Follow your inner voice.

When I was a little girl, we lived on the South Side of Chicago in a modest (white box) home. My parents hired a designer. The transformation was magical. I was dazzled/hooked! By the age of 12, I knew I was going to be an interior designer; dreaming/speaking of it on occasion, even journaled about it.

In my circle, worthwhile professions were “white collar”, teaching, law, healthcare, or Jewish, not something in “the trades”. Ultimately I went in the “expected direction”. Those were different days. In our era, many of us went into professions to satisfy the dream our family/community expected of us.

Then I turned 21. I graduated from the School of Education at the U of I in Champagne-Urbana, Illinois, hoping to love teaching. I never caught the spark.  With a diploma in hand (fallback), I registered with an interior design “trade school”, specializing in interior architecture. We sat alongside architects learning trade secrets. I never looked back.

What motivated me to shift directions?

I audaciously decided not only was I going to design interiors for personal homes I was going to design Jewish institutions. I’m not sure where that idea came from. It never left me. My first opportunity/plunge into the waters of hospitality/institutional design was when our family decided to design/build a staff lounge for Camp Ramah in Conover, Wisconsin in memory of our beloved father/father in-law Albert Kopin in the year 2000.

I had never done anything in the hospitality world before. As I began working on this project I had a deep knowing that I was meant to do this. Recently we did a refresh on the building. I was asked to write a piece for the Ramah newsletter. I wanted to share it and I added a bit.

Mercaz Kopin in Memory of Albert Kopin Z”L

 

Who was Al Kopin?

Al had a strong sense of responsibility and was a natural born leader. He was committed to the Jewish community and became involved in every synagogue he regularly attended. In 1961, Al and Myrna joined Northwest Suburban in Morton Grove when they bought their first home in Golf Park Terrace in Des Plaines, IL. There they became friendly with Rabbi Lawrence Charney, a big supporter of Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, who encouraged them to send their two sons to camp. When they moved to Deerfield in 1969, Al and Myrna joined North Suburban Synagogue Beth EL where many of the camp age children attended Ramah. In 1970, Jeff left for Ramah. Ultimately, Mitch followed. I attended Ramah in 1972 where Jeff and I met.

On Visitors Day 1971 Al and Myrna came to visit. They walked into Jeff’s cabin. It was run down and had no plumbing. Myrna was shocked. Al complained to the Board chair at the time, Irv Robbin Z”L who said, “Don’t get mad, get involved!” That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Albert Kopin, a man with tremendous vision and integrity, joined the Board.

What is Mercaz Kopin? How did the idea evolve?

Each summer the Board was invited to visit Ramah for a Shabbat retreat. A novel idea the Board came up with was meeting on Shabbat afternoon with all the Roshei Aidah (unit heads). Each Rosh had an opportunity to introduce themselves, speak about their experiences, and were asked what they’d like to see added to the camp. Many of the enhancements from buildings to programming have come from those meetings.

One year the concept for a staff lounge/getaway came up. It seemed the staff had no place to hide to get away from the grind of the long days of summer where campers could not find them. Al loved the idea of a staff lounge and would discuss it on occasion as a worthwhile project to embark upon. Unfortunately, he did not live to see it built.

How we conceptualized Mercaz Kopin?

Five years after Al’s passing in 1994, Myrna, Jeff and I, Mitch and Karen decided to manifest Al’s dream of a staff lounge into reality. We came to the Ramah development chair discussed our vision. It was embraced by the Board.

We found a location for the building and had an architect draw up initial plans. In the spirit of being inclusive, I interviewed scores of staff to see what they’d like to see in our lounge. We had many discussions on how it would/could be used. Then we doubled its size. We named it Mercaz (center) Kopin.

We kept Al’s voice present: do your best, make it perfect. Myrna expressed interest in helping with material selections, a true family initiative. Our biggest and funniest moment was when Rabbi David Soloff (former director of Camp Ramah Wisconsin) stated it was going to be too nice! Up until then camp had mismatched furniture in aging buildings.

It seems logical/obvious to have a staff lounge. At the time it was revolutionary. From the moment the building opened, the culture of the camp transformed. Our lounge become a destination for staff; the “go to” place for meetings, lectures, presentations, social gatherings, and fruit on Friday nights! The staff snacked and napped while forging friendships. A strong motivational force developed. Campers wanted to return on staff so they could go into the “Kopin”.

Sometimes we need a facelift!

We are grateful the building held up so beautifully. However, it was time to refresh after 27 seasons. In phase one (two years ago), we replaced the carpet and sofas and doubled the size of the front decks. This past winter we reconfigured the kitchen, back “phone booth” area and screened-in porch. The kitchen morphed into a “rustic” club lounge with new appliances and work stations and the back area into flex shared office space. Cute fact: 26 years ago we wondered whether we needed the modem-enabled, super-slow computer. No surprise to us today, it was hugely popular.

We drove to the Northwoods to see the renovation. We were thrilled!

Besides being a cool get away lounge Mercaz Kopin has enabled the seamless blending of friendships between the Israeli and US staff (not easily achieved), influencing each other in remarkable ways. Some of our closest friendships have been forged at camp with Israelis whom we consider to be siblings. Little known fact, most Israeli’s refer to their close male friends as brothers (achi).

Our lounge area has become a “makom kadosh, sacred/holy healing space”, testifying to the loss, sacrifice and pain of October 7. For the Mishlachat (Israeli staff) fresh off the battle fields, desperately needing to chill and reconnect, it is healing. Watching the young beautiful people snuggling up against each others like puppies is breathtaking. Incredibly brave souls, willing to come to the Northwoods and grace us with their love and kindness while receiving love themselves.

We are excited to share this labor of LOVE for Ramah and Al! All who knew Al respected him. I was fortunate I knew him for 20 years. He was my second Dad. Al’s birthday is this week. Al we hope we did you proud! To read the Ramah newsletter (click).

Stop in next time you are in the Northwoods! Ramah