Blog

Hello, GUCI family! We at GUCI are excited to announce that we will begin publishing our cabin’s services online. Throughout the session, each cabin gets the opportunity to lead a service in front of all of camp in our Beit T’fillah (outdoor sanctuary). Each camper...

Shalom all, my name is David Reinhart. I’m 23 years old and am excited to be back at camp for one last summer as Anaf Unit Head. I was born in Cedar Rapids, IA but moved, before I was two, to Louisville, KY. Then, just before my Bar Mitzvah, I moved to Buffalo Grove,...

By Rachael Pass Geza Unit Head Shalom GUCI community! My name is Rachael Pass, and I am thrilled to be the Geza Unit Head this summer! I am so excited to be back at camp again for my fifth summer on staff. My GUCI career began in 2000, as a nine-year-old coming to...

“Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha’olam, shehechiyanu v’kiyamanu v’higiyanu lazman ha’zeh”. Blessed are You, Adonai our God, ruler of the universe, who gives us life, sustains us, and gathers us together at sanctified times. Dear Parents, Shabbat Shalom, and...

By Elana Nemitoff Shoresh Unit Head Shalom, greater GUCI community! My name is Elana Nemitoff and I will be the Shoresh Unit Head at GUCI this summer! The opportunity to return to camp and help bring the beauty of Judaism to life for another group of campers is an...

By Ari Kalfus Communications Specialist The first day of Kallah Aleph has started off in full swing! This morning every unit participated in an all-camp shiur (Jewish educational program); there will be three total all-camp shiurim this session. Sam Pollak, our Judaic...

by Sam Pollak I am so excited to be back at GUCI this summer! This will be my tenth summer on camp, and my years at camp have been absolutely incredible. I’ve been a camper in Geza and Anaf, a participant on the NFTY trip to Israel with fellow GUCI-ites, and an...

by Chase Foster Shalom! My name is Chase Foster, and I am so lucky to be coming back to GUCI this summer as your Program Director. Born and raised in Cincinnati, I first set foot at GUCI in 1995. I have spent years as a camper, Avodahnik, Counselor, Migdal Man, and...

Today is the first day of an annual tradition here at Goldman Union Camp—it’s the start of Precamp! Precamp is a week-long process during which we literally and metaphorically rid camp of the cobwebs that may have gathered over the winter. It’s also the official...

By Ashley Schlaeger There is a power in this place and timeIt shapes the rest of our livesAnd when we return each year we findA truth we can’t deny. Dan Nichols, Chazak This was one of the first quotes I heard at camp, and I always questioned what it meant. I have...

by Joe SladeSenior Assistant Director This has been a year of great change for me: 12 months ago, my wife Alison and I lived in Atlanta, where I worked at a university, and spent much of my (admittedly limited) free time socializing with friends or riding my bicycles....

By Carly Hooker“Mommy, I want to go to camp.” I made this statement for the first time at the tender age of 7 years old after a presentation at my temple by Rabbi Ron Klotz, camp director at the time. My mom’s initial reply was something along the lines of, “But...

By Richard Keitel Shalom everybody! I wanted to reintroduce myself. My name is Richard Keitel and I am very excited to return to GUCI to be this summer’s project director.  Let me tell you a little something about me: I am a Professor of Theatre at Point Park...

By Ben Diamond Back in 2003, I went away to GUCI for a two-week session, in what I thought would be my only camp experience.  Today, those two weeks have turned into twenty-eight weeks, and I’ve gone from a young camper to a staff member.  When I first came to camp, I...

By Rabbi Mark Covitz Director, URJ Goldman Union Camp Institute. Each April, Mark goes to Israel with other URJ Directors to meet our Israeli staff members and to prepare them for their upcoming adventures in URJ camps. Early morning, perhaps too early, everybody has...