Rabbi Isaac Saposnik is executive director of Havaya Summer Programs. He joined Camp Havaya after its first summer and has spent the last 20 years helping build it into one of the premier Jewish overnight camps in North America. Under his leadership, Havaya has launched a capstone Israel experience for teens, built a multi-award-winning Eco-Village, participated in the inaugural cohort of Project Accelerate, completed a successful name change, and been called “the Jewish camp that takes inclusion seriously.” Rabbi Isaac is a graduate of Tufts University, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and the Foundation for Jewish Camp’s Executive Leadership Institute. He has worked for NFTY and URJ Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute; served on advisory committees for the Foundation for Jewish Camp and JCamp180; and led workshops for congregational educators, Federation staff members, and docents at the National Museum of American Jewish History. A long-time camper and youth worker, Rabbi Isaac is passionate about creating engaging, meaningful, and innovative Jewish experiences that celebrate kids in all their diversity and wonder. He is married to Jeanne Calloway (whom he met at Camp Havaya!) and they live in Philadelphia with their son, Zev.
So much about this time continues to be heart-breaking and soul-rending. Here in the United States, far removed from the front lines, one of the things that has been most painful for Rabbi Isaac Saposnik over these last few weeks has been the animus with which members of our Havaya family are engaging with one another – primarily on social media.
When I was a kid, I remember the moment on Simchat Torah when the Torah scroll would be unrolled around the sanctuary. We would sit
Serving as central organization of the Reconstructionist movement
Training the next generation of groundbreaking rabbis
Modeling respectful conversations on pressing Jewish issues
Curating original, Jewish rituals, and convening Jewish creatives
