If the walls could talk, this is what they'd say...

These are some of your stories... Read them, browse the plaques for your own then tell us your story.

Plaque	Name	Maiden Name	Plaque #	Years At Camp	STORY
	Adam Sol		116	1980-86, 1988, 1992	I don't remember making this plaque, but Eliot Siroka, just above my name, was the best man at my wedding. Having plaques with your names on them in the TBA was a way of asserting your longevity at camp.  I don't think we had a plaque my first year (1980, bunk 8), and this one was perfectly understated for a "newbie."  By the end I made a massive Queen of Spades for just a few of us, but I started small and simple.
	Adam Sol		609	1980-86, 1988, 1992	This was, and still is, the artistic masterpiece of my life.  (I am not much of an artist.) In '92, some of the senior staff would get together to play hearts after hours.  The core group -- myself, Rob Mittleman, Seth Limmer, and Neal Fink -- weren't attached to any bunk, so our evenings sometimes started pretty early, but they always went late.  We had a pretty good life -- Seth was the A/V guy, I was in charge of Drama and Music.  The other names on the plaque were occasionals, but it was mostly the core 4 that played. We eventually pilfered a whole bed board to make this plaque and took a ridiculous amount of time with it, considering it was just commemorating us. Seth is a rabbi now, as my wife, Yael Splansky, who was there that summer but who NEVER played hearts with us.  Dave Demsky met his wife that summer, and I take a bit of credit for that.
	Aimee Shapiro		68	1988-2000	camp had an enormous imapct on me.  almost all of my favorite childhood memories, happened at eisner.  i am still in contact with lena eberhart, who currently lives in nyc.  i know that danny moses lives in nyc and is a new father, and jessica paupeck lives somewhere on long island.  oh the days...
	Alison Zipkin		352	7	The plaque has all my co bunk mates and the things we did that summer.
	Carrie Gorelick	Horowitz	320	1990-1992	This plaque was painted in 1990 on a bed board on the last day or so of camp of my Machon summer. Carri Ogrodnik helped me and we had a massive paint fight. I still have the t-shirt I was wearing and it has paint all over. We also went to banquet covered in paint as it was oil based, not water and quite hard to wash off. It is basically a list of sayings that we complied during our Machon summer. That same list was also written on the wall in our room in Pink House but has been painted over. We did come back a few years later only to find that the plaque had been taken down and put back into service as a bed board. Needless to say we were not happy and I proceeded to have a HUGE screaming match with the maintenance staff. My friends still laugh about it. I've been back to camp several times and it is always the first place I go. Cant even begin to describe the special place in my  heart that camp holds. I only went for 3 years but my life would not be the same without it. Eisner is a magical place.
	Courtney Edson Abrams	Edson	285	1993-1996	This plaque is from my Machon (and 1st) summer at Eisner.  My roomates were Sarah Hochman and Dara Weigler.  Living with Sarah and Dara was one of the best summers of my life.  Our plaque references jokes such as Sarah brushing her teeth for what seemed like an hour every day, waking up 3 minutes before breakfast (and having no idea that we said Modeh Ani in the morning because we were always late!)  We played endless games of late night Uno, ate cranberry Newtons and Boston Lite popcorn.  We also had 4 beds (one bunk, two singles) because no one would sleep on the top bunk! The plaque also mentions our 4th bunkmate, Craig.  Who was my boyfriend at the time and now, my husband.  There are also lots of other jokes on the plaque that are so special to us all, but not necessarily appropriate to share with everyone else!  Sarah Hochman is still my best friend, I was the Matron of Honor at her wedding.  Dara is also married and recently had a baby girl. We made the plaque because we just had so much fun being together in that room, as Machon and as friends and wanted to keep those memories alive. The people at camp impacted me in more ways that I can say.  I love Eisner and the people from it.  I met so many amazing people there who have remained my friends for years.  That was the best part of camp.  Having a job that allowed you to hang out with your friends and do great things.
	Eden Albano		2	1985, 1987-1996	I think the funniest thing about this plaque is that the toilet in our room at Pink House had hot water instead of cold water. So every time you went to the bathroom you felt like your tush was getting a facial- pretty gross but also funny! I have been trying to reconnect with Rebecca and Emily. It has been way to long since i have since or spoken to both of them. I loved the Tzofim Bet Am- Rebecca and I used to sing amazing grace there because we thought the acoustics were good. We made a plaque every summer as a way to memorialize the amazing summer- always included jokes about the boys we liked and the quotes that kept us laughing all summer. The best part of camp was all of the people who helped make tons of special life lasting memories.  I think everyday I realize a new way that my friends at Eisner have impacted my life and I think I will discover news way for years to come.
	Eden Albano		59		Karen Kaufman, Rebecca Zimmerman and I put this plaque together. Another plaque of special memories. I miss Karen and would love to catch up with her.
	Greg Kellner		559	1994-2005, 2008	I was a counselor for second year ofarimers when I was a Machon in 2000. What an awesome bunk! We had this real funny cheer that was only funny because it was simply "Bunk 21 Bunk 21 We're a good bunk." My Co Counselors were Brett Lubarsky, and Matt Barnard! We had a lot of fun and those campers were amazing. I have asked my campers time and time again why my nickname on the plaque is Greg "Air Conditioner" Kellner, no one seems to remember. Oh yea, and the whole bunk got mad at Eli for writing his name bigger than anyone else. Sarah Glickstein was my unit head that summer! She was awesome!
	Hillary Steinberg		573	2001-2007	Many of the girls from my 2002 Bomin summer in 13 are my life long friends now. Of the twelve girls, nine of us made it to our olim summer. (The emmas, Carly, Sara, Julia, Lauire, Melanie, and Alexa were all in Olim '07) Some of these girls I call almost everyday. One girl, Emma, and I were mortal enemies until about Olim, and now we are good friends. We made this bunk plaque trying to incoperate all of our inside jokes, and years later a bunch of us were in the tzof and were surprised to remember most of the jokes. I can name times of singing in the tzofim beit em with everyone, or being alone reading all the names. I cannot express how much eisner means to me, and it's not hard to see why looking at all the plaques.
	Jennifer Spielman	Insler	234	1981-1986, 1988	This plaque was a long time ago.  I'd love to know where Elana Reis is.
	Jennifer Spielman	Insler	278		Thanks for being such great friends!  That was a tough year and you guys stood by me...I'll always have fond memories of our machon year!
	Jill Winitzer		370	7	When I was Melztarim, serving meals, we made this plaque. So much fum. Michael Schroder was the councelor. Great guy. I love them all. I know there are more plaques from when I was a camper, but it's REALLY hard to read any of them... My memoruy of the Tzofim Beit Am was watching the astronuats land on the moon, and watching plays, and being on the "SCREW" for the plays.
	JonSambur		345	1992-1998	It was made by four sleep deprived staff members in Ofarim during 1994.  Three of us are still in contact today.  The plaque contains various "inside jokes" that made reference to various camp and off-camp events that occured during the summer.
	Josh Kiss		541	1996-2001, 2003-2006, 2008	I made this plaque to commemorate the friendship that Ivy Giserman and I started in 2003 and have maintained until the present. It's design is based on a series of cards I bought her while participating in a Chaverim unit trip to Vermont in 2005.
	Josh Kiss		544	1996-2001, 2003-2006, 2008	I made this plaque after 2nd session of 2003, when I was the  Machonik for a bunk of 1st year Ofarim boys. The "Bashy-Bazooks" was a name based on a phrase used frequently by one of the campers, Gabe Kremer, when he was frustrated.
	Josh Kiss		543	1996-2001, 2003-2006, 2008	This plaque was originally placed in Bunk 43 at Hilltop in 1998, and stayed there for many years after campers stopped living in those bunks. I eventually moved it to the Tzof before campers moved back to Hilltop in 2007. All but 3 of the campers in the bunk stayed at Eisner through Olim 2001, and 8 became counselors. A large majority of the kids in the bunk are still friends today, including several who attended college together. One item of note about this plaque is that Matt Rafael (listed as a "God" under "Matt 'Phunk' R.") was not actually a counselor in the bunk, but was a frequent visitor.
	Larry Freedman		513	1973-1984	Bunk 20 was always the coolest, best place to be.  Sure Olim was older but they were a different sort of unit.  We were the oldest traditional bunk.  And we had arrived so we had to commemorate the event.  Some details.  "There's only so much oil in the Earth" is a song by Tower of Power, a San Francisco funk band.  Ken Fine played that song through his guitar amplifer every morning to wake us up.  Listen to that track.  Now go take a nap and have someone wake you with that track full blast.  I learned to love the funk and worry about miles per gallon.  I bought the album and years later, the CD.  It's still great.  A D.R.A. is a dining room assistant and a low form of servitude (which I proudly joined a few years later).  If you had to find the worst insult, well, your grandmother being a DRA trumped all others.  "I might do it," was a running gag which was the epitome of humor and adolescent resistance.  Like, a person could say, "would you pass the milk?" and the response would be "I MIGHT do it."  It's not quite so funny now, is it?  "Wrong" was also a running gag.  It was a general response to something or other and it was a mantra that was ever so important to our lives.  I can still hear it in my head.  I don't know where those guys are today but they were so important to me then.  Even the guys who picked on me.
	Mark "Gunga" Derwin		480	1978 - 1986	I was the Junior Counselor in Bonim Bunk 8.  This was one of the best groups of campers ever.  I love that a plaque that I helped make more than 25 years ago is still on the wall.
	Matt Cutler		421	oooo, a long time	Creative BS... hmmm... no more, no less as the song goes.. But it was one of my fondest memories-- rooted in real frustration as only a counselor could appreciate. Truth is that in hindsight-- it was a lot of fun! In the summer of '80, the Tsofim unit head had a brilliant idea to teach arts leadership to Tsofim campers. First hr of the day, kids broke into an art chug. Steve Rossman was the unit head and assigned Sue Caro to teach songleading w/out guitar. I was covering.  Let's say that it was not one of the more successful programs... After a few short days, It turned into a Creative Writing class... O, I tried to keep the campers focused-- but the names on the plaque says it all. It was more an encounter with Juvinelle deliquents rather than teaching kids the joys of writing.  Mind U-- I was a Machon and these guys were Tsofim campers. What, there was 3 yrs between us? Like I had authority!  But memroies are a great thing--- 27 yrs later, I remember laughing, sighing, and turning those campers into people I will always care about. Unfortunately, Dave Reuter died tragically in the '80s. he was killed while working as a bike messanger in NYC, I think...  now, this was one of the most charismatic people I have ever met.  He had this smile that was like the cat who ate the canary.. O, he had a great laugh!  he was one of a kind...
	Matt Cutler		45		The Bin... What a trip... The 3 names were co-counselors-- steve marcus was the senior; matt cutler-- the junior and mark was the machon. The name came from a cry of despair from Mark when he heard about the backgrounds of the kids.  The custom was that a day or so before the kids got to camp, the staff would meet and the unit heads would run thru the campers who had issue.  I remember that night in 1981, we sat in a circle upstairs in the Tsofim unit office. Stephen Brand and Gray Bretton-Granatoor ran thru the list-- so much for confidentiality. Most bunks had 3 or 4 kids who had "issues"-- so and so had summer birthday, so and so parents are divorced, etc.. When they got to our bunk, the list went on and on... Mark Katz's eyes filled with tears and cried out "It is a looney bin! I am finally and a counselor and I am stuck in a Looney Bin.." yeah...It was quite a session....
	Melanie Wiener	Luchs	156	1994-2000	I made this plaque with my best friend, Becky Walker, in Olim 1996. I had never been to sleepaway camp before 1994. When Becky, who had been my best friend since the 4th grade, said she was going to Eisner Camp for the first time, I begged my parents to let me go with her. I was so nervous to go to sleepaway camp and even though I was homesick for the first two weeks, Becky was always by my side. I don't think I could have gone to Eisner without Becky. When we came home at the end of the summer, our bond was even stronger because we shared so many wonderful experiences together at Eisner that none of our other friends could understand. This plaque memorializes our teenage years as best friends, as our wedding albums memorialize our adult lives as best friends. She will always be my best friend and the person to "leave a footprint on my heart." I am not the same without her!
	Myra Feldman		433	1987-1993	Amanda Silver and I were assigned to the same bunk and same bunk bed year after year.  Amanda always took the top bed and me with my short legs took the bottom.  Fun to see this again after so many years...thanks!
	Rachel Zoffness		107	1988-1994	I met Dan Ludmar when I was an awkward Tzofimer and he was in Olim. Everyone was friends with everyone at camp, so the fact that he was male and a year older wasn't even an issue. We had a rainy day activity in the Mo, when there were still squishy couches and a TV, and we all watched The Untouchables. Dan and I bonded before the movie started - I had taken to calling him "poodle head" because of his curly  hair. When I said I was nervous about seeing blood and guts, he promised to cover my eyes, because he had seen it before. Thing is, I could tell when the bloody parts were coming because Dan would get so nervous he would start winding his chewing gum ferociously around his finger. Dan and I lost touch for a few years after college, but are back in touch. I consider myself very lucky to have met him, befriend him, and to have the special, lasting, and unique bond we still share. - Rachel Zoffness
	Rachel Zoffness		572	1988-1994	The summer of 1993 was a really special summer for me. I lived in room 111 with my two closest friends, Amanda Silver and Adar Kaplan (now Novak). We truly were kindred spirits, and our photo albums and plaques tell the story. I always saw Machon as the cool kids, the older kids with all of the privileges I wanted (who DOESN'T want to experience camp without a live-in counselor???) - so to actually be a Machon was truly phenomenal. We made up a song to the tune of "Doe a deer" and walked around camp singing it: M, Machon, we live in a house that's pink, A, A house that's very pink, C, the house, that's very pink, H, houses that are pink... Having Rabbi Jeff Sirkman as the official Machon rabbi made us feel all the more special as he wove his magic. To this day I am in still in touch with both the Rabbi, and some of my closest friends are people from this special group of people.
	Rachel Zoffness		102	1988-1994	When I was a second-year Tzofimer, I got my first love-letter in the mail. It was from a boy in school, and I tacked it above my bed. I would let friend climb onto my top bunk to read it - it became so creased that it spontaneously divided into 4 parts. Gale Greenstein was my favorite counselor that summer, and she treated me as if I was her friend. It was an invaluable relationship. That was also the summer that Amanda Silver, Debbie Friedlander, Shira Limmer and I became inseperable. We'd gather on one another's bunk beds and gossip about boys late into the night. Arielle Goldman showed us all how to make visible sparks in your mouth when you bit down on Wintergreen Lifesavers. Myra Feldman killed a giant spider for me when I found one inside my shoe. We shared illegal stashes of candy, brushed our teeth side by side, loathed getting out of our warm beds in time for breakfast, and feasted on our view of the mountainside from our windows. How I wish I could go back!!!
	Rachel Zoffness		377	1988-1994	People who did not spend summers at camp often have trouble understanding the bonds formed among "Camp Friends." These are not just fast summer flings that fade come fall. These friendships, forged in Shabbat song-sessions, sunset Havdalahs, and eternal talk-fests, are built to last. Unlike school friends, who we saw a few times a week, we actually lived with our camp friends. We learned what it meant to share a space. We learned each other's idiosyncrasies, for better or worse, and loved each other anyway. Making plaques was never just about marking our spot in history, finding the right paint, or capturing our most memorable phrases. It was about commemorating a relationship, and creating a tangible testament to that bond. That irreplaceable, unforgettable bond that somehow forms over 2 months of living together in the Berkshires and watching each other grow. Without a doubt, I owe who I am today to the friendships I made when I was young. "And the seasons they go 'round and 'round, and the painted ponies go up and down... we're captured in a carousel of time, we can't return we can only look behind from where we came, and go 'round and 'round and 'round in the circle game."
	Rachel Zoffness		389	1988-1994	Why didn't I go to Israel???? My parents had decided that it was "too dangerous" to go. But isn't it always "too dangerous??" I pleaded. No, I was slated to hop on the bus to Eisner, while most of my friends boarded a plane for the Promised Land. Being in Avodah gave me an entirely new perspective on Eisner - we were the new, improved version of DRAs. I remember painting the art shack with Jessica Lynn, one of my counselors. I remember wondering why I was working so hard instead of hanging out by the tennis courts during Breira. But most of all, I remember living on The Hill with my friends who had stayed behind. Like me, their overprotective parents had demanded they stay behind. The Olimers didn't know it, but we OWNED that hill. We were older, wiser. We had been in Bunk 29 before they even heard feared the myth. I grew even closer to one of my best friends, Wendy Newman, who made us all Mac and Cheese in her hot-pot and who stamped out the ant-invasion in my sock drawer. This was also the summer I was lucky enough befriend Maddi Schweitzer. We spent countless hours talking in the dark, sending "heat to our feet" when temperatures dropped, and hand-making candles in the Art Shack. Nothing like a little hard work to make you appreciate the land you live on.
	Rachel Zoffness		446	1988-1994	Dan Ludmar and I had been best friends for a few years when we decided to make this plaque. We both knew that our time at Eisner was drawing to a close, given that we were both counselors (and weren't aiming for Ad Staff!). I hung this plaque up with Dan's help. I remember discussing how concerned we were that it might fall, or perhaps be taken down and replaced. When I returned the next day - to this favorite, quiet barn - to admire our artwork, I discovered that Dan had made the plaque immovable. Using a box of small nails, he surrounded that plaque with an armor of metal to ensure it would stay there. I was moved to tears. Dan and I are still in touch and he likely doesn't know how much that gesture meant to me. Perhaps now would be a good time to tell him.
	Rachel Zoffness		202	1988-1994	Ofarim - 1998 - was my first summer at Eisner. I had been to sleepaway camp before, but I was still nervous. A summer away from home is always a trial. I didn't know a soul. Bunk 14 became my home away from home. Elana Stern was my first real friend at camp. Adar, Wendy, Elana really were "so happy together," and when I hear that song I still think of them. Twenty years later, we are all still in touch. The time between then and now feels like a heartbeat. This is my favorite of all the plaques I have ever made, because it represents the beginning of my Eisner roots, the heart and soul of where I really grew up, where my sense of Jewish identity was born.
	Raina Jacobskind		540	2002-present	Beth and I had made this plaque to celebrate her birthday, which is on June 30th. Hence the cake. I think the fondest memory of camp I hold was the day we met. We became friends in an instant, right from day 1. I never have regretted meeting her and I can't wait until the next time I'll get to see her!
	Robert Rubin		515	1978-1981	I found it!!  I remember several names on the plaque. Dave Kerdell was a pretty cool guy.  I remember the song that is quoted on it.  Lou Reed's Take a walk on the wild side.  We would sing it on que any time we were asked to.  The names are hard to make out. I see my name and my Brothers name along with Jeff Resnick.  I remember that winter one of the counslers,  think his name was Neil Sherman was killed on the subway in NYC.  He was a great guy!  We also made up our own song to the tune of hey hey we're the Monkies.  But we said bunk 20 insted....Good times! There was a rainy day talent show held in the biet am.  I remeber that Wendy Zolt played on the piano, the song Memories from the Way we were (cats had not yet been scored)  Rob Pincus was the singer.  He sang the whole song in a Donald Duck voice.  Very Funny Stuff! Best part about Camp Eisner.... The Memories!!
NA	Sarah Wasser		127 & 128	1997-2008	My two best friends from camp, Jamie Albert and my cousin Sophie Wylen and I made this plaque when we were in our second year of Ofarim. We found the wood, already painted red, in what is now the model airplane room, but at that time was off limits (I hope this isn't self incrimination since I still all three of us will be working at camp this summer!) We decorated it with Sharpies since we couldn't get any paint. Sophie and Jamie came to camp for the first time in 1998 and the three of us have been best friends since literally the first day of first session that summer and still also make fun of ourselves for coming up with the name trendy trio!
NA	Saul Wiener		293	1992-1999	4 boys from Massapequa, Saul Wiener, Jeff Weiss, Bryan Carlin, and Craig Selinger attended Eisner together for 5 years.  Bryan and Craig came back from their first summer, 1991 as Ofarimers raving about their fun and vowing to return as Tzofimers enticing me and Jeff to attend this mythic Shangri-La of the Birkshires known as Eisner Camp.  Instantly dubbed the "M-Squad," we continued to be bunkmates (Bunks 1, 4, and 35)with one another while also befriending many other Eisnerites.  We continued on to Israel and Machon together, and continue to stay in close touch with each other and the life-long friends we made at Eisner.  The "M-Squad" was in full attendance with Eisnerites David Rosenberg, Lisa Greenwald, Adam Hollander, and Rebecca Walker at my wedding (August 5, 2006) to fellow Eisnerite Melanie Luchs.  The Tzofim Beit Am was the read barn, the beacon and icon of Eisner at Crossroads, the center of Camp which was central to our lives.
	Ziggy Ziegler		231	1984-1990	Wow, where to begin.  First of all thank you so much for making the plaques available to revisit online.  This has allowed me to go revisit all the amazing memories that this plaque represents.  Eisner was such a huge part of my life growing up.  It was a magical place where you could get away and be welcomed in with open arms.  It was as if the Berkshires reached out their arms to embrace you.  All year I would look forward to riding the bus for the two and half journey (back then it seemed like it took days) from my home in Westchester, NY, up to camp.  You would reconnect with faces you hadn't seen since the previous summer and see what new faces would be in your bunk.  You would try and grab the best bed you could, and unpack your things to claim your territory for the summer.      Throughout my 7 summers I have so many memories that I hold dear.  All the friday night services, the color wars, the bug juice, the late night raids, the song sessions, the plays I performed in, but most of all the friendships I made.  The plaque on the wall is a simple one with three of the best friends a guy could have.  It's funny that the plaque says, BFF, because at the time you do think you'll be best friends forever.            I have recently reconnected with Brian via facebook.  Mark and I see each other occasionally in nyc.  I have lost contact with Andy over the past few years.  Andy,  if somehow you read this drop me a line.  I would love to re-connect and see how you're doing.  As for me, I proposed to my wife in Great Barrington because of it's meaning to me.  I live in the city with my lovely wife, Monika.  This plaque and Eisner Camp will always hold a special place in my heart.

[t] 201-804-9700 [f] 201-804-9785 [e] necampinstitute@urj.org
[a] Northeast Camp Institute | 301 Route 17N | Rutherford | NJ 07070