Memories of Marty at Camp

On Yom Kippur, 12 October 2024, beloved former Kadimah Director, Marty Zatzman z’l passed away at age 71. Beyond his love of his family, Marty’s love of Camp Kadimah could only be matched by his love of music. Marty will always be remembered as the soundtrack of camp. His son Noah contributed the following remembrance to Camp Kadimah’s Alumni Iton [Spring 2025 ISSUE]: 

“We have traveled far, Hitched our vessel to a star, never more we'll have to roam. For we realize, it was right before our eyes, At Kadimah, our second home”

On the last night of camp, my dad Marty would always light the Kadimah sign and he would join in as campers and staff would all sing a heartfelt farewell to another summer in our beloved Barss Corner. 

Marty Zatzman, with his family at Camp Kadimah, 1999: Marty, Belarie, Noah, Samahra, Sariana

These were the best summers of our lives, and my dad knew it. 

He had, himself, come to Kadimah as a young boy and was forever changed.

In the 2004 Iton, my dad wrote that all his years at Camp Kadimah had formed an essential part of his life, explaining that, “Camp is timeless. When I look out over Lake William each morning I can be transported back to many of the years I attended Camp.”

Like most young Jews from the Atlantic provinces, my dad and his three brothers (Steve, Ian, and Ray) all proudly attended Camp Kadimah, sent by their parents Mike and Miriam Zatzman. 

In the 1996 Iton, my dad wrote about his Camp journey, describing how his Kadimah experience began

“as a 9-year old camper in a very strange setting from my home in Dartmouth, N.S.

In the years that followed, I grew more accustomed to the Kadimah routine.

The camp in the sixties was filled with only Maritime campers, and for most of us became the best six weeks out of every year. 

In 1969, I returned as a CIT. There were two of us that year. The summer of 1969 was a key year…I worked my way up through junior counsellor, senior counsellor, and head staff until 1974. In 1974, a young senior counsellor Bama specialist arrived from Toronto….

Marty on staff in the early 70’s

…I was placed in charge of budgeting money for programming. The Bama specialist came to me for $75 for supplies. I said NO. We needed a new waterski and that’s how our money would be spent. She left fairly disturbed and went directly to Shaul Landa, the Director who approved the money.

She [Belarie Hyman] caught my attention very quickly and the rest is history. We married in 1977 and came back to Camp in 1978. I was Assistant Director and Belarie was Director of Fine Arts.”

Marty Zatzman and Belarie Hyman Zatzman win the Kadimah Kissing Contest, Summer 1978.

My dad went on to conclude his 96 Iton article by saying,

“Kadimah solidifies lifelong friendships and is by far the best experience anyone can have at any age…I hope it will be a part of my life and my family’s for many years to come.”

And it was! 

For that year, in 1996, my parents Marty and Belarie decided to return to the Barss!

But this time with their three children (me and my two sisters, Samahra and Sariana). Sariana was 2.5 years old, so, I think, is still the only camper to do 6 years of Giborim! We stayed 10 magical summers. 

My dad writes of our return to Camp just as I remember it - zooming past Conter’s Corner well after dark and meeting up with Michael Soberman and Jennifer Miller at the Cook’s Cabin - where my parents lived for many summers thereafter.

He wrote,

“We arrived at camp in the evening on June 28. This time, Belarie, Noah, Samahra, Sariana and Tosh [our dog] joined me at camp. I stepped back in time the moment we entered the gates. Little did I know that my journey through time at Kadimah would span four decades and become a pivotal site for my family dreams.”

My dad served as program director for most of the summers between 1996-2000, and joined a senior staff team that included the ‘Dean of Directors’ Sheldon Cohen, Michael Soberman, Brian Indig, Leigh Lampert, Penny Dankner, Louis Wolfson, Joanna Mirksy, Suzanne Caines, and many others who would become dear friends of our family over countless memorable summers!

Marty, mid jam, in the 90’s

In fact, each year, my parents would host the annual Senior Staff meeting at our home in Toronto. I would sit at the top of the stairs hoping to overhear their conversation in the living room – trying to eavesdrop on every morsel of information. Who was Kochot Section Head? When might they schedule Maccabia? Had they already chosen Hockey Marathon captains?!

Camp Kadimah was not just six weeks for my dad.  He brought camp into the city with him during the year–and he loved hosting these events. The ruach, the fun, the energy! He adored his own childhood camp friends and spoke of them often, like his buddies Howard Spinner, Jeff Levine, Rhea Simon, Benny Nathanson, David Green, Bruce Elman, Frank Mendleson.    

During those 90s summers, Marty was the rocketry and rock band guy. He bonded with the whole Kadimah family - Ace, Peter, Anne - and was the regular morning wake-up DJ, playing his favourite songs from Motown and Rock artists: Twist ‘n Shout and Mustang Sally were staples!

In 2001, my dad succeeded Sheldon as Director, and my parents moved from the Cook’s Cabin to a slightly larger cabin on the lagoon, where they would reside each summer until his retirement in 2005. For me, these years, in particular, were highlights. Being with my dad and mum, my sisters, my cousins, and friends together at Camp was an indescribable joy. 

Marty pictured at the Lagoon alongside Brian Indig, Sheldon Cohen, Michael Rinzler, Bill Chernin, & Michael Soberman, Summer 2001.

While most kids wouldn’t want their dad at camp…yuck!...for me it was different: my dad was cool!

MZ jammed out with the best musicians, encouraging them to prioritize music and family as he had. He was always looking for someone with ‘triple threat’ talent [act, dance, sing]!

Along with my mum, my dad encouraged all the madrichim and chanichim to be actively engaged in art - whether that be music, rikud, plays - and as Director, that was highlighted whether it was  at the Canada Day Show or Woodstock or the Campwide Talent Show.  And he did it all in his trademark sweatpants!

My dad especially loved Kadimah’s Friday night dancing and Oneg Shabbat. I can recall with tears in my eyes my parents sitting, holding hands, at the back of the RCC watching hundreds of us sing and dance to the wonderful Israeli music! “Da-Vid, Melech Israel, Chai, Chai Vikayam” or “Have a! Have a banana! It will give you…”  

The traditions and history of camp were of great importance to my dad. His Uncle Joe Zatzman, who famously served as Mayor of Dartmouth, had helped buy the land that Kadimah was founded on along with many of the original Maritime Jewish families.

Marty with his brothers Ray, Steve, & Ian at the dedication of the Zatzman Amphitheatre, in memory of their parents, Mike & Miriam. Summer 2000.

My dad was always super proud to be the winner of ‘Best Boy Camper’ in 1962–and he kept his small trophy all these years!  He often spoke about the year he was named Maccabia captain for the winning 1971 White team ‘Hope for the Children’ [Co-captains were Joni Garson, Abbs Koven, and Wendy Wolman]. 

32 years later, when I was named White team captain with him in the room, I could feel his pride bursting through! L’Dor ve dor… 

During my dad’s time as Director, he relied much on his old friends Mark Rosen, Andrew Wolfson, Victor Goldberg, and Jim Spatz, who ably led Camp for many decades as Chairmen, with Jon Goldberg running the AJC. And new friends like Les & Ann z”l Rosoph, Darcie Richler, Dave Reiss z’l, Steve Indig, Perry Silverberg – and truthfully, all of my friends and his nephew Daniel’s friends – he also considered part of his extended circle.  

(Though he thought my beloved Camp Machar was a crazy cult, usually referring to me as Rev. Sun Myung Moon at Mifkad – he would nonetheless still often attend open Rad Hayoms on Saturdays, smiling ear-to-ear the whole time)

Seeing my dad in his natural Maritime habitat was wonderful for my sisters and I to witness – and we grew to love and cherish Kadimah as much as our parents. 

Kadimah summers for us were, to be blunt, not a place to escape our big family. At the height of it in the early 2000s, 18 Zatzmans attended camp in the years my parents ran the place! This number increased if you included my Uncle Ian and Auntie Debbie, who would come up every summer for a few weeks as camp doctor, and my Uncle Steve, who was on the Camp Committee [the new beach on the Machar side was named in his memory]! 

“As long as we all pull together, Kadimah will grow more and more”

These famous words in our beloved camp song are words my dad lived and breathed.

It was a song for and about camp, but it was also a song for and about life. 

Being together as Canadian Jews in the most beautiful place was something he never took for granted. Particularly growing up in Nova Scotia, for my dad and his friends, Kadimah was the central Jewish experience. 

Though my parents retired from Camp in 2005, Kadimah has never left their hearts – and my dad was so excited that a new generation of Zatzmans have begun to swim along the shores of Lake William. 

The outpouring of support and love from the Kadimah family following my dad’s passing has touched my whole family very deeply. We read every card and note with tears in our eyes, thinking about how each staff and camper has their own Marty story or Marty experience. 

At my father’s burial, the final song we sang was the Camp Kadimah song. 

We sang it loudly and proudly, and I pictured him as if on the final night of camp. 

At Kadimah, our second home. 

NOAH ZATZMAN is MARTY ZATZMAN’s son; he was Rosh Machar in 2006 and White Team Captain 2003. 

WATCH MARTY & BELARIE’S INTERVIEW FOR THE KADIMAH MOVIE HERE: https://www.thekadimahmovie.com/marty-belarie-zatzman/