Dear Gilboa Community, In late 2022, we announced a search for a candidate to succeed Elana as Executive Director and continue the important work of stewarding the mission and beautiful community that is Gilboa. I’m delighted to announce that Rebecca Green has been selected as our next Executive Director! Rebecca brings a wealth of experience in Jewish justice work and youth education - a perfect fit for Gilboa! Gilboa leadership first met Rebecca when she was leading California’s Bend the Arc: Jewish Action chapters and partnered with Tzedek, our teen social justice program. Rebecca will be joining the Gilboa team in mid-May and will spend the following months, with Elana’s guidance, mastering all things Gilboa and gradually taking over leadership responsibilities. Please reach out to Rebecca to say hi and welcome her to the community at rebecca@campgilboa.org. Opportunities to meet Rebecca in person will be available during Work Weekend and the Open House over Memorial Day weekend and at the pre-camp picnics in the Bay May 21st and LA June 17. Rebecca will also be among the camp leadership at the pre-camp Zoom meeting on June 14. I know you’ll all enjoy getting to know her. Tyson Roberts Chair, Board of Directors
Dear Gilboa community, I’m thrilled to be joining you as your next Executive Director! I treasure the time I spent at summer camps as a child, developing independence and tight-knit friendships in beautiful places. My father attended camp at Habonim, and I am so excited to follow in his footsteps in this incredible community of youth empowerment, firmly rooted in the values of collective responsibility, youth leadership, and the pursuit of justice. When I was 11 years old, my family moved from Toronto, Canada to Long Beach, California. On the first day of 7th grade, I made a new friend who invited me to come with her to B’nai Mitzvah class. There, I started to learn and navigate new ideas that became integral parts of my Jewish identity, such as the values of tzedakah and tikkun olam - justice and repairing the world. These values continue to shape my life and my career. Before moving back to the LA area in 2018, I taught middle and high school social studies in New York City. As a teacher at a small school, I wore many hats. In my Economic Justice class for high school seniors, students did action projects lifting up their voices to real-world decision makers. I established a Peer Mediation course to bring restorative justice practices to the school, and one of my proudest moments was supporting the peer mediators as they planned and led a successful school-wide walk-out to demand action against gun violence. I also led field trips such as camping excursions and coordinated our school’s Explore Week program, an annual 3-day service learning event within the community. For the past 5 years, I’ve worked as a National Organizer for Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, where I managed our California chapters. It was an honor to lead Bend the Arc’s dedicated volunteers in their transformational work in immigration justice, housing justice, and criminal justice reform, all with a racial equity lens. During that time, I also had the amazing opportunity to work on several advocacy campaigns alongside the teens of Tzedek, Gilboa’s social action program for high schoolers, and I was so impressed and inspired by the powerful young people in this community! The Gilboa teens led community learning and advocacy events to pass California’s proposition to end cash bail - it was evident to me how their Gilboa experiences instilled a call to action towards justice for all people, and how integral the pursuit of justice was to their Jewish identities. I believe deeply in Camp Gilboa’s model of youth-led programming and collective responsibility, and I’m passionate about developing the next generation of leaders. I hope to support this community as it grows and changes to meet the needs of campers and their families through evolving challenges in the world. Thank you for this opportunity to step into leadership at an organization like yours, where young people go on to be the visionaries of social justice movements, educators, and empowered leaders wherever they go! I can’t wait to meet you all soon and to keep working together to build the world we all deserve. May we go from strength to strength, Rebecca
Let's play "Two Truths and a Lie" to get to know Rebecca! Guess which one is a lie:
I have a black belt in aikido
I used to have a pet frog
I played bass in a punk band in high school (See the answers here!)