kutz comes with a story and i learned so much about these people that i would have never guessed. Being able to open up like i could in a safe environment was something im not able to do in the real world, and kutz was a place that made it so easy.I have learned to not judge a book by its cover and to enjoy the little things life hands us.I think its important for people to experence something like this. this place isnt just any camp. it is a home, a place that you form a new family with new people from all around the world. you come to relize that they are just like you in so many ways, and that all of us are going through the same things. I have learned alot about who i am and who i want to become,these are the people that will stick with me through anything life hands us.The friends and memories i have from this place will be with me forever. Im closer to the people i met here then some of the kids at home that i have known for years. You go through so much with these people mentally and spiritually that you couldn't ever experience anywhere else. Im not done learning about my judasim or asking questions.But i am ready to take on any challenges that life throws at me :)
It was an experience unparallel to anything else I had done in my life. The community that was created allowed me to figure out how I wanted to practice my religion, and showed me that it's possible to have a community where everyone trusts each other. I also learned the main ins and outs of leadership, and I've been able to put that to work in everyday life. Kutz Camp is just one huge Jewish family, comprised of 200+ high schoolers from around the nation. Kutz changed my life in so many different ways and it is by far the best possible thing you could do with your summer.
an un explainable experience that will change your life forever. I am 100% positive that everyone who has ever gone to this camp can agree. my dad who went there in the 1970's had told me this and when i went there i experienced the same exact thing
One of the most educational, spiritual, and life-changing experiences. I made life-long friendships with the girls in my cabin and because of the small amount of people at camp, I became friends with everyone. I took a leadership training "course" because I am a regional board member (my position is Secretary)for the Southern region of the North American Federation of Temple Youth. I went to the camp as a newly-elected board member who wasn't super confident in herself and left the camp with fresh ideas, feeling more confident than ever and ready to be a leader for my region. I've used almost everything that I've learned at Kutz camp in my daily life, with my region and at my temple. I cannot describe how much I love this camp and I REALLY want to go back next summer.
It was an experience I will never forget. At Kutz Camp I learned to question the meaning of life and to lead with my heart. Though I don't keep in contact with a lot of the people I met there, I do think of them often. The times we shared are amongst my fondest and most cherished memories. I often make reference to one of the exercises we did during the summer of '98. The exercise was meant for us to consider the impact we are having on people in our life and more importantly to consider what we want to leave behind after we are gone. We were asked to write a eulogy given from the people closest to us in the theoretical case where we had passed on. It was a moving experience that I don't believe I will ever forget. This eulogy exercise helped me to begin thinking about my future and my life's purpose. Kutz camp also helped me to delve deeper into an understanding of my jewish identity. Through beautiful services and well organized programs. I currently attend a catholic affiliate of the University of Western Ontario, and more then ever before I am recognizing my Jewish heritage, of which Kutz and NFTY-NEL was a big part. I believe Leadership skills are an extremely important educational experience for our youth. These skills help us to realize our potentials and empower us to be conscious and helpful advocates of the issues we stand for as individuals and for our global community. For the Kutz experience I am thankful, for the friends I made and for the memories I have, I am humbled. With Love and Light, Tal Potechin 4th year Psychology Student The University of Western Ontario King's University College
It was AMAZING!!! I went to Kutz for 2 years before becoming a staff member there. why would someone come back so many years if it want a great experience. The camp is beautiful. Though I never reached the top, I loved the tower and wish I had more chances to climb it. The programs were fabulous and I always loved my major: Teva. Everyone was amazing and were wonderful people! It was so much fun
Was there as a camper, UAHC NFTY, camper as JFTY, Then worked there for a while, Then came a year after to visit, Then came a couple more times to visit. Great place !
Kutz was life changing experience for me where i was learning and growing constantly. during my kutz day i got to participate in a program called mitzvah corps. This was an experience where i not only got to work with childern with autism, but i got to see the learn and grow just like me. I also participated in the social action committee and hebrew elective which were not only fun but helped me achieve some of my goals. Lastly i came out of Kutz with more best friends then you could imagine, most of which i still talk to daily. Kutz was truly the best experience of my entire life!
I just spent my third summer at the URJ Kutz Camp and each summer I leave saying "that was the best summer of my entire life." It's an experience like none other. Kutz challenged me to connect with myself and others on a whole new level and changed my outlook on life and myself. I never enjoyed services at all before I went to Kutz but they are a staple of my life. Sitting in the outdoor tron, overlooking the vast expanses of the lake, as the sun fell behind the trees, it is hard not to feel a spiritual connection. The community at Kutz was a very loving and accepting one. I learned to be completely happy with myself because I knew there was a community of amazing people surrounding me and supporting me. The connections I made with people at Kutz were deeper than ones I had made with other friends that I had known for years. In my high school, I found it to be very stereotypically cliquey with very specific groups of friends. At Kutz, the community is so strong, that literally everyone is friends and there is no pressure to fit into a group. My second summer there, I participated in a specific program that was designed to help my leadership skills. I came to camp as a fairly shy person and left that summer empowered. The skills I learned will not only help me as a leader, but have improved my overall life and myself as a person. Being at Kutz gave you a sense of freedom to explore yourself in whatever way you wanted. Either through art programs, spiritual and religous ways, sports, or programs making you think about your true feelings and thoughts about the world around you. It's impossible to put into words how strong I feel about Kutz and the life changing effects it had one me. But I can say I'm know that I left my summers at Kutz a better, stronger, and more knowledgeable person than when I came. Kutz is an invaluable experience for it's participants. Kutz is a part of who I am, and I wouldn't be the person I am today if I had not attended the Kutz camp.
I first attended Kutz in the summer of 2003, during the interim year between the camper and counselor-in-training programs at my regional URJ camp. At the time, my focus at the Kutz leadership academy was on absorbing whatever I could to bring back to my home youth group and my regional camp the next summer. It wasn't until I was welcomed back as staff in the summer of 2008 that I realized I had found in Kutz the summer home that I no longer felt my former camp was. It doesn't do Kutz justice to continue comparing it to another camp. Kutz's merits stand entirely on their own, as a place where nearly two hundred Reform Jewish teens gather every summer to spend close to four weeks learning from each other and from those who were in their place before. The diversity of majors attracts participants with an equally diverse set of interests; the rigor of the program attracts only those who are serious about learning. As a staff member for two (and hopefully many more) years, it is truly gratifying to be a link in the chain of traditions, knowledge, and experience that define Kutz and Kutz's impact on the Reform Jewish movement. Many of the movement's past and current leadership have attended Kutz, and there is little doubt that the same will be said for its future leaders.
I was a participant at the Kutz Camp for Reform Jewish teens for two summers in the Regional Board Leadership track. I am a 17 year old high school senior from Omaha, Nebraska and I am currently serving my second term as the North American Federation of Temple Youth Missouri Valley Region Social Action Vice President. From my time at Kutz, I have learned how to maintain a group of teen's attention, advocate for social action causes I believe in (and help others find causes they are passionate about and make effective change), write innovative educational programs, work with adult leadership, and practice online etiquette. While learning and playing at Kutz, I met the best and the brightest national youth leaders and the friendships and partnerships I have made at Kutz will extend far beyond my high school years. Alike, the skills that I have gained with pertain to my experiences in college and as a professional. Kutz could be improved with increased scholarship funds and recruitment. Unfortunately, both of these things are expensive. One thing Kutz has done to cut back on the costs of recruitment is working with the youth to recruit their peers. The Kutz Leadership Team has collaborated with high school Kutz alum to promote the leadership experience at NFTY Regional retreats and local chapter events.
Kutz is a very special and spiritual place for thousands of campers over its 40 years of shaping Jewish leadership. I have been camper (participant), staff and faculty and each time I have been at camp I have felt comfortable and welcome. Kutz has the ability to take a child who might have been otherwise unnoticed in their home environments and give them direction, purpose and a passion to build a future steeped in Torah, Israel and Belief. Kutz has given voice and license to much of the sights and sounds of Reform Judaism and will continue to be a place where we can build our tomorrow.
I went to the URJ Kutz camp the summer of 2009. It was one of the BEST experiences of my life. While there i experienced many things and made so many friends!! Try to think of going to see your favorite music group with all of your closest friends. Or spending time hanging out on the lake or seeing a show the Drama chug put on. Or having services lead by your friends and you (me). Or the craziest FRI night song session!!! All of this and more happens at the URJ Kutz camp.
I learned so much about myself and the world at the URJ's Kutz Camp. I learned how to lead, how to advocate for a cause. I formed my own personal and religious identities. I discovered the plight of the hungry, leading me to donate both money and effort towards fighting poverty-related injustices. This place helped me find myself and a group of brilliant friends who I know will be there for me for many, many years to come.
Just to make this simple, this came changed my life the month and a half I spent there as a camper defined me as a jew in my NFTY region and back in my home and gave me many social skills that I needed and use untill this day. i wouldent be who i was today if i never went there.
I attended Kutz in '81 & '82 and visited friends in '83 and '84. There are not enough words to describe the amazing experience I had at Kutz. from what I learned from all the great teachers and Rabbi's to the friends I made, many of whom I am still in touch with today. Kutz is one of the best opportunities you can provide to your children, they will be better people for just being a part of it.