After sorting through more than 200 entries submitted by Heritage readers, the Glickman and Galinson families have chosen the winning name for the sleep-over camp now being developed in Mountain Center, Calif., for members of San Diego County¹s Jewish community. And the winning camp name is ... "Mountain Chai."

Oscar and Olga Worm of Alpine suggested the winning name. Murray and Elaine Galinson donated $1 million toward purchase of the 153-acre camp, which is expected to open in summer 2004. Joseph and Beverly Glickman, who are Elaine Galinson¹s parents, put up another $1.5 million in matching funds. In thanks for their gifts, the nonprofit Jewish Community Camp and Retreat accorded naming rights to the Glickman and Galinson families. Rather than pick a name themselves, the Glickmans and Galinsons invited Heritage readers to submit their suggestions. The two families offered to the winner of the contest the ability to use or donate one full-month summer session at the camp, where Jewish traditions, an aquatic program, hiking, horseback riding and modern facilities are planned to accommodate 800 Jewish boys and girls over two sessions.

Elaine Galinson, middle left, presents Olga Worm with the winner¹s certificate in the "Name the Camp" contest for the sleep-over Jewish camp being developed in Mountain Center, Calif. The two women are flanked by their husbands, Murray Galinson and Oscar Worm, with the co-chairs of the nonprofit Jewish Community Camp and Retreat organ- ization, Todd Kobernick and Ed Samiljan, at the left and right ends respectively. The Worms suggested the name "Mountain Chai." (Herb Targum photo)

Elaine Galinson said she liked the pun in the name Mountain Chai. "We wanted something that would be easy to remember, that children would be able to pronounce, and which was appealing to us," she said.

"There were a lot of good names suggested," she added. "The funniest was 'Pishers in the Pines.' We didn¹t chose that one, but it was great for laughs."

Paul Nenner came up with the "Pishers" name, Murray Galinson said.

Other names that made it to the finals in the consideration process were:
• Camp Sababa, meaning "cool" or "terrific" in Hebrew slang, recommended by
Becky Cherlin of the J* Company.

• Camp Idilyah, which means "ideal" in Hebrew and plays off the fact that the camp is located near Idyllwild, submitted by Bard Cosman.

• Camp Gan Tov, meaning "Good Garden" in Hebrew, but which also takes notice of the fact gan in Hebrew is spelled gimel-nun, the same letters that begin and end both the Glickman and Galinson family names. That entry was from Ezer Argaman of Kibbutz Hanita in West Galilee, who had been visiting his daughter Leetal Ben-Zvi here in San Diego during the time of the contest.

Olga Worm, who is the president of the Greater San Diego Section of the National Council of Jewish Women, said she was thumbing through the Heritage while her husband, Oscar, was driving the family car, when she read to him about the camp naming contest.

"Mountain Chai," promptly responded Oscar, who did the advertising for his Becker's Restaurant before selling it and retiring.

"It seemed like such an obvious name to him," commented Olga. "He is always coming up with great names and sarcastic comments to fit every situation."

Notified last Sunday that they had won, after returning from a cruise to the Mexican Riviera, Oscar Worm said the name "just popped into my head— I am sure there are 1,000 permutations.  ... It is a play on the idea that you want people to be "high on life," that is, happy; that you want them to live a higher life, that is, moral; that you're high in the mountains away from
distractions, and of course you have the Jewish chai, meaning life. "So it was a multiple word play," he said.

Their youngest child is 16 and will be too old to be a camper, Olga Worm said. "So maybe we will pass the prize on to a relative, or to a friend, or maybe we will offer it as a scholarship."

Ed Samiljan, who co-chairs with Todd Kobernick the nonprofit organization developing the camp, said he considered it "interesting that the Glickmans and the Galinsons decided not to have the camp named after them. That's a nice insight into the character of the donors. The Mountain Chai name captures the spirit of the activity, and it¹s a nice play on words."

Samiljan said a previous tenant of the 153-acre site was the Living Free
animal sanctuary. He suggested that the Mountain Chai name coincidentally
speaks to that history.

Escrow on the property will close March 3, Samiljan said. He said appointments are planned soon of a camp executive director and staff, who will operate out of offices at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center.