Chapter Four

Tawonga in the 1970s

A Camp Takes Shape

“Tawonga in the late 1960s and early 1970s was more than a camp planted on one of the most beautiful pieces of land in California. Rather it was one of those magical places embodying some of the tumult of the changing culture during those years — and if anything positive was forged out of our miserable adolescent years, it happened those summers at Tawonga.”
- Gayle Davis-Suits, camper from 1968–71

When camp director Marvin Bienstock left in the fall of 1970, he left behind a camp with real momentum. Since reopening in 1965, Tawonga had become more musical, more informal, and more visibly shaped by Jewish life.

Much of Tawonga’s identity, however, was still taking shape.

The photographs from the 1970s capture some of the cultural shifts from the earlier decade. The bouffants and cat-eye glasses of the 1960s are gone, replaced by tie-dyed shirts and embroidered headbands.

Behind the scenes, the board hired new directors, formalized campership policies, expanded programs, and began a more deliberate conversation about Jewish life at camp.

For the campers who swam in the river, backpacked in the Sierra, ran between cabins, and sang in the Dining Hall, Tawonga was simply the place where they felt welcomed and free.

Many of the patterns and practices that still define camp life took shape in the 1970s.

After Bienstock’s departure, the board launched a national search for his replacement. It placed advertisements in the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, and the Denver Post, and wrote to the Jewish Theological Seminary and the American Camping Association. Roughly 30 people applied.

The board hired Arnold Trombler, a youth worker from the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization in Los Angeles. At his first board meeting, in February 1972, he said he felt “very challenged by the job” and hoped to make Tawonga “a dynamic force in the community.”

The San Francisco Jewish Bulletin, February 4, 1972

The San Francisco Jewish Bulletin, February 4, 1972

Trombler began with the most immediate challenge: recruitment. He expanded advertising in the San Francisco Jewish Bulletin and distributed brochures and flyers to Bay Area synagogues and schools.

The effort helped. Registration, which had been slipping, began to recover.

The San Francisco Jewish Bulletin, April 7, 1972

The San Francisco Jewish Bulletin, April 7, 1972

Trombler also turned his attention to Tawonga’s three programs for older campers: the Teen-Age Service Corps, or TASC, a precursor to today’s Teen Leadership Institute; Sierra Trails, the week-long backpacking trips into the High Sierra; and the Counselor-in-Training, or CIT, program.

TASC offered teenagers a different kind of summer. Instead of moving through the usual schedule of activities, TASCers worked alongside specialists on projects the camp actually needed. In 1972, they built the large deck that served as a stage and dance floor. They cleared space for a fire circle in an area they named Freedom Forest, and used both spaces for bunk gatherings and as an outdoor chapel for Shabbat services. They built the farm. They even constructed the shade structure next to the swimming pool.

“They were cool teens who dressed in Levi’s bell bottoms and bandana headbands,” remembered one camper from those years. “We all looked up to them.”
- Jenny Bean, camper and staff member in the 1970s

Arnold (Arnie) Trombler, in headband at left, early 1970s

Arnold (Arnie) Trombler, in headband at left, early 1970s

Building the stage, 1970s

Building the stage, 1970s

Sierra Trails & Backpacking

Along with TASC, Trombler expanded another program that would become central to the Tawonga experience: Sierra Trails, the camp’s backpacking program into the High Sierra.

Sierra Trails group, 1977; Vic Sher is second from the left

Sierra Trails group, 1977; Vic Sher is second from the left

By the early 1970s, campers were heading out on three- and four-day trips into Yosemite, covering 20 to 30 miles. What began as a relatively modest program grew steadily in scale and ambition, laying the groundwork for what Tawonga now calls its Wilderness program.

Leading these early trips was Vic Sher, the first staff member at Tawonga hired specifically as a backpacking specialist. In addition to Sierra Trails, Sher led day hikes and bunk overnights, helping build the skills and systems needed to bring more campers safely into the backcountry.

Vic Sher on the right with guitar, mid 1970s

Vic Sher on the right with guitar, mid 1970s

In the summer of 1976, Sher issued a challenge: hike from Tuolumne Meadows to Yosemite Valley in a single day, fueled by bagels from the dining hall. Campers ran the downhills. The Bagel Run was born.

Dining Hall plaque commemorating the “First Ever Saturday Morning Bagel Run”

Dining Hall plaque commemorating the “First Ever Saturday Morning Bagel Run”

As the Sierra Trails program grew, so did the infrastructure around it. Equipment was purchased, routes were mapped, and by 1975, a four-person backpacking staff could support multiple trips each session.

By the end of the decade, Sierra Trails had expanded further. In 1978, travel trips extended beyond the Sierra to the Pacific Northwest, reaching beyond Northern California into Oregon, Washington, and Canada.

Sierra Trails, 1977

Let’s take a look at the some of the photos we have in the archives from the 1970s.

Many of the photos from the 1970s are bunk photos.

There are a few photographs of a favorite Tawonga pastime: ping pong . . .

. . . played on a camp-constructed wooden table.

Photography was offered as an activity.

It’s likely that many of these black-and-white photographs were printed at Tawonga.

Preparing for a backpacking trip.

Campers and counselors in the back of Tawonga’s truck — known to campers as “The Gray Ghost.”

Longtime staff member Djina Weiner is in the first row, second from the right, with folded arms.

The Gray Ghost, parked at the back of the Dining Hall, 1970s

The Gray Ghost, parked at the back of the Dining Hall, 1970s

Counselors with campers. Ed Lederer is the counselor on the right.

Sandy Orne, former camper and staff member from 1974–1980.

Counselor Lee Angress, in sunglasses, at a 1970s Shabbat service.

Girls playing recorder at the same Shabbat service.

Tawonga’s Logo

In 1973, Tawonga adopted a new graphic logo. It first appeared in a San Francisco Jewish Bulletin advertisement on April 13 of that year.

With only very minor modifications, it remains in use today.

The San Francisco Jewish Bulletin, April 13, 1973

The San Francisco Jewish Bulletin, April 13, 1973

Cover of the 1973 brochure with the new logo

Cover of the 1973 brochure with the new logo

Tawonga’s archives do not include a record of the logo’s designer. But on the cover of the 1973 brochure, a name appears in small print: m. tucker.

If you know who that was, we would love to learn more.

Music in the Seventies

Music remained central to camp life in the 1970s — at meals, campfires, and on the trail — but it was also becoming a more intentional part of the program.

As we saw in the previous chapter, Tawonga’s songbook in the 1960s combined traditional campfire songs common across American summer camps with Hebrew songs popularized at Jewish sleepaway camps.

Under Camp Director Marvin Bienstock, songs from the 1960s folk revival also began to enter the repertoire.

That mix continued into the early 1970s. Ron Burk — the first staff member hired specifically as a music specialist — brought a distinctive sense of joy and playfulness to camp music. He introduced songs such as “M.T.A.,” “Greenback Dollar,” and “You Ain’t Going Nowhere.” “M.T.A.,” popularized by the Kingston Trio, remained a staple at Tawonga through the 1980s and into the 1990s.

Ron Burk, pictured in his Lowell High School yearbook photo, 1969

Ron Burk, pictured in his Lowell High School yearbook photo, 1969

The Kingston Trio popularized “The MTA Song” (AKA “Charlie on the MTA”) with their folk recording in 1959. They recorded “Greenback Dollar,” another song that became popular at camp, in 1963.

The Kingston Trio popularized “The MTA Song” (AKA “Charlie on the MTA”) with their folk recording in 1959. They recorded “Greenback Dollar,” another song that became popular at camp, in 1963.

As Camp Director Arnie Trombler sought to deepen the Jewish cultural content of the camp experience, he recruited musicians Alan Candee and Michael Gold, along with Jewish educator Jeff Fleck.

Candee was soon hired as a music specialist and affectionately nicknamed “Rabbit” — a playful echo of “Rabbi,” reflecting both his role at camp and the fact that he was studying for the rabbinate at the time — while Fleck served as Jewish specialist.

Together, they expanded the role of Jewish music, culture, and prayer at camp while preserving the contemporary musical style that campers already loved.

An index to an early version of the Tawonga Songbook, 1976

An index to an early version of the Tawonga Songbook, 1976

Music specialist Alan Candee (known at camp as “Rabbit”), rocking lapels while leading a Shabbat service in the mid-1970s

Country Roads

At some point in the early 1970s, John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” arrived at camp.

Released in 1971, the song quickly became a national hit, and it soon joined the mix of folk and popular music already woven into camp life — songs like “Puff the Magic Dragon,” “Where Have All the Flowers Gone,” and “Weave Me the Sunshine,” sung at campfires and in the Dining Hall.

At Tawonga, “Country Roads” gradually took on a life of its own after a girls’ bunk introduced a playful adaptation of the lyrics to fit the camp’s Northern California setting. The opening line, “Almost Heaven, West Virginia,” became “Almost Heaven, Camp Tawonga,” while “Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River” became “Sierra Mountains, Tuolumne River.”

In doing so, those campers created what would become Tawonga’s signature song — an anthem sung by generations of campers and staff at campfires and gatherings ever since.

“Take Me Home, Country Roads” was first recorded by John Denver in 1971. The song was written jointly by Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert, and John Denver.

Tawonga Food in the 1970s

Food was not one of Tawonga’s great strengths in the 1970s.

Working with a tight budget and limited access to fresh ingredients, the kitchen relied heavily on USDA surplus items and supplies from the Mother Lode food distributor. For backpacking trips, the standard source was Bernard, a brand known for freeze-dried and powdered products.

In a 1972 report to the board, Trombler observed dryly that “Bernards wasn’t a big hit with the campers.”

Bug Juice

Many campers from the 1970s still remember the highly sweetened fruit punch known at camp as “bug juice.” Jenny Bean recalls it being served at every meal, at room temperature, in camp’s ubiquitous plastic pitchers. It, too, was a Bernard product.

“It was really, really bad,” Bean remembered decades later. “We loved it.”

Kitchen staff member Matt Biers with Tawonga’s dining hall pitchers; undated photo from the late 1970s or early 1980s

Kitchen staff member Matt Biers with Tawonga’s dining hall pitchers; undated photo from the late 1970s or early 1980s

Staff member Mark Burnett serving food outdoors, circa 1978

Staff member Mark Burnett serving food outdoors, circa 1978

A Shabbat service in the Dining Hall, late 1970s

A Shabbat service in the Dining Hall, late 1970s

Dining Hall scene, late 1970s or early 1980s (note the plastic pitchers of bug juice)

Dining Hall scene, late 1970s or early 1980s (note the plastic pitchers of bug juice)

The Search for Identity

While campers spent their summers swimming in the river, backpacking, singing, and drinking bug juice, the Tawonga board was working on a less visible project: defining what Jewish life and practice at camp were meant to be.

One of the board’s first concrete steps came from its president, Kenneth Colvin, who had himself attended Tawonga in the 1930s.

In early 1972, Colvin returned from a trip to Israel newly energized about strengthening the connection between camp and Jewish identity.

The San Francisco Jewish Bulletin, February 11, 1972

The San Francisco Jewish Bulletin, February 11, 1972

His trip came at a moment when many American Jews were developing deeper ties to Israel and Israeli culture. In the years following the 1967 Six-Day War and leading up to the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Israel occupied a central place in American Jewish life — as a source of pride, concern, and growing engagement. Jewish organizations across the United States encouraged cultural and educational connections to Israel, while local institutions like the San Francisco Jewish Bulletin regularly featured coverage of Israeli society, the plight of Soviet Jewry, and opportunities to support the country through travel and investment.

In 1972, Colvin advocated bringing Israeli counselors — shlichim — to Tawonga to create person-to-person connections between Israeli youth and American campers. The Jewish Agency had been sending shlichim to American camps since the 1960s, and Colvin wanted Tawonga to participate.

The board approved, and in the summer of 1972, Tawonga welcomed two Israeli counselors for the first time.

The San Francisco Jewish Bulletin, May 5, 1972

The San Francisco Jewish Bulletin, May 5, 1972

By most accounts, the initial experiment was uneven. The counselors arrived just days before camp began, missed staff training, and were placed in standard counselor roles — a decision Trombler later described as “a mistake.”

According to Trombler’s report to the board, “Israeli folk dancing was well received by the campers,” but other efforts, including attempts to introduce more Hebrew into daily camp life, met with limited success.

The shlichim program continued in fits and starts throughout the 1970s, but it did not take on a more stable and integrated form until the late 1980s.

For the board, the introduction of Israeli counselors was only one response to a broader question the camp was beginning to confront: how to define Jewish life and practice within Tawonga itself.

In 1972, the board’s Program Committee began working to clarify the role of Jewish life at camp, separate from the shlichim program.

The committee recommended a more structured approach, including “a structured religious program on Friday nights and Saturdays,” the development of a “special Sabbath atmosphere,” and — perhaps most significantly — the hiring of a specialist in Jewish programming.

Throughout the 1970s, the board continued to refine these efforts.

Notes on Jewish programming from Tawonga Program Committee minutes, October 1979

Notes on Jewish programming from Tawonga Program Committee minutes, October 1979

As we will see in the next chapter, this work would carry forward into the 1980s under new leadership.

The board’s effort to clarify Jewish programming was part of a larger attempt to define Tawonga more explicitly. In 1972, it developed a document called Search for Identity: Philosophy for Camp Tawonga.

The document set out a “four point philosophy” — what today we would call a mission statement. It identified four key concepts:

An opportunity for personal growth.
Democratic social experiences.
Creative Jewish program in a Jewish atmosphere.
Appreciation of nature and enjoyment of the out-of-doors.

Today, Tawonga’s mission is organized around four core pillars:

Positive Self-Image & Self-Esteem: Encouraging campers to be their authentic selves in a supportive environment.
Creating a Cooperative Community: Building community through shared responsibility and consensus-based decision-making.
Tikkun Olam (A Partnership with Nature): Fostering respect for the environment through outdoor activities.
Spirituality & Positive Jewish Identification: Exploring Jewish culture and spirituality in a fun, accessible way.

Seen side by side, the continuity is striking — the core ideas remain largely the same.

Judy Edelson

In 1976, Arnold Trombler left Tawonga to become executive director of the Peninsula Jewish Community Center. The following year, the board hired Judy Edelson as the camp’s new director.

The San Francisco Jewish Bulletin, January 21, 1977

The San Francisco Jewish Bulletin, January 21, 1977

Edelson led the camp into the early 1980s, building on the foundation established during the previous decade.

Judy Edelson leading an Oneg Shabbat, early 1980s

Judy Edelson leading an Oneg Shabbat, early 1980s

One former staff member later remembered her as a central source of the camp’s warmth and cohesion:

“My fondest memories of Camp Tawonga are of warm, loving, caring people! I think that Judy Edelson, the director at the time, was the direct cause of this wonderful atmosphere. Tawonga had something very, very special and it radiated from Judy, through unit heads, down to the counselors, cooks, and peons like me.”
- Fran (Ciaciolo) Dunleavy, staff from 1979–1981

Judy Edelson pictured at the 1986 Tawonga reunion

Judy Edelson pictured at the 1986 Tawonga reunion

The documentary record from Edelson’s early years is limited, but the archives still offer a clear picture of what Tawonga had become by the end of the 1970s.

Judy Edelson, left, pictured at Tawonga’s 100th anniversary party in 2025 with her granddaughter, Eva Edelson

Judy Edelson, left, pictured at Tawonga’s 100th anniversary party in 2025 with her granddaughter, Eva Edelson

A 1979 board report describes a camp with a broad and increasingly structured program: backpacking trips, arts and crafts, nature programming, and a developing farm, alongside an expanded approach to Jewish life.

Camper responses reflected that development. Nearly all rated the overall program excellent, and a strong majority described the Jewish experience as “just right” — neither too limited nor too intensive.