Six Happy Campers, 3 Happy Marriages
Share
How six Angelenos found love through Jewish summer camp
By Jacqueline Weiss
Summertime brings longer days, trips to the beach, and possibly sending your kids to summer camp. The first Jewish sleepaway summer camp, Camp Lehman, was founded in 1893 in New York, and it wasn’t long before more began to open, especially after World War II and the Holocaust. Camp Hess Kramer, a 110-acre site in Malibu, became the first Jewish summer camp west of the Mississippi, opening in June 1952 by Wilshire Boulevard Temple.
While Jewish summer camps across the U.S. can be a great way for tweens and teens to feel connected to their culture and make lifelong friends, there’s something else that can come out of the camp experience — true love.
Joyce & Adam
Met: 1981
Began Dating: 1982
Married: August 11, 1990
Adam Grant’s camp journey did not begin in Los Angeles, but in Prescott, Arizona. After four summers attending a local Jewish camp there, his parents received a positive recommendation from family in San Diego about a camp that his cousins were enjoying, so Adam boarded a Greyhound bus and headed for Camp JCA Shalom in Barton Flats (by way of Downtown Los Angeles).
Adam spent three summers at Barton Flats before he switched to Camp JCA Shalom in Malibu in the summer of 1977. That same summer was also the first year of camp for Joyce Grant, a first-generation American and daughter of a Holocaust survivor.
Jump ahead a few years to 1981, and Adam was working as a counselor-in-training in Malibu, and Joyce was in Barton Flats as a counselor. All it took was one fateful Shabbat dinner, which Joyce was attending in Malibu, and Adam was “pretty damn enthralled” with the girl sitting across from him.
“I didn’t grow up in a religious home. We celebrated holidays and things, but it was really camp that brought it all to my heart.” — Joyce Grant
“I remember very distinctly talking with her and thinking, ‘Wow, this was really nice,’” Adam said. “Throughout the entire dinner, we just continued to talk.”
But then they parted ways. The summer and fall of 1981 came and went, and they were both unknowingly hired to work a winter camp session together at Barton Flats. The only issue? Joyce was dating someone else. Still, there was something undeniable between them.
Joyce said, “We knew. There was something there. We just knew it. There were sparks. There was just something.” Once again, they went in separate directions. But Joyce soon ended things with the boy she had been seeing, and she started writing letters from Los Angeles to Adam in San Diego.
In February 1982, Adam and a mutual camp friend, Suzi, were planning a trip to Los Angeles from San Diego to see a theater play when Suzi dropped some news on him: Joyce was single and was at Barton Flats working a ski weekend.
“I said to Suzi, ‘Isn’t Barton Flats on the way to Los Angeles?’ And she looked at me like ‘Uh, sure.’ It isn’t, of course. It’s a huge detour, but it was absolutely on the way for that weekend,” Adam said.
The duo made their way to Barton Flats just in time for Shabbat dinner. Like something out of a movie, Joyce and Adam were hanging out in front of a beautiful stone fireplace on a chilly night. Their friends were around, playing guitar and singing Grateful Dead songs together. Right around when the clock struck midnight on Feb. 27, 1982, they finally kissed for the first time.
Long weekends and drives up and down the coast were frequent over the four years that they dated long distance, as Joyce attended Cal State Northridge and Adam was at the University of California, San Diego. And of course, the letter-writing continued.
“We have all of our letters,” Joyce confided. “We’ve kept them in a box in our garage, and for our 40th ‘together anniversary,’ Adam took every single letter and had them printed into a beautiful four-volume series.”
Working at camp was also a constant activity every summer and winter, allowing Adam and Joyce to spend longer periods of time not only together, but also with their camp friends.
“For the vast majority of our friend group, we’ve known each other since we were 13 years old,” Adam said.
Joyce affirmed, “We’re still really connected to camp — and to the people.”
Long distance finally came to an end in 1986 when Adam had graduated from UCSD and was getting ready to attend Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles the following year, while Joyce was receiving her teaching credentials. He popped the question in July 1989, and they were married on Aug. 11, 1990, at Stephen Wise Temple in L.A.
Since then, they’ve welcomed three daughters — Jordan, Jenna and Julia. Of course, all three were campers growing up for periods of time at Camp Alonim.
“We always say how we’re always evolving, as individuals, and as a couple and as parents,” Joyce said. “And I think our daughters see that and they understand that, and they bring that into their relationships. There’s always progress. There’s work, and we’re very open with them in terms of what makes our relationship work.”
Talia & Matt
Met: 2001
Began Dating: 2006
Married: July 1, 2012
Talia Geffen was never a camper herself, but within a week of starting her job as a counselor at Camp JCA Shalom in Malibu in 2001, she immediately “felt so comfortable.”
“I always talk about how camp is the place where I felt the most myself for the first time, just completely accepted and with a deep sense of community,” Talia said. “It really just gave me confidence and self-assurance that I didn’t feel in other parts of my life.”
Matt Arnold had the same feeling in 1987, minutes after getting off the bus at Camp JCA Shalom in his summer between fourth and fifth grade. “After finding my cabin, I already had a group of friends really quickly, and I’m still friends with these people,” Matt said.
“After that, I was just a camp kid all the way.”
While the now-married couple first met in 2001 and were friendly for a few years, it wasn’t until 2006 that things between them became something more. They were assigned to staff a camping excursion in the Eastern Sierras. But first, they had to go on a scouting trip together.
Talia said that “feelings were ignited,” and they got to know each other pretty well on the scouting trip. When the actual camping trip came around, they shared their first kiss, and that was it.
Since they were already in each other’s orbits and had close friendships from Camp JCA Shalom, there was no need for any auditioning for their friends once they started dating.
“It was a pretty amazing thing to get into a relationship where some of your closest friends already have their own relationship with your partner,” Talia said.
She was just starting her teaching career at the time, and Matt was also working as a teacher, both in Los Angeles. Living separately, they headed to New York together to attend New York University for grad school, with Talia receiving a master’s in education and foreign language instruction, and Matt a master’s in English and American literature.
The West Coast was calling them home. They moved back to Los Angeles to resume their work as teachers, and they said “I do” on July 1, 2012.
“The relationship to camp extends to camp people, too,” Talia said. “Many of the people in our wedding, either bridesmaids or groomsmen or those who held a special role, were camp people. We even took our engagement photos at camp.”
She added, “We would have gotten married at camp if it wasn’t such a schlep and uneven grounds for grandparents, but we did our best to find an outdoor venue that mimicked it as best we could.”
Now, they’re both still working as teachers and raising the next generation of camp-lovers in their two sons, Ilan and Aviv.
“Going to camp deepened my connection to Judaism. It really invested me in a community, and I don’t think I could have articulated it quite like that at the time when I was a camper, but that’s definitely what happened.” — Matt Arnold
Ilan started off with a week-long “minicamp” last summer at Camp JCA Shalom and will be heading back for another two weeks this summer. Aviv will hopefully follow in his big brother’s — and in his parents’ — footsteps in a few years.
Even though Talia and Matt did shed some tears at Ilan’s drop-of last year, Matt said it was “one of the happiest things I’ve done in my whole life, to think about the amazing experiences that are ahead of him and to give him that opportunity.”
Matt added, “I think seeing camp from the parent perspective has been difficult and good and has made me love camp all over again, to see how it has continued to give kids the experience of their lifetime. It’s such a formative thing to see the birth of independence from him being there on his own.”
Allie & Aaron
Met: 2005
Began Dating: 2023
Married: October 2025
Aaron Goldberg’s earliest, and some of his fondest, memories take place at camp. His mother worked at Gindling Hilltop Camp (clap, clap) as the resident director, and from age two, he was along for the ride as a “staff brat,” with his first overnight bunk experience in 1997.
“It was amazing,” Aaron said. “My closest confidants, my closest friends, so much of what I learned about myself and my values and what I hold dear in the way that I want to practice Judaism, and the way that I want to practice being a good person, so much of that came from the camp experience. Being lifted up by those around you consistently. I loved it so much.”
Allie Donahoo’s camp journey began in 2002 at Camp Hess Kramer, but from 2003 onward, she spent her summers up the hill at Gindling Hilltop Camp — and never looked back.
“I don’t think either of us would be us, nor do I think we would be together, if it weren’t for us continuously going back and choosing camp.” — Allie Donahoo
From those early summers forward, camp became a central part of Allie’s identity. It was where her love for Jewish life took root, where she began to understand the meaning of community, and where her personal values were shaped.
“Camp is where I learned what it meant to be part of something bigger than myself,” she explained. “It taught me how to lead, how to celebrate Judaism in joyful and authentic ways, and how to build a life grounded in purpose and connection.”
Much to her surprise, when her luggage tag arrived the following summer to head back to camp and it said Gindling Hilltop Camp instead of Camp Hess Kramer, she was a little confused. But because of athletics and scheduling, that was what worked best for the summer, so she went along with it.
In 2005, Allie and Aaron’s paths at camp crossed for the first time. And by 2007, she had developed a full-on crush, even proposing marriage. Since Aaron was a counselor and Allie was still a camper, he graciously turned down her marriage proposals, but they did develop something else that would last for years to come — friendship.
They continued to run in the same circles through camp and even in overlapping grad school classes at American Jewish University, where they were both studying for their master’s in education. All the while, there was definite “chemistry” between the longtime friends, Allie said. But still, they waited for their right time to come.
The years continued to pass by with the pair never too far apart, and even when Allie was living in San Diego, “it was always clear that we were important people in each other’s lives,” Aaron said.
Finally, the stars aligned, and it seemed like their friendship would turn into something more when they shared their first kiss as they rang in the New Year on Jan. 1, 2022. The only problem? Allie would be relocating to Chicago for a new job three weeks later.
“It was an amazing opportunity both professionally and personally,” Allie said. “And Aaron was supportive and encouraging despite the timing.”
During one of Allie’s visits home, in Feb. 2023, they talked — and it was understood that they still had feelings for each other, but leaving their respective cities wasn’t yet in the cards.
“After walking me to my car that night and kissing me goodbye, I called my mom and told her, ‘I think I’m going to marry Aaron Goldberg,’” Allie said.
They ramped up their communication in the months that followed, with Allie making a visit to see Aaron at Camp Alonim, where he is the Camp Director, and him planning a trip to see her in Chicago. But Allie had a secret. She was applying for a job that would not only bring her back to Los Angeles — and to Aaron — but back to her beloved camp roots, too.
Allie accepted a job with Wilshire Boulevard Temple Camps as Director of Development and Alumni in September 2023 and made the move back to California. Finally, “the pieces just kind of fell together,” Aaron said, and they could officially be together.
“It’s pretty unreal to have met at camp and to still be working for camps,” Aaron said. “We couldn’t get away from the notion of community-building. And now we’re not only building our own, but we’re continuing to build for the next generation of young Jews.”
Just under 20 years since Allie first popped the question to Aaron at camp, and he proposed to her on Oct. 22, 2024. Their wedding is set for October of this year, with plenty of camp elements set to be incorporated into the big day, including a chuppah built by Allie’s father, made from materials from Gindling Hilltop’s trees.
“There’s a profound beauty in honoring our roots and the journey that brought us to this moment — both individually and as a couple,” Allie said. “That foundation makes everything feel even more layered and meaningful. And including those elements in our ceremony is simply an authentic reflection of who we are, and as it happens, also deeply connected to our professional lives.”
