Chapter Five
Tawonga in the 1980s
Joyful Judaism in the Sierra
From left: Justin Bookey, Simon Gottheiner, and Sam Saddik, 1985
From left: Justin Bookey, Simon Gottheiner, and Sam Saddik, 1985
The 1980s began with Judy Edelson still at the center of camp leadership. In board meetings from the early years of the decade, she reported on the ordinary but essential work of running Tawonga: enrollment, staffing, programs, facilities, and the shape of the coming summer.
By 1983, Tawonga added leaders and programs that would influence camp for years to come. Ken Kramarz and Deborah Newbrun shaped camp’s emerging culture, identity, and direction — cementing the Tawonga experience and brand with intentionality and care.
Backpacking expanded, environmental education took root, music continued to fill the Dining Hall after meals, and Jewish programming became more distinctly Tawongan. At the same time, camp faced new pressures relating to the landscape around it, including fights over water, logging, and fire.
New Leadership
Edelson remained Tawonga’s director into the early 1980s, continuing the work of building a broader and more structured camp program.
Steve Catechi (who served as board chair in the 2010s) with Judy Edelson in the 1970s
Steve Catechi (who served as board chair in the 2010s) with Judy Edelson in the 1970s
Judy Edelson (fourth from left) with senior staff, 1983
Judy Edelson (fourth from left) with senior staff, 1983
In 1984, she left to become executive director of the Peninsula Jewish Community Center — the same position Arnie Trombler had taken when he left camp less than a decade earlier.
Northern California Jewish Bulletin, March 9, 1984
Northern California Jewish Bulletin, March 9, 1984
As Edelson departed, the board named Ken Kramarz as Tawonga’s new director. Kramarz, a former attorney, had already been serving as assistant director since 1983, and his promotion marked the beginning of a long and consequential period in the camp’s history.
Ken Kramarz, 1985
Ken Kramarz, 1985
At the same time, Deborah Newbrun was taking on a larger role. A counselor in 1977, Newbrun returned in 1983 as director of teen travel programs.
Deborah Newbrun, center, with counselors and campers, early 1980s
Deborah Newbrun, center, with counselors and campers, early 1980s
In the spring of 1984, as Kramarz became director, the board named Newbrun assistant director. Together, Kramarz and Newbrun would help shape Tawonga’s evolving culture — its music, rituals, values, and ways of living together — in the decades that followed.
Ken Kramarz and Deborah Newbrun, mid-1980s
Ken Kramarz and Deborah Newbrun, mid-1980s
Their partnership became one of the most important leadership pairings in Tawonga’s history: Newbrun remained on the year-round staff until 2007, and Kramarz until 2006, later returning from 2011 until 2016.
Deborah Newbrun at the stage, mid-1980s
Deborah Newbrun at the stage, mid-1980s
In 1987, administrative director Diane Stern — who had single-handedly managed the San Francisco office since 1978 while completing a graduate degree in counseling — left her position at Tawonga to begin a private practice. She was succeeded in the role by Ann Gonski, who remained as head of the San Francisco headquarters for the next 20 years.
Diane Stern with her son, future camper and staff member Sam Quintana, circa 1991
Diane Stern with her son, future camper and staff member Sam Quintana, circa 1991
Staff member Matt Biers with Ann Gonski, circa 1987
Staff member Matt Biers with Ann Gonski, circa 1987
Wilderness Expands
Throughout the 1980s, Tawonga deliberately expanded its backpacking and travel programs, building on the Sierra Trails trips that had taken campers into Yosemite throughout the previous decade. What had begun as short backpacking trips became a broader set of outdoor experiences, with more campers traveling farther from camp and spending more time in the backcountry.
Deborah Newbrun helped drive that expansion. As director of teen travel programs starting in 1983, Newbrun founded the trips that would become known as Quests — longer wilderness journeys that took older campers beyond the familiar routines of camp and into the mountains, deserts, and coastlines of the West.
The cover of the 1985 brochure, showing campers on a trip away from the Tawonga property
The cover of the 1985 brochure, showing campers on a trip away from the Tawonga property
Josh Ergas (second from left in front) with David Rosenberg (front right) and others at Saddlebag Lakes
Josh Ergas (second from left in front) with David Rosenberg (front right) and others at Saddlebag Lakes
Alongside these travel programs, Tawonga began to build a stronger program of environmental education within camp itself.
In 1984, Jenny Frauenhofer served as the first summer staff member of Tevat Teva (“nature’s ark”) in a small repurposed staff housing shack near Arts & Crafts. With donated taxidermy specimens, a chalkboard for wildlife sightings, and hands-on activities like stargazing, scorpion hunts, and plant-based projects, Teva introduced campers to the ecology of the Sierra through direct experience.
Cover of the Camp Tawonga Natural History Guide, written by Jenny Frauenhofer
Cover of the Camp Tawonga Natural History Guide, written by Jenny Frauenhofer
The Dining Hall exterior in the 1980s, photo courtesy of Janet Zipser Zipkin
The Dining Hall exterior in the 1980s, photo courtesy of Janet Zipser Zipkin
Defending the Landscape
As Tawonga’s wilderness and nature programs expanded, camp leaders also faced several new challenges related to the environment and camp property. In the mid-1980s, the river, the forest, and even access to camp all became public issues.
In 1984, Tawonga joined environmental advocates fighting to protect the Tuolumne River from new dams and diversions. The immediate concern was the Middle Fork, which runs through camp and feeds the wells Tawonga depended on. Ken Kramarz warned that diverting tributary water could threaten camp’s water supply.
That fall, Congress approved protection under the wild and scenic river designation for all undammed sections of the Tuolumne River, giving Tawonga and other nearby camps a partial reprieve. Campers had taken part in the effort, writing letters during “river awareness days” and learning about the politics of environmental protection.
Two years later, Tawonga challenged a proposed Forest Service timber sale on Bear Mountain, across the Middle Fork from camp. The plan called for 35 million board-feet of timber — roughly 7,000 truckloads — to be harvested from land adjacent to Tawonga. The plan was eventually terminated in 1987 after United States Representative Barbara Boxer intervened on Tawonga’s behalf.
The Northern California Jewish Bulletin, December 5, 1986
The Northern California Jewish Bulletin, December 5, 1986
The Northern California Jewish Bulletin, June 19, 1987
The Northern California Jewish Bulletin, June 19, 1987
That same year, in 1987, nearby fires forced Tawonga to close during Labor Day weekend, when the camp had been rented for the West Coast Women’s Music and Comedy Festival. About 150 festival set-up team members and remaining Tawonga staff were evacuated from the area.
The Northern California Jewish Bulletin, September 4, 1987
The Northern California Jewish Bulletin, September 4, 1987
For Tawonga, the fire was an early warning. The water and logging fights showed how much camp depended on decisions made by government agencies about the surrounding landscape. Fire introduced a different kind of challenge — one that would become increasingly familiar in the decades ahead.
Music in Transition
Music remained a constant presence at Tawonga in the 1980s, even as the program itself was in transition. After Alan Candee — “Rabbit” — left camp, a loose circle of talented staff led music rather than one formal songleader.
Michael McKinley — known as "Zippy" — and Larry McGuire helped lead music while working on the kitchen staff. Lisa Cholodenko, who served as a unit head in the mid-1980s, also became an important musical presence at camp. Ken Kramarz often played guitar as well.
Kitchen staff member Michael McKinley, on right, playing mandolin during a meal, circa 1983
Kitchen staff member Michael McKinley, on right, playing mandolin during a meal, circa 1983
Deborah Newbrun, left, and Lisa Cholodenko, on guitar, mid-1980s
Deborah Newbrun, left, and Lisa Cholodenko, on guitar, mid-1980s
A more formal songleader role would emerge in the 1990s. In the 1980s, music leadership was still informal, shared among staff members whose main jobs were often elsewhere in camp.
Joyful Judaism
With Ken Kramarz and Deborah Newbrun at the helm, and with Newbrun leading Jewish life at camp, Tawonga continued to develop a more intentional approach to experiencing Judaism. The goal was not stricter observance or more formal religious instruction. Kramarz often described the work as helping campers and staff "fall in love with Judaism" — by making it joyful, inclusive, and nonjudgmental.
Cantor Brian Reich (who was visiting camp), left, and Ken Kramarz, right, leading a Shabbat stroll, early 1980s
Cantor Brian Reich (who was visiting camp), left, and Ken Kramarz, right, leading a Shabbat stroll, early 1980s
This openness made sense for Tawonga’s unusually broad Jewish community. As Kramarz explained in a 1989 article, Tawonga did not tell campers there was “one right way” to be Jewish; the camp served children from many backgrounds, from the observant to the unaffiliated.
One story from these years became part of camp lore. Kramarz and Newbrun met with Rabbi Irving "Yitz" Greenberg, who was visiting the Bureau of Jewish Education in San Francisco, and asked how to help campers and staff love Judaism. His answer, as Newbrun later remembered it, was simple: give them what they already loved. If campers loved sugar cereal, serve it on Shabbat. If they loved sleeping in, let Shabbat begin later. If they loved free time, make Shabbat feel more open.
Ken Kramarz, Deborah Newbrun, and Adam Weissberg in the Dining Hall, circa 1984
Ken Kramarz, Deborah Newbrun, and Adam Weissberg in the Dining Hall, circa 1984
Out of this came what Tawonga would call Joyful Judaism: a style of Jewish life built around music, nature, community, and fun. Shabbat became less about simple observance and more about community celebration. Jewish practice moved outdoors into song sessions, Shabbat gatherings, and informal conversations about Torah, gratitude, and belonging.
Campers dressed for Shabbat, 1980s
Campers dressed for Shabbat, 1980s
The connection between Judaism and nature became especially visible in these years. In 1986, Tawonga began hosting an annual week of Jewish environmental education for sixth graders from Bay Area Jewish day schools, combining hikes, astronomy, campfires, Torah, Havdalah, and discussions of environmental responsibility. Deborah Newbrun explained that Jewish values could speak directly to questions of nature, food, waste, and care for the land.
This interpretation of Judaism was especially important for campers and staff who arrived with little formal Jewish education or who felt distant from synagogue life. At Tawonga, Jewish identity could be explored without pressure, through experiences that felt natural to camp itself.
As a result of this work, Newbrun went on to publish “Spirit in Nature: Teaching Judaism and Ecology on the Trail,” with Tawonga’s wilderness leaders in mind.
Steve Gershik (who served as board chair in the 2000s) and Linda Schlossberg in the Dining Hall, mid-1980s
Steve Gershik (who served as board chair in the 2000s) and Linda Schlossberg in the Dining Hall, mid-1980s
The Canon of Ethics
The same partnership that helped shape Joyful Judaism also produced one of Tawonga’s most enduring statements of staff culture: the Canon of Ethics.
The idea began with Ken Kramarz’s belief that staff needed a small set of guiding principles they could remember and use in daily camp life. Rather than creating a long list of rules, he and Deborah Newbrun worked together to identify the values and behaviors they wanted staff to carry into every part of camp.
Trust exercise during a staff training, 1980s
Trust exercise during a staff training, 1980s
The result was the Canon of Ethics: simple, direct statements that define what it means to work at Tawonga.
The Canon helped professionalize the role of summer staff without making camp feel bureaucratic. It gave staff a common language for responsibility, boundaries, teamwork, and care — not as abstract ideals, but as daily expectations.
Decades later, the Canon remains a core part of staff training and stands as one of the clearest examples of how Tawonga teaches culture from one generation of staff to the next.
Center: Karen Newbrun Einstein, Deborah Newbrun’s younger sister
Center: Karen Newbrun Einstein, Deborah Newbrun’s younger sister
Tawonga and the Wider Jewish World
Tawonga’s Jewish programming in the 1980s also reached beyond camp itself. Like many Bay Area Jewish institutions at the time, Tawonga became part of a wider network of relationships connecting American Jews with Israel, Soviet Jewry, and Jewish communities abroad.
One important connection came through Project Renewal, a partnership linking the San Francisco Jewish community with Kiryat Shmona, Israel. In 1984, a visiting Israeli community leader proposed bringing Israeli shlichim (“emissaries”) to Camp Tawonga as part of a broader exchange between Kiryat Shmona and Bay Area Jewish institutions.
The Northern California Jewish Bulletin, August 22, 1985
The Northern California Jewish Bulletin, August 22, 1985
The following summer, that idea took shape. Shlomo and Ayalah Kamari and Tami Shemesh, all from Kiryat Shmona, came to Tawonga as Israeli counselors. Ken Kramarz acknowledged that the earlier shlichim program was uneven, but said the absence of Israeli counselors had left “some kind of hole” in the camp experience. This new exchange, supported by Project Renewal, gave Tawonga a more direct and personal connection to Israel.
In 1986, Tawonga extended that relationship in the other direction. Eight teenagers from the revived CIT program traveled to Israel for six weeks, spending time in Kiryat Shmona before touring the country. The trip was organized in cooperation with Project Renewal and the American Zionist Youth Foundation, with funding from the Jewish Community Federation’s endowment fund.
The Northern California Jewish Bulletin, July 25, 1986
The Northern California Jewish Bulletin, July 25, 1986
Tawongans in Israel, 1986
Tawongans in Israel, 1986
Dining Hall plaque commemorating “the very first Holy Land Tour”
Dining Hall plaque commemorating “the very first Holy Land Tour”
When the teens returned, they brought their experiences back to camp through a Shabbat program for their peers. The trip didn’t give every camper the same answer about Israel or Jewish identity. But it did what Tawonga increasingly tried to do in these years: it gave young people direct experiences, personal relationships, and room to ask larger questions about what being Jewish could mean.
The Northern California Jewish Bulletin, August 15, 1986
The Northern California Jewish Bulletin, August 15, 1986
Tawonga’s outward-looking Jewish work was not limited to Israel. Board records from this period also show Tawonga taking part in efforts to welcome Russian Jewish émigré children to camp, supported by funding from Jewish communal sources. Like the shlichim program and the Israel trip, this reflected the priorities of American Jewish life in the 1980s, when Israel, Soviet Jewry, and Jewish continuity were major concerns across many institutions.
Report on Russian émigrés from the Camp Tawonga board minutes, June 10, 1982
Report on Russian émigrés from the Camp Tawonga board minutes, June 10, 1982
Counselor Steve Catechi with members of his bunk in the mid-1980s. The boy on the right wearing a poncho was one of Tawonga’s Russian émigré campers.
Counselor Steve Catechi with members of his bunk in the mid-1980s. The boy on the right wearing a poncho was one of Tawonga’s Russian émigré campers.
Counselor Sallie Rechtman with campers
Counselor Sallie Rechtman with campers
The Vodňany Torah Scroll
In 1988, Tawonga received a Torah scroll from Vodňany, Czechoslovakia (modern Czechia). The scroll was one of more than 1,500 Czech Torahs that had been hidden during the Nazi occupation of the country during World War II. The scrolls eventually came into the care of Westminster Synagogue in London, which helped place them with Jewish communities around the world.
Northern California Jewish Bulletin, April 1, 1988
Northern California Jewish Bulletin, April 1, 1988
Contemporary view of Vodňany, Czechia
Contemporary view of Vodňany, Czechia
Tawonga had already received an ark from the Jewish chaplaincy program at Yosemite National Park, but the ark stood empty. Matt Biers, then Tawonga’s program director, took on the task of finding a Torah to fill it. His search led to Westminster Synagogue, and the Vodňany scroll was brought from London to San Francisco by Richard Gonski – the Torah taking its own seat on the plane.
Northern California Jewish Bulletin, April 22, 1988
Northern California Jewish Bulletin, April 1, 1988
In April 1988, the scroll was welcomed at a Celebration of Survival at the San Francisco Jewish Community Center, where other Holocaust-era Torah scrolls from Northern California congregations were also gathered. That summer, the Vodňany Torah took its place at camp.
Matt Biers, holding the Vodňany scroll, at the Celebration of Survival in 1988
Matt Biers, holding the Vodňany scroll, at the Celebration of Survival in 1988
Diane Stern — former administrative director, board member, and camp parent — carrying the Vodňany scroll at Makom Shalom, Tawonga’s outdoor sanctuary, in 2017. Handmade cover with the Tree of Life and Half Dome by Renee Rothman.
Diane Stern — former administrative director, board member, and camp parent — carrying the Vodňany scroll at Makom Shalom, Tawonga’s outdoor sanctuary, in 2017. Handmade cover with the Tree of Life and Half Dome by Renee Rothman.
By the end of the 1980s, Tawonga had changed dramatically from the camp that reopened in 1965. New forms of Jewish life, music, wilderness programming, and community had become established parts of camp — and the camp itself was beginning to outgrow the facilities built for an earlier era.
The following decade would begin with the replacement of the original Dining Hall, a building that had anchored daily camp life for more than 25 years.
The Story Continues . . .
We hope you’ve enjoyed this chapter of Almost Heaven: A Visual History of Tawonga at 100
Page from a letter home by Sarah Klein, 1980
Page from a letter home by Sarah Klein, 1980
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