Serious
Cam

W

hen our
children
leave in
the summer for that place they
love, they are thinking: free-
dom, escape, friends.
When adults leave home and
familiar surroundings for a new
experience, they also think free-
dom, but their focus is quite a
bit different from their children.
Although this section of The
Jewish News is devoted to
camp, the adults I spoke with -
bristled at the notion of their ex-
periences being trivialized by
simply calling them "camp for
adults."
Each left home to attend a va-
riety of residential learning insti-
tutes. Professionally they are a
writer, artists, and a market re-
searcher. For each of them,
leaving home was the only way '
to pursue serious learning op-
portunities important to their
work and life.
Len Wanetik says that attend-
ing the Imun Lay Religious Insti-
tute in 1991 "totally changed
my life." Mr. Wanetik is an ac-
tive member of Congregation
B'nai Moshe and was asked to
attend the institute by the con-
gregation's president, Sharlene

Ungar. The Imun Lay Reli-
gious Institute does take place
at camp, Camp Ramah in the
Berkshires.
The Imun Institute gave
Mt Warietik self-confidence
and helped him understand
more clearly his role as a prac-
ticing Jew. He has always
studied Jewish texts, mention-
ing Rabbi Eli Finkelman and
Cantor Louis Klein as two in-
fluential teachers. The Imun
Institute gave him the
courage to further concen-
trate on study and its practical
application.
Prior to attending the Imun
Institute, he was comfortable
with the traditional model of
reliance on the congregational
rabbi for answers. After Imun,
he has been willing to take
more personal responsibility for
his Jewish life and he has shared
what he has learned with his
congregational community, by
teaching, leading services and
by writing a book that crystal-
lizes his Torah studies at Imun
Institute.
Jeffrey Abt is an artist and as-
sociate professor of painting and
drawing at Wayne State Univer-
sity. Before coming to Michi-

gan, he was at the University of
Chicago. In 1982, he was
preparing for a solo show, as
well as writing a catalogue for
another exhibition at the Uni-
versity of Chicago Library. Mar-
ried and the father of two young
children, he needed uninter-
rupted time and space to meet
his deadlines. The Ragdale
Foundation in Lake Forest, Ill.
provided the necessary time
and space and much more.
The Ragdale Foundation was
founded in 1976 by Alice

Adults can use away-from-home
educational programs to
enhance their lives.

LYNNE AVADENKA SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

The Imun Institute
changed
Leonard Wanetik.

Hayes, granddaughter of the es-
tate's original owner, Howard
Shaw.
When her grandparents lived
at Ragdale, a fine example of
Arts and Crafts architecture, it
was a center for Chicago area
artists, dancers and writers. Al-
ice Hayes wanted to continue
that tradition, and made Rag-
dale available to artists and writ-

ers for short, intense residen-
cies, enabling them to complete
specific projects.
Mt Abt was in residence for
two months, beginning in a
snowy February. He painted for
hours, often working through
the night He had his own stu-
dio and saw the other residents
at dinner, the only communal
meal.
It was an excellent combina-
tion of solitude in which to pro-
duce his work, and the

SERIOUS page 122