Introducing Ben Cohen: Assistant Director

Howdy y’all! My name is Ben Cohen and I am so excited to join the Jacobs Camp team as Assistant Director! I am from St Louis, MO and was active in NFTY Missouri Valley as a teenager, went on a NFTY in Israel trip and spent three summers at the URJ Kutz Camp as both a camper and staff member. After graduating college in 2020, I moved to Omaha, Nebraska where I served as the Youth Engagement Coordinator these last two years and guided our teens in both formal and informal educational programs and recruited our kids to go and have amazing summers at camp!

So, you might be asking “why Jacobs Camp for this Midwesterner?” For one, at the time of writing this, it is 14 degrees and snowing in Omaha. And, similar to many campers, Jewish spaces were so special to me as a kid, being one of a handful of Jewish kids in my town. Camp, youth group and my synagogue were places I was comfortable and happy expressing my Jewish identity, and I am excited to create these spaces for our community this summer and year-round. I can’t wait to meet our campers, staff, families, faculty and lay leaders from around the South (and beyond) and hear all about camp!

This summer, I look forward to getting to create the Jacobs Camp magic, learning about and participating in Jacobs Camp traditions, meeting our community and having fun! I am already pumped for Rib Night and purchasing Western attire, playing sports, singing during song sessions, experiencing Shabbat and getting to talk with campers and staff!

In my free time, I enjoy biking, baking, playing guitar, and watching sports (I’m a big St. Louis Cardinals and New Orleans Saints fan). I am unsure of which of the cities in the Jacobs Camp region I’ll be in this fall, so I’d love to hear why I should move to your city and schedule virtual coffee! I can’t wait until we’re together this summer!

Send Ben a welcome email at Bcohen@urj.org!