Mazal Tov, Cathy Berkowitz, on Receiving the
Jewish Educators Assembly Lifetime Achievement Award!
CRDAA Committee Member Joe Lustig recently sat down with Cathy to get the download on what makes her one of Darom’s most beloved tzevetot of all time…
What years were you at camp, and what did you do there?
I was at camp from 1997 to 2018. I started out as a Yahadut Teacher and Parent Liaison. I was also Rosh Mishpacha during my early years. I was Rosh Chinuch 1999-2018.
Thinking all the way back to 1997, what originally made you want to be a part of camp?
It wasn’t me who wanted to be part of camp – it never crossed my mind. Rabbi Loren Sykes was visiting Beth Sholom in Memphis, TN. I was the Education Director. He was recruiting campers, introducing all of us to the new Ramah camp in the South.
He saw the activities I was doing with the religious school students and asked if I would work at camp. At first, I laughed. I realized how exciting it would be to be a staff member at a new camp where I can help create a place for children to be enriched in Jewish life.
I remember speaking to my husband Fred about it. He was so against it. He said, how would he be able to take care of Adam, Greg and Leah (No Mikayla yet). I told him they would come to camp with me. He changed his mind quickly.
Funny how one year grows into 22 years.
It was the best decision we have made. Being a part of Ramah Darom as a family has helped us to connect to other families who share the same values. Our connection to Darom has increased my Jewish involvement and engagement, and it’s helped to shape my own Jewish journey. We raised our children through camp, and each returned as staff to give back. Now, as grandparents, it might not be too long before OUR next generation makes Darom his summer address. Professionally, Ramah Darom has helped give shape to the educator that I am today – experiential, innovative, and always thinking “outside the box.”
How did your camp experience change over the years?
I remember coming to camp in 1997. Things were not ready. Lots of rain and mud. I remember marking the dishes red for meat and blue for dairy. I also helped put the eruv up – it didn’t go so well. In the end, we had Anthony and Shane do it. LOL
The campus changed a lot from year 1 to year 3. We had a chadar ochel that can fit the whole camp. We also grew. We started out with 3 eidot and now we have 8 eidot plus garanim.
Camp was my summer home.
Besides teaching Yahadut, what was your favorite camp activity?
I will answer like the campers do – Shabbat is my favorite. Watching everyone dressed for Shabbat and walking to the amphitheater is a special sight. Everyone praying and singing Kabbalat Shabbat out loud gives me goosebumps every time. Of course, the cholent during the shiur is the BEST.
I also love Yom Sport, especially Torah Bowl. It’s fun to see all of the counselors come by maragam to cheer for their campers, all of them telling me about the time they competed in the Torah Bowl.
What drew you to Jewish education as a career?
So we’ll start with a question: Can you identify a special teacher or mentor in your life? What was it about that individual that influenced you?
As a child, I always had teachers who I tried to emulate – to learn from. Somehow, these teachers would make classes fun. You didn’t even realize you were learning. I mean, can you imagine me in a physics class? Most of you who know me are probably looking at me in disbelief, but yes, my physics teacher made learning fun. However, when I began my professional career as a Jewish educator, I found my true mentor, Lonna Picker. I know that I am not alone in this as there are probably many young educators who could say the same thing. Lonna saw something in me that I did not know was even there.
I worked for Lonna as a young teacher at Temple Torat Yisrael in Cranston, RI, from 1988 to 1993. She is first and foremost a caring individual who develops relationships with her students and teachers. Lonna connected with each of her teachers, making herself professionally and emotionally available to us. She was interested in, actively listened to, and validated the feelings of struggling new teachers. She invested herself in each of us and helped us to learn about our strengths and our gifts, ALWAYS conveying the message, “You matter.”
This kind of respect—having a person “acknowledge us, see us for who we are, as their equal in value and importance.” This helped to make teachers, helped to make ME feel part of a team in the process of Jewish education.
You recently won the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from the Jewish Educator’s Assembly. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
I am honored to be given this award. It is wonderful to be able to celebrate Jewish Education. The Jewish Educators Assembly Lifetime Achievement Award is very meaningful to me – not only because it recognizes my achievements, but also the accomplishments of those who work alongside me, and those who I have been honored to work with these many years, who have shown their faith and trust in me, and the vision for Jewish education we forged together.
The many unsung heroes, who have navigated the twists and turns, who did this work not just out of a sense of obligation, but rather for the love of it.
I am the Jewish educator I am today because of all of the families, students, campers, colleagues, mentors and friends that have been a part of my life and journey. I have learned so much from them. It is a privilege to receive the Jewish Educator’s Lifetime Achievement Award. May we continue to inspire joy in others as we all pursue a commitment to meaningful, lifelong Jewish engagement and education.
Cathy Berkowitz lives in Boca Raton, FL, and works as the Education Director at B’nai Torah Congregation. She is the wife of Fred Berkowitz, mother of 4 Ramah Darom Alumni, and proud grandmother of Dylan. Cathy loves the entire month of Adar because in Adar, “We increase happiness,” so that means we need to be happy, be silly and laugh – these are her favorite things.