Family at Camp
From 1946 until its closing in 1992, Cejwin Camps was the summer home of the Amkraut family. Cejwin opened in 1919 as the first Jewish cultural summer camp, founded by Dr. Albert P. Schoolman and the Central Jewish Institute (from which the camp got its name). The camp was created for the purpose of giving Jewish children living in New York City the opportunity to experience the fresh air of "the country" while learning promoting the ideals of the reconstructionist jewish movement and Zionism - this, long before the realization of the State of Israel!
The family first came to Cejwin in 1946, when Frances Katchen Greenwald took a position working in the camp's administration office. In tow was an impressionable young two-year-old Ruth Greenwald. From that summer on, there was always a Greenwald/Amkraut in camp. Whether home was New York, Cleveland, OH, Providence, RI or New Jersey, Port Jervis was a constant (including a year where Ruth went to school in town while Edward Greenwald served as the year-round caretaker of the camp).
While Ruth Greenwald was at Cejwin continuously since the age of two, Julian Amkraut was first there as a camper in 1952, where he became friends with a boy by the name of Harvey Osgood. He learned he had a younger cousin by the name of Ruth Greenwald. A few years later, Julian returned to camp as a waiter. He claims it was then that he met Ruth; Ruth maintained that she met him earlier during that summer in 1952. Either way, the couple met at Cejwin, and would later get married.
Over the years, they held numerous positions at the camp. Ruth worked as a dance instructor, counselor, division head, head counselor and commissary manager; Julian worked as a waiter, counselor and canoe trip director. Starting in 1967, they also became something else - camp parents. Ruth and Julian raised their four children at camp, making Cejwin a unifying constant for the family regardless of where the family made their year-round home.
The family first came to Cejwin in 1946, when Frances Katchen Greenwald took a position working in the camp's administration office. In tow was an impressionable young two-year-old Ruth Greenwald. From that summer on, there was always a Greenwald/Amkraut in camp. Whether home was New York, Cleveland, OH, Providence, RI or New Jersey, Port Jervis was a constant (including a year where Ruth went to school in town while Edward Greenwald served as the year-round caretaker of the camp).
While Ruth Greenwald was at Cejwin continuously since the age of two, Julian Amkraut was first there as a camper in 1952, where he became friends with a boy by the name of Harvey Osgood. He learned he had a younger cousin by the name of Ruth Greenwald. A few years later, Julian returned to camp as a waiter. He claims it was then that he met Ruth; Ruth maintained that she met him earlier during that summer in 1952. Either way, the couple met at Cejwin, and would later get married.
Over the years, they held numerous positions at the camp. Ruth worked as a dance instructor, counselor, division head, head counselor and commissary manager; Julian worked as a waiter, counselor and canoe trip director. Starting in 1967, they also became something else - camp parents. Ruth and Julian raised their four children at camp, making Cejwin a unifying constant for the family regardless of where the family made their year-round home.