Lisa Mamaysky
Posted on Dec 17, 2019
Director, PGIM Real Estate, New Jersey
List College ’08
Most of the year, Lisa Mamaysky works at PGIM Real Estate in New Jersey. But come summer, she pulls out her shorts and sneakers and heads to Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains, where she and her husband, Isaac, run Camp Zeke, a Jewish overnight camp focused on celebrating healthy, active living through fitness, sports, cooking, and gourmet food.
The venture combines Mamaysky’s and her husband’s passion for Jewish tradition and healthy living. At Camp Zeke, kids learn Jewish tenets such as shmirat ha’guf (taking care of our health) through activities like yoga and cooking, and various sports and physical pursuits.
Mamaysky says her undergraduate years at List College taught her how to weave Jewish learning into day-to-day experiences. The varied Jewish backgrounds of List College students were also instructive. “I learned to see things through different Jewish lenses, different ways to connect to Judaism, and I used that to create a community where everyone is accepted.”
Since its founding in 2014, Camp Zeke has grown from 140 campers to roughly 400 in 2018. Mamaysky hears regularly from parents whose children return asking for more Jewish practice at home or who describe picky eaters now cooking and eating all kinds of foods.
“The most amazing thing,” she says, “is watching the kids learn how to live healthy lives and Jewish lives and take everything they’ve learned and share it in the world.”
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