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Why I ran away from Jewish summer camp — and never looked back

JL;DR SUMMARY Benyamin Cohen recounts his disdainful childhood experience at a Jewish summer camp in 1985, where he felt out of place and plotted an escape to return to his home in Atlanta. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

IdentityJewish Summer CampChabadIndependenceCommunityBenyamin CohenNostalgiaMemoryChildhoodCamp Life

Places mentioned

Atlanta, Georgia, United States
"Each summer, my dad would pack five of us in like kosher sardines and drive 16 hours from Atlanta to the Catskills, with a pit stop in Baltimore to refuel, recharge, and remind ourselves this was all somehow for our own good."
Catskills, New York, United States
"Each summer, my dad would pack five of us in like kosher sardines and drive 16 hours from Atlanta to the Catskills, with a pit stop in Baltimore to refuel, recharge, and remind ourselves this was all somehow for our own good."
New York, United States
"I'd been plotting the escape for days, maybe weeks. In my 10-year-old mind, it felt more like a prison break than a stroll through rural New York."
Baltimore, Maryland, United States
"Each summer, my dad would pack five of us in like kosher sardines and drive 16 hours from Atlanta to the Catskills, with a pit stop in Baltimore to refuel, recharge, and remind ourselves this was all somehow for our own good."

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Retrieved 2025-07-04 05:31:07 UTC
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