jews d
in
the
Blazing
Trails
In Comfy Shoes
A conversation
with Amit
Weitzer,
executive
director of
Camp Tavor
VIVIAN HENOCH
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
ABOVE: In 2016, Amit Weitzer
and her fiancé, Evan Major,
hiked 400 miles through the
Sierra Nevada Mountains along
the Pacific Crest Trail.
O
n a clear path to her new position
as executive director of Camp Tavor
in Three Rivers, Mich., Amit Weitzer
has spent a lot of time on the trails.
Literally. Last summer, she and her fiancé,
Evan Major, hiked 400 miles through the
Sierra Nevada Mountains along the Pacific
Crest Trail. (Readers of Cheryl Strayed’s
best-selling memoir Wild: From Lost to
Found of the Pacific Crest Trail may note
that Amit highly recommends wearing trail
runners instead of hiking boots.)
With a love of wilderness adventure —
first as a camper, then as a counselor and
ultimately as director of Tamarack Camps
Agree Outpost Camp in Northern Ontario
— Amit has become an accomplished trail-
builder in her own right.
Reflecting on the personal and profes-
sional skills she has learned and imparted
while working with campers to build and
maintain trails in the national parks of
Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where other
Tamarack campers would come to trek
each summer, Amit muses, “You never
look at a trail in the same way if you ever
work on one. All those years as a camper
myself, I never fully appreciated the folks
who have come before me to create that
trail, to maintain it and build it in a way
that makes it environmentally sustainable.
To stand back and see the results of creat-
ing those kinds of experiences for young
people is really beautiful and empowering.
To me, that’s the epitome of what I want
camping to be.”
Just as camp counseling continues to
inform and inspire Amit’s personal values
and professional goals, her educational
background has fueled her track record for
community service. While attending the
University of Michigan and following grad-
uation, Amit worked in a variety of roles
focusing on social justice, urban planning
and environmental conservation.
As manager for the Student
Conservation Association’s (SCA) Detroit
programs, Amit worked as an educator
and facilitator with high school and col-
lege students engaged in environmental
conservation projects throughout Detroit’s
city parks and neighborhood green spaces.
Most recently, Amit managed the U-M
Department of Psychology’s criminal and
juvenile justice service learning program
while completing her master’s of social
work degree focused on youth leadership
and community development.
PUTTING CAMP TAVOR ON
THE DETROIT RADAR
Q: You credit Tamarack Camps with your
own leadership style and Jewish identity.
When did you first learn about Camp
Tavor?
AW: I grew up in West Bloomfield and
never heard of Camp Tavor until I was
in my 20s, living and working in Detroit
and building my adult life with a circle
of friends in the city. We hosted regular
Shabbat potlucks, held social justice seders
and got involved in a variety of civic causes
and urban agricultural work.
As we started building our Jewish con-
nections to the city, I discovered there were
many among us who credited their par-
ticular positive, progressive and complex
Jewish identity with their time as campers
and counselors at Camp Tavor. I felt this
powerful connection there, and when the
executive director of 17 years shared news
of her retirement, friends encouraged me
to apply for the position.
I was offered the spot last summer and
continued on page 28
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August 10 • 2017
jn