Noam Arzt & Heidi Steinberg Arzt

Noam and I met in 1974 and had an immediate friendship.

We kept in touch throughout the year with reunions but it wasn’t until the summer of 1975 that we became an official couple. I knew I would marry him.

He lived in New York and I lived in Jersey so it was tough for the eight years that we remained a couple. We saw each other as much as possible on weekends, reunions, every year at camp and on Israel Seminar. We never lived in the same state so our long distance relationship was tough but love won in the end and neither one of us wanted a life without the other. We finally got engaged in 1981 while we were both juniors in college (he was at U of P and I was at Fairleigh Dickinson in N.J.). One week after graduation we were married and I cried through the whole thing. I couldn’t believe we were finally married and I would finally see him every day. All of our Ramah friends were at the wedding and they were also at our boys’ b’nai mitzvah. They are lifelong friends. Ramah was a wonderful experience. We loved all of it….the ruach, the Shabbat outdoors, singing, dancing….our lives are enriched by that experience.

On June 12, 2005, we celebrated 22 years of marriage and 30 years of friendship. We have two beautiful sons, Jeremy, 17 years old and Jesse, 14 years old. We moved from New Jersey to San Diego three years ago because we wanted a beautiful climate…and we got it. Our boys go to the San Diego Jewish Academy and we all live a very observant wonderful Jewish life. My youngest son reads Torah beautifully just like his dad. We have been to Israel as a family twice and next summer Jeremy will be going back for his Senior class trip. Jesse will be going to Ramah in Ojai, CA this summer. We are so jealous. We owe it all to Ramah for bringing us together. I can’t imagine how my life would be without the influence of Camp Ramah. It has definitely shaped who I am today and in turn, my children are rich in Jewish identity. WE LOVE RAMAH!

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